Please let me introduce myself, my name is Robert Whittingham and I was the Steward on the Royal Air Force VC10 that flew the survivors, of this terrible crash, to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. I now presently reside in Swindon, Wiltshire. Here is my account:
It was the morning of 20 April 1972. After an uneventful night flight from Akrotiri, the last leg of an eleven-day Tengah shuttle trip, I was in the squadron crew room, checking my mail. I was approached by a member of 10 Squadron Ops. He informed me that a VC10 belonging to East African Airways had crashed attempting to take off in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The squadron was sending an aeromed flight to pick up survivors and bring them back to the UK. Even though I had been flying all night, and now on my three-day pass, he asked me if I would volunteer to be part of the crew and fly out later that day, Of course, I volunteered, little did I know what lay ahead.
He informed me that Squadron Leader Lowery would be the Captain, I would be the only Air Steward on board, and we would be night stopping in Addis Ababa. I went back to my accommodation, repacked my suitcase, and put on a clean KD uniform. Later that day the MT crew coach picked me up at my block. After a quick briefing from the Air Loadmaster, MALM Alex Bryant, I was preparing the aircraft, the rear of the aircraft had about thirty seats the rest was made up of stretcher posts and stretchers. A large aeromed team boarded with all their equipment and we were soon airborne. The flight time was seven hours and twenty-five minutes direct to Addis Ababa.
During the flight, I felt exhausted and realized that I had been up and on my feet for thirty hours as I did not sleep before my Akrotiri - Brize Norton flight. The Loadmaster asked the captain if it were possible, due to the circumstances, that I could have short sleep to recharge my batteries. The captain refused point-blank. I had another cup of coffee and looked forward to a good night’s sleep in Addis Ababa. We eventually reached our destination and, as we slowed down at the end of the runway, I looked through the flight deck window and saw black skid marks, broken approach lights, and the ominous sight of a VC10 tail sticking up, with the rest of the aircraft hidden down a deep gulley. It looked bad.
When we reached dispersal, the Captain was informed that most of the survivors were children who had suffered severe burns in the crash. In fact, the burns were so severe that Squadron Leader Lowery was asked if, instead of a night stop, we would load the patients quickly and get them to proper medical care in the UK. He approached each member of the crew and asked them individually if they would volunteer to carry on and not night stop. Of course, we all volunteered. It was hard work; it took over six hours to convey the patients from the hospital and load them onto the aircraft. There was a lot of activity around the aircraft and one of my many tasks was to stop individuals, who were not involved with this flight, from coming on board and holding up our departure. This was difficult for me, as some of the people I stopped were relatives of the young patients, but our priority was to get back to the UK as quickly as possible.
We had passengers on board who were the parents, uninjured or slightly injured, they took up the rear of the aircraft. They were not happy to be flying in the same type of aircraft that they had just survived a crash in a matter of hours ago. I was checking the catering equipment for our return journey and noticed in-flight catering had East African meal trays for our passengers. I thought this was a bad idea and contacted in-flight to change the trays for another airline, which they did. They even wanted to put coffins of the deceased passengers on board, we said no, they were not in a hurry to get home, we were. Due to crew duty time and other restrictions, we were advised to fly direct to Akrotiri, and a fresh crew would be there to carry on the journey to the UK. As we taxied out for takeoff Squadron Leader Lowery made an announcement to the passengers to try and qualm their fears, he stated that this aircraft was used by Her Majesty the Queen and the crew was a handpicked VIP crew. I do not know if this did the trick as I noticed a lot of passengers praying and crying as the four conways were spooled up and we started our take-off run. I can only imagine what was going through their minds. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife. Soon we were airborne, and you could hear the sound of relief emanating from the passengers.
The children who were burnt were in an awfully bad way and the aeromedical team did a stalwart job in easing their pain, sadly two of the young patients died during the flight. I thought to myself, I hope the people I stopped coming on board were not the parents of the poor children who died. I felt guilty. The flight time to Akrotiri was four hours and ten minutes. I do not think I will ever forget those poor children and the sickening smell of burning flesh. We handed over to a fresh crew on arrival and the aircraft was soon on its way to the UK. I wished them all well. After we arrived at Akrotiri I remembered getting on the crew coach and the next thing I knew I was in bed in the crew hotel in downtown Limassol. To this day I do not know how I got into bed and who took my clothes off. I had been awake for over forty-seven hours.
I have always wondered what happened to the survivors we brought home. I wish them well.
rafvc10@gmail.com