Qualla: Llandow Air Disaster https://qualla.com/llandow-air-disaster en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:20 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Llandow Air Disaster https://qualla.com/llandow-air-disaster Llandow Air Disaster: Introduction https://qualla.com/llandow-air-disaster/ They had watched Wales play Ireland at Ravenhill Stadium in Belfast, and they were coming home. On 12 March 1950, seventy-eight passengers and five crew boarded an Avro Tudor V named Star Girl at Dublin for the return flight to Llandow aerodrome in the Vale of Glamorgan. The plane had been chartered privately -- a group of rugby union enthusiasts who had crossed the Irish Sea for a Five Nations match and were flying back together. The weather was clear. The outbound journey had been uneventful. There was no reason to expect what happened next.

Read more: Llandow Air Disaster on Qualla

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/j/s/llandow-air-disaster-wp/gcjs-llandow-air-disaster-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Llandow Air Disaster: An Aircraft Already Under Suspicion https://qualla.com/llandow-air-disaster/ The Avro Tudor had a troubled history. Originally designed as a pressurized transatlantic airliner for the postwar market, the type had never achieved commercial success, and a series of unexplained losses -- including the disappearances of Star Tiger and Star Ariel in the Atlant...

Read more: Llandow Air Disaster on Qualla

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/j/s/llandow-air-disaster-wp/gcjs-llandow-air-disaster-an-aircraft-already-under-suspicion.mp3 0:06 2 full Llandow Air Disaster: Thirty-Five Degrees https://qualla.com/llandow-air-disaster/ At 3:05 in the afternoon, eyewitnesses near Llandow aerodrome saw the Avro Tudor approaching runway 28 at an abnormally low altitude with its undercarriage down. The pilot, recognizing the aircraft was too low, increased engine power to correct the descent. The nose pitched up sh...

Read more: Llandow Air Disaster on Qualla

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/j/s/llandow-air-disaster-wp/gcjs-llandow-air-disaster-thirty-five-degrees.mp3 0:06 3 full Llandow Air Disaster: The Weight of the Evidence https://qualla.com/llandow-air-disaster/ A court of inquiry chaired by William McNair KC determined the probable cause: the aircraft had been loaded in a way that moved its centre of gravity far aft of the safe range, critically reducing the effectiveness of the elevators. When the pilot tried to pull up from the low ap...

Read more: Llandow Air Disaster on Qualla

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/j/s/llandow-air-disaster-wp/gcjs-llandow-air-disaster-the-weight-of-the-evidence.mp3 0:06 4 full Llandow Air Disaster: The Rugby Clubs Remember https://qualla.com/llandow-air-disaster/ The dead included members of rugby clubs across the South Wales valleys -- communities where rugby was not a spectator sport but a binding force. Abercarn RFC lost three members. Llanharan RFC lost six members of their playing team. Both clubs incorporated symbols of remembrance ...

Read more: Llandow Air Disaster on Qualla

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/j/s/llandow-air-disaster-wp/gcjs-llandow-air-disaster-the-rugby-clubs-remember.mp3 0:06 5 full