Ilian Evans and the Llandow air crash
On 4th March 1950 Pontypridd played Penarth at their Athletic Ground and came away with a good win by 17 points to 11.
One of Ponty’s tries was scored by their scrum half, Ilian Evans (pictured below), who wouldn’t be available for the next game, against Pontypool at Ynysyngharad Park. The following week he was flying off to Ireland to watch Wales play at Ravenhill Stadium, Belfast.
Air travel was a rarity in those days, and the seventy-eight rugby fans who had each paid ten pounds and five shillings for the trip must have been excited at the prospect of the flight and of watching their country play.
The trip was a great success – Wales won by 6 points to 3 – and a tired but happy group of supporters took off from Dublin airport on Sunday 12th March for the short flight home. As the Avro Tudor airliner was seen approaching Llandow airfield fifty minutes later it was clearly flying too low to make the runway. It then rose sharply to about 300 feet, its engines screaming and the starboard wing slightly down, stalled, and crashed into a field near Sigginstone.
Two passengers walked away from the crash, and a third man, who was in the toilet and knocked unconscious, survived but was in hospital for four months. Eight more survivors died later in hospital due to their injuries, bringing the final death toll to eighty – the world’s worst air disaster at the time. Ilian Evans was one of those who died in the crash.
The reason for writing this piece is that Downwood Films in Porthcawl is making a short documentary film about the disaster and would like to contact any descendants of those who were killed who are still living in the locality. So, if you knew anybody who was involved in the disaster then do contact Anthony Hontoir at Downwood Films, 13 Marlpit Lane, Porthcawl, CF36 5EG, Tel: 01656 771775, email: anthonyhontoir@hotmail.co.uk.
Alun Granfield
