BOAC Flight 712 Incident

Date: April 8, 1968 • Location: West Drayton, United Kingdom

BOAC Flight 712 experienced an engine fire shortly after take-off from London Heathrow, leading to the deaths of five people on board, including flight attendant Jane Harrison, who was posthumously awarded a George Cross for heroism.

BOAC Flight 712 was a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) service operated by a Boeing 707 from London Heathrow Airport bound for Sydney via Zurich and Singapore. On Monday 8 April 1968, it suffered an engine failure on takeoff that quickly led to a major fire; the engine detached from the aircraft in flight. After the aircraft had made a successful emergency landing, confusion over checklists and distractions from the presence of a check pilot contributed to the deaths of 5 of the 127 on board. The direct cause of the fire was the failure of a compressor wheel, due to metal fatigue.