A writer friend of mine is trying to piece togetherr the last movements of rock and roller Eddie Cochran.
He believes that the plane Cochran caught started in Frankfurt, came to London on the Easter Sunday morning (17 April 1960) and then went to New York. Now I assume this was a PanAm flight but can anyone confirm whether they had such a routing in 1960? He also wants to know what would have been the check in time back in 1960. When I started in 1969 at Gatwick I seem to recall long haul was an hour and europe and domestic were 45 minutes.
Anyone got any ideas?
Cheers
Richard
By: rhavers - 4th August 2007 at 19:26
I just got this via my father….
If PA, this would have been PA1 (PA’s RTW service), FRA 1530-LHR
1655/1800-IDL 2055
TWA701 also operated FRA-LHR-IDL (1500-1625/1730-2025)
Check-in at LHR in 1960 for international flights was indeed 60min prior.
We’re getting there!
Thanks for the input
By: Old Git - 4th August 2007 at 09:44
Rhavers may I suggest you contact the BA Museum. They have actual timetables from that period and before, which will have check in times. Even if they don’t have Pan Am ones I doubt that their check in times would have been any different to BOAC at the time. As to which airline he was on, there may well be someone there who may know as they are all ex BOAC/BEA with a large fund of knowledge about Heathrow/airlines generally.
By: rhavers - 4th August 2007 at 08:51
Apologies. I should have said due to catch. He was on his way to Heathrow when he had his crash.
It’s the detail of which airline was it? Also how long before would he have had to check in.
Sorry to confuse you.
Cheers
Richard
By: Bager1968 - 4th August 2007 at 02:25
So he has Eddie arriving in Heathrow several hours after the official time of his fatal car crash (but before he died in hospital)?
Yes, its Wiki-waki: “On the night of Saturday April 16, 1960, at about 11:50 p.m. while on tour in the United Kingdom, Cochran was fatally injured in a traffic accident in a taxi (a Ford Consul, [reg. no. RBO 869], not as widely quoted a London Hackney carriage) travelling through Chippenham, Wiltshire, England on the A4. He was 21. The taxi crashed into a lamp post on Rowden Hill. There was no other car involved. A plaque erected there shows the actual spot. He was taken to St. Martin’s Hospital, Bath, but died at 4:10 p.m. the following day. Songwriter Sharon Sheeley (Cochran’s fiancée) and singer Gene Vincent survived the crash.”
It also says he had been at a gig in London the “night before”… whether this was the night before the crash, or the night before he died, is unclear from the article.
The article also links to his death certificate… which confirms his death on the 17th of April in St Martin’s Hospital, Bath.
http://members.cox.net/gpugh1/Documents/Death%20Cert.jpg
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Cochran
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August 1, 2007 at 4:29 pm