The
"Ermenonville Air Disaster"
of March 1974
Turkish Airlines Flight 981 TC-JAV , the aircraft involved in the accident.
March 3, 1974, saw 18 members of the Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club - many with flourishing careers ahead of them - and a total of 345 people perish in the worst plane crash the world had ever seen.
Likened to the Munich air disaster when eight players from Manchester United died in 1958, the crash caused incomparable and overwhelming grief in Bury St Edmunds and the Rugby community. The players, staff and colleagues at the club had visited France in good spirits - taking in a Five Nations international and preparing for a friendly with a local side - having just won the Suffolk Knockout Cup. But after their friendly scheduled for the day of the crash was postponed, a series of events would ultimately lead to the death of 18 young and much loved men.
Upon hearing their match had been called off, 18 of the 21-strong party opted to take an earlier flight on the ill-fated Turkish Airlines DC-10 as a two-day strike at Heathrow involving 400 ground engineers had halted any British flights. The Turkish airliner flew out from Orly Airport, about 20 miles from the French capital at 11:23am. But shortly after take-off, the plane crashed into the Ermenonville Forest killing all 345 people on board, nearly 200 of them being British.
As soon as the news broke, the population of Bury St Edmunds was plunged into mourning. Ten local women had been widowed in the crash and between them they had 19 children who were all now fatherless. The Rugby Club set up a Disaster Fund to give immediate assistance to the deceased and the response by the public was phenomenal. Virtually every club in the country responded as did many individuals and business. The outpouring of grief was never more evident than when more than 2,500 mourners attended a memorial service at St Edmundsbury Cathedral and also at St Mary's Church where the service was relayed via a close circuit television.
In due course air crash investigators found that the failure of the aircraft had been due to a faulty rear cargo door. Lawyers representing the relatives were able to sue McDonnell-Douglas for compensation but money does not bring back sons, husbands and fathers.
Those members of the Bury St Edmunds Rugby Club that were lost in the Ermenonville Air Disaster are listed below:
For more on-line information about the crash, the Press Articles and the Memorial Bike Ride event, please review the following links:
Brian Arthur
David Cain
Laurie Cornish
David Cowell
Richard Coult
Bryan Ellis
Peter Green
Nick Jones
Stuart King
Graham Levet
Tom Marriage
John McClinton
Rex Morley
Gregory Rynsard
Robert Savidge
Mike Tilbrook
Mike Whitehead
Peter Withers
"HOWLING WOLF" - Memorial Issue
Details on Wikipedia
The Path to Ermenonville - Website
East Anglian Daily Times Article – Jan 2014
Bury Free Press Article - Oct 2013
Bury Free Press Article - March 2014
Bury Rugby Club President - Gerry Lowdon being interviewed on BBC Radio Suffolk Feb 2014. Interview starts at 01:44:30
See the BT SPORT clip describing the events that happened in 1974.