Star Dust Falling

by JayRayner (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $3.90

  In August 1947 in the highest of the High Andes, one of the earliest long haul passenger aircraft, a Lancaster called Star Dust, disappeared en route to Santiago, Chile. It left behind only questions: was it sabotage; was there a horde of gold on board; and what was the meaning of the radio operator's mysterious final message before the air waves fell silent? Only with the discovery of the wreckage by two Argentinian climbers in January 2000 could those questions finally begin to be answered. Star Dust Falling is the story of those on board that pioneering aircraft and of the ramshackle airline British South American Airways which sent them to their deaths. Run by an austere Australian war hero newly arrived from bomber command, BSAA's flying crew consisted entirely of ex-bomber pilots. The fleet of converted Lancaster Bombers operated on a shoestring, regularly flying without sufficient fuel or access to adequate weather forecasts. The result was that it became one of the most dangerous airlines in the western world. Yet it wasn't until a third of its planes had crashed and dozens of its passengers had died that the Government finally called a halt. In this account, Jay Rayner recreates the events surrounding the loss of Star Dust and her discovery 50 years later, piecing together the lives of the characters involved: the Chilean-Palestinian passenger with a diamond stitched into the lining of his suit; the King's Messenger with his bag full of diplomatic secrets; the crew of fearless pilots working in unbelievably strenuous conditions; the Argentinian climbers who risked their lives to find the wreck; and the Argentinian military men who declared war on each other in an attempt to claim the credit.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $3.29

  A.V.M. Bennett, much decorated in the war for his exploits flying Lancaster bombers, was appointed to run British South American Airways (BSAA) straight after the war, using converted Lancasters as passenger aircraft and employing members of his wartime squadron as pilots. His was one of the first long-haul airlines, and he specialized in the South American routes. The Lancasters were wholly unsuited to the job and the airline had a phenomenally high accident rate. Bennett was operating on a shoestring, his pilots were often insufficiently experienced at flying the routes and the planes frequently had barely enough fuel to reach their destination. But enough people were prepared to pay #100 for the three-day flight and it wasn't until a number of planes had crashed with the loss of many lives that the airline finally lost its licence. Interleaved with this story is the modern day expedition to find the crashed Stardust which, despite a massive search of the Andes had never been found until two Argentine climbers came upon parts of the aircraft on a glacier high up in the Andes beneath the massive Tupangato peak (6800m), more than 50 km's from the area where the plane was last reported. One of these climbers was the son of a man obsessed for years with finding the aircraft, which was rumoured to be carrying gold. This is a story with several ingredients: the romance of the early days of longhaul flying; the mystery of the crash and the eccentric, cavalier, swaggering figure of A.V.M. Bennett himself.