FIFTY YEARS ago today, 34 people died in one of the worst aviation disasters in Irish history when a DC-7 aircraft crashed shortly after taking off from Shannon airport.
The Alitalia flight from Rome to New York had stopped at Shannon to refuel. It had just taken off again when it lost height and crashed into the graveyard adjacent to Clonloghan church, about 2km from the airport.
The quad-prop aircraft had reached a height of just 165ft when it initiated a left turn and began to plummet towards the ground.
The left wing tip made contact with the ground, while the two left wing propellers struck a stone wall and several gravestones before the plane crashed next to the ruined Clonloghan church.
Some 23 of the 40 passengers and all but one of the 12 crew died.
An investigation concluded: “No definite evidence leading to a particular reason for this accident was revealed by the investigation. It can only be concluded that the aeroplane lost height in a turn shortly after take-off and struck the ground.”
Lemanagh resident John Quinlivan, who was just eight at the time, remembers the crash.
“It was around midnight and we had been in bed a while when we heard a loud bang. That late we weren’t allowed outside the door, but the next morning we went up for a look. By then all the bodies had been taken away . . . There was a barn dance over the road and everyone who was at that went over to help.”