PH-VIG   Vickers 803 Viscount II                              (c/n  178)

                            

                                   KLM's seventh Viscount at London Airport, circa 1958.  Photo by Rodney Brown.  It was named
                                   'Sir Charles E. Kingsford Smith'     First delivered to KLM in 1957, all nine of these Model 803s
                                   were sold to Aer Lingus a decade later.   PH-VIG became EI-AOM on 14 February 1967.  This
                                   aircraft was the one which mysteriously spun into the ocean near Tusker Rock, Ireland on 24 March
                                   1968.  All 57 passengers and 4 crew were lost.    A delinitive reason for the tragedy has never
                                   (officially) been released.    Ad hoc theories put forward (not officially sanctioned) have suggestions
                                   ranging from collision with another airborne object (missile, UFO, whatever) to maintenance issues,
                                   the latter compounded by the fact that certain inspection documentation was missing (it had, in fact,
                                   just had its CofA renewed).