AN ENVELOPE that is the only surviving item from Britain’s worst ever mid-air collision has been discovered at a garage sale.
Simon Breach and his son Kyle, 20, who live in Northwood, found the charred remnant in a box of other items.
Thirty-nine people died when the Scandinavian Airlines System Douglas DC-6 and the Avro York C1 transport RAF aircraft collided near RAF Northolt on July 4, 1948.
The debris landed in nearby woods and the subsequent fire destroyed all but the rudder of the DC-6 and all the York.
But at a garage sale last month, Mr Breach bought a box containing stamps and discovered an envelope that had been on the Swedish plane.
He said: “The envelope was burnt and singed and had been forwarded on to an address in London with a note from the post office on it, to say why it was in such bad condition.
“My son has been really intrigued by it, and he and his friends have been looking into the history of the flight and the crash.
“It takes something to get him and his mates off the X-box – but this has done it.”
The note on the envelope, which was posted in Sweden to Messrs Albright & Wilson Ltd of Park Lane, reads: “Recovered from the wreck of Swedish Skymaster wrecked at Northwood July 4, 1948 bringing Sir Edward Gent home from Malaya. No survivors.”
The attached note is from the Mount Pleasant sorting office in east London apologising for any inconvenience caused to the intended recipient by the fire damage.
Sir Edward Gent was a decorated veteran of the First World War and was the first governor of the Malayan Union and later the British High Commissioner in Malaya, which would go on to become Malaysia when it achieved independence from the United Kingdom. He was 53 at the time of the crash.
Following an investigation, no decisive cause for the collision could be found, although some issues with air traffic control procedures were noted.
Mr Breach, of Townsend Way, said he has given the letter to his son who will now decide what to do with it.
He said: “He thought he could sell it to pay off his university fees for the year but I told him that might be a little optimistic.”
