Vickers Viking Crash Stavanger August 1961

[Mike Etheridge 1]

I am just reading the second book on this disaster as written by Rosalind Jones, whose brother won the toss for the last seat on the plane. I knew two of the boys on the plane through junior school and Colts cricket. Rosalind is giving any profits made on the book sales to charity. i trust it is OK to advertise the book here ?

Dear Lanfranc relatives and friends, and personal friends and acquaintances,

At long last I can tell you that my book 'The Papa Mike Air Crash Mystery' is finished and currently being printed. It has taken far, far longer than ever expected but the end result is what I had hoped for.

The book is a double volume and consists of 464 pages with more than one hundred photos, maps, and diagrams. Book One 'The Investigation' narrates what happened 56 years ago, the accident and the investigation which was carried out by two teams, the Norwegian investigators and British AIB (Accident Investigation Board) investigators, working together. Their conclusion as to the cause of the crash was swayed by political needs - as I discovered from all the archived documents from both The National Archives at Kew and the Norwegian National Archives in Oslo. My account, written from these documents, plus Hansard, national newspapers, and other sources, reveals what went on in the Ministries of Aviation in both countries at that time, and why they came to such a seemingly inconclusive conclusion. It had been intended that this information should remain 'caged' for 75 years, but fortunately the Freedom of Information Act has made available all sorts of previously 'secret' information - including 'The Papa Mike Files'. Hundreds and hundreds of documents were photographed at Kew and I retyped most of these 'fuzzy grey' pages - some actual examples of which can be seen in the book. They form an historic record from which I have narrated the story of the investigation which ends around the date of the Cuba Missile Crisis in October 1962.

The following years from 1962 are covered briefly to link up with the 50th Anniversary in 2011.

Book Two, 'The Detection' continues from here. This should have been a 'Diary of Detection' compiled from correspondence between myself, an airline captain/crash investigator, a Norwegian ATC expert, and others. Unfortunately, at the last moment the airline captain and his airline captain colleague, both claimed privacy, so their opinions could not be used. Without these the 'Diary of Detection' had to be abandoned. I couldn't give up. Two loyal 'detectives', Eric Tarrant the British Eagle Archivist who had attended the 50th Anniversary in Norway, and Helene Bjørntvedt the Norwegian ATC expert who had a particular interest in the tragedy, both continued to support my quest. I had made a promise and I had to keep it. So, I wrote a totally new and different Book Two. In fact, this new approach was much better! Not only that but resulting from this adversity the solution to the 'mystery' may have been found. I say 'may' because I am leaving it up to readers to make up their own minds. So you will become a 'detective' and weigh up all the possible clues which have been discovered.

'The Papa Mike Air Crash Mystery' is a limited edition which will retail in the UK for £21 (plus £4.50 postage). My pre-publication price until September 9th saves one third, and is £14. The printers, Berfort of Hastings, have agreed to fulfill orders for me for a short while. Their charge for postage and packing is £4.50. So the total amount for one copy is £18.50. I hope that you will take the opportunity and buy copies now. The book should be ready to be posted to you by the end of August.

I am also offering copies of 'The Lanfranc Boys' for their original price of £12.99 but POST FREE.

ALL my Royalties from 'The Papa Mike Air Crash Mystery' will be shared equally between four nominated charities agreed between the 'detectives' and myself. They are: The Stavanger branch of the Norwegian Red Cross, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the RAF Benevolent Fund, and Sightsavers.

Thank you for taking the time to read all this. You have been very patient waiting for this book. I think you will understand why it took so long to write, and I hope that you will find long overdue answers to questions that our seniors asked 56 years ago. My belief that the truth should be told has kept me going on a quest that has been anything but easy.

I hope that you will then CLICK www.lanfranc-holtaheia.co.uk and order a copy through PayPal on my online Shop. Or email me if you prefer to send a cheque. (If you have visited the website previously you may need to click your 'refresh' button (circular arrow on the tool bar) to update.

With Good Wishes and Many Thanks - for being so patient! Ros Jones