Fiftieth anniversary of the loss of KLM 607-E

It is fifty years since KLM flight 607-E crashed off the coast of Galway. To mark the occasion a ceremony organised by Galway City Council was held in Bohermore Cemetary on August 12th. The flight had begun on the night of Wednesday August 13th 1958, departing Schiphol at 23.55 for New York with intended fuel stops in Shannon and Gander. The flight was an extra ( hence -E suffix to the flight number ) economy class flight which had been tasked to alleviate heavy bookings on the regular service. On board were 99 souls comprising 91 passengers and a crew of 8 captained by 36 year old F.A.E Roelofs. Among the passengers were 12 Dutch nationals, an Israeli and his wife travelling to the US to visit their grandchildren in the Bronx, 6 members of the Egyptian fencing team and their Hungarian coach who had intended competing in a competition in Philadelphia, 13 members of the Church of the Brethern from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania returning home after a visit to Germany to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of their church and three Polish nationals. The aircraft operating the flight was Lockheed L-1049H msn 4841 registered PH-LKM and named 'Hugo de Groot' or 'Hugo the Great', after a 17th century Dutch law expert. The aircraft had been registered as new to KLM, just 4 months earlier on April 22nd and had 886 hours on the frame when it departed Schiphol. 'LKM was a 'H variant of the Super Connie, in the combi cargo / passenger role with a strengthened floor for cargo operations. This time was the twilight of the Connie era with KLM as they had already ordered eight Dc8 aircraft from Douglas at the time of the delivery of 'LKM. The flight landed at Shannon as planned, refueled and departed again at 03.05 for Gander. At 03.39 the aircraft was cleared to climb to an altitude of 16,000 ft and maintain a heading of 278 degrees. At 03.40 Shannon requested that the aircraft relay a message to TWA 6951. This was duly confirmed by the pilot. The next expected R/T should have been at 04.40, one hour later. The communication never happened. A 'phase of uncertainty' was declared by ATC in Shannon during which time all stations and planes were encouraged to look and listen for the aircraft. Half an hour later the emergency procedure was announced, signaling the commencement of an air / sea search. At 06.40, Gander announced that they had made contact with the KLM flight and the search was stopped. It took two hours to ascertain that a mistake had been made in Gander and the search was restarted. The RAF had committed three Shackeltons to the search and it was one of these aircraft which first sighted the debris field at 13.45, approximately 120 miles off the coast. When the aircraft had gone unreported a joint US - Canadian air / sea search involving eleven aircraft had been launched from Newfoundland and USAF aircraft based in Iceland also took part. An Irish Air Corp aircraft also took part in the mission. Ships that took part in the search included the British ore carrier 'Rievaux', the Canadian destroyer 'Crusader', the Irish ferry boat Naomh Eanna, an Irish Navy Corvette, and the French trawellers 'Jules Verne' and 'General LeClerc'. The 'Jules Verne' landed in Galway, having recovered eleven bodies. Ultimately just 34 bodies were recovered, 12 of which were identified and repatriated for burial. The remainder were buried in Bohermore Cemetary in a multi denominational ceremony. The funeral cortege was watched by an estimated 10,000 people who lined the streets of Galway 'ten deep' according to some reports.At the time, the crash which claimed the lives of all on board was the worst loss of life in an aircraft crash in the Atlantic. Today it still ranks as the fourth worst Atlantic accident. Since the bulk of the wreckage was never recovered the subsequent investigation into the crash was unable to determine a definite cause. The post mortems conducted on the recovered bodies determined that the passengers had died before they hit the water. Also, most had not had their seatbelts fastened at the time of the accident, all of which indicated that the end had come swiftly and unexpectedly.Irish and Dutch investigators believed that the most probable cause of the accident had been an over speeding propeller. This phenomenon could be caused as a result of metal chips from a broken gear blocking the regulator valve. The propeller pitch would then decrease preventing the blades from being feathered. In the period 1957 to 1959, KLM had suffered a total of 18 instances of over speeding on the Wright Cyclone engine as fitted to 'LKM. In flight, the condition is very difficult to correct in a timely fashion. The investigation Boards also stated that they did not consider that the airline's maintenance personnel had contributed in any way to the demise of the aircraft nor had the crew contributed through taking incorrect action after the presumed malfunction occurred. The memorial in Bohermore Cemetary, Glaway to those who lost their lives on KLM flight 607-E is pictured below.