Aircraft wreckage

Today’s walk was a stiffer one with 680 metres of ascent over 11 kilometres. we walked up through the woods to the mountain refuge at Marialles, one of the more luxurious refugees on the GR 10 trans Pyrenean walking route. There were some beautiful autumn colours but I was not expecting to come across this aircraft wreckage on our descent. I have known for a long time that a crash occurred close to our return path through the woods. I think the elements have brought this piece of fuselage down to the track. I did some research online and found this account of the 1967 tragedy.

“ The aircraft left London-Gatwick Airport at 2013LT on a charter flight to Perpignan with 36 passengers and a crew of four on board. At 2315LT, the crew was cleared to continue direct to Perpignan maintaining the altitude of 9,500 feet. At 0008LT, the crew was cleared by Marseille Control to descend to FL65 and then FL55 seven minutes later. While approaching Perpignan, the crew was informed about the poor weather conditions at destination with thunderstorm activity. At this time, the crew informed ground that the radio and compass settings were unusable due to the violent storm. While cruising in low visibility, the airplane struck trees and crashed on the Roc de Planes, in the massif of the Mattes-Rouges, near the village of Py. The airplane disintegrated on impact and all 40 occupants were killed. The wreckage was found some 48 km southwest of Perpignan-Rivesaltes Airport at an altitude of 1,810 meters.
Crew:
Max-Marie Dunoyer de Lescheraine, pilot,
Léopold Marold, copilot,
Émile-Lucien Jamin, navigator,
Muriel Tiberghain, stewardess.”

Apparently I have reached a blip milestone so it is good that I have found something more interesting to report today.