Bristol airport pays tribute to flight 777 victims
A tribute will be made on Monday, June 1, to 17 people – including actor Leslie Howard – who were killed during World War II when their plane was shot down while en route to Bristol.
The unveiling of a plaque at Lisbon Airport will be the anniversary that the plane took off. Bristol International has teamed up with Lisbon Airport to help commemorate the flight.
BOAC flight 777 was en route from Portugal to Whitchurch Airport – the original site of Bristol Airport – when it was attacked by German fighters over the Bay of Biscay.
It has been alleged that the plane, a Douglas DC-3, was attacked because the Germans believed that Winston Churchill was on board, although official papers on the incident are not expected to be released until 2025.
Mike Littleton, Bristol International's community relations manager, and Ivan Sharp, from Norfolk, whose grandfather, a mining engineer, was a passenger on flight 777, will unveil a commemorative plaque at Lisbon Airport's museum.
A similar plaque will feature in an aviation heritage display planned at Bristol International. Whitchurch was the only civil airport that remained open throughout the war, providing vital links with neutral Europe.
British and German aircraft operated from the same facilities in Lisbon, and it is believed the Lisbon-Bristol route frequently carried agents and escaped prisoners-of-war back to Britain.
Mr Littleton said: "The comfort and convenience of an easyJet flight from Bristol to Lisbon is a far-cry from the Forties' experience.
"During World War II, flights between Bristol and Lisbon, although regular, were restricted by the British Government to diplomats, military personnel, VIPs, and others with Government approval.
"Today, travel between the two countries is easy, quick and available to all.
"Flight 777 was a tragic chapter in Bristol's rich aviation history, and it is fitting that it will be commemorated at the airport from which it departed 66 years ago."
Comments
by MendipMan, Wurzel Country
Monday, June 01 2009, 9:01PM
“The Post could do worse than research Whitchurch Airport's role in World War 2. It is a significant part of Bristol's history.
The notion that the aircraft was destroyed because the Germans believed Churchill was on board is only one of a number of conspiracy theories.
Another is that the Germans believed Leslie Howard was a British spy - there is some evidence to suggest he may have been.
In recent years research has indicated the incident may have been tragic mistake and that the Luftwaffepilots concerned were later distressed to learn they had shot down and unarmed, civilian aircraft.
Ftl 777 on 1 June 1943 was not the first DC to be attacked though on the Lisbon-Whitchurch run though, albeit previous incidents had been unsuccesful.
The downing of Fl will always command more interest than it might other wise have done because of the presence on board of Leslie Howard.”