HistoricWings.com Today in Aviation History : Sabotage! (crash in Dikmuide)

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HISTORIC WINGS Sabotage! Today in Aviation :: March 28, 2013 We need to expand our readership! Please forward this story to a friend today! The Armstrong Whitworth A.W. 154 Argosy II "City of Liverpool" was one of the key aircraft serving with Imperial Airways from Britain.  The airline crisscrossed Europe, offering a luxury "Silver Wing" service to Paris, flying to Berlin, stopping at Belgium and setting a high standard for others to match.  The Argosy Mk II, with its three engines — each a 420 hp (310 kW) Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar IVA radial — had served well since 1929 alongside the earlier Mk I models, carrying up to 18 passengers on each flight with just a crew of three.  Yet on March 28, 1933, one of the aircraft would suffer a catastrophic inflight fire, crashing into the fields of Diksmuide, Belgium.  Twelve passengers and three crewmen would perish as a result.  At the time, it was the greatest airline disaster in British history. While tragic, the investigation that followed pointed to a possible darker, more sinister cause than an accidental fire — compounding the suspicion was the fact that a German dentist, Dr. Albert Voss, was seen to jump from the aircraft before it hit the ground.  As he had no parachute, he too died in the accident, though there was more afoot than most realized at the time.  Only later would Dr. Voss' brother relay his own suspicions, revealing a bizarre tale of drug smuggling and illegal activities — it was a story that pointed to the likelihood of sabotage…. Continue Reading =>   Photo of the Day A Handley Page H.P. 42 loads passengers on the company's routes south through the Middle East.  At the time, in 1932, the H.P. 42s flew the lucrative London to Cape Town route, with eight aircraft in service, each of which turned over 1 million miles of flight without the loss of a single plane or passenger. Photo Credit:  Photographer Unknown Copyright © 2013 Historic Wings Magazine, All rights reserved. You have received this message because you opted in to our newsletter on our website -- historicwings.com. Our mailing address is: Historic Wings Magazine 118 N. Johnson Road Sterling, VA 20164 Add us to your address book Copyright © 2013 Historic Wings & Thomas Van Hare All Rights Reserved u