- £40.00
‘PRESTWICK 1954’. The B.O.A.C Stratocruiser was on a flight from Heathrow Airport, England, to New York, United States with scheduled stop-overs at Manchester Airport, in Northern England and Prestwick Airport in Scotland. Due to the bad weather it was decided to fly directly to Prestwick and the flight was delayed while it waited for a Manchester passenger to be brought to London. It was 03:30 in driving rain when ’Cathay’ was about to land at Prestwick; it landed short of the runway forcing the port landing gear into the wing causing the aircraft to overturn and burst into flames, killing 28 of the 36 on board. Among the 250 bags of mail cargo was a £900,000 consignment of diamonds for a New York address This cover to the USA has a violet boxed ‘SALVAGED MAIL / AIRCRAFT CRASH / PRESTWICK 25-12-54’ cachet.
