Incident
On 2 May 1953, British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 783, a de Havilland Comet jetliner registered G-ALYV, was operating a scheduled service from Singapore to London. After a stopover at Calcutta's Dum Dum Airport, the aircraft departed at 16:29 local time (10:59 GMT) for the next leg to Delhi.
Six minutes after takeoff, while climbing to 7,500 feet (2,300 meters), radio contact with air traffic control was lost. Witnesses near the village of Jagalgori, approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of Calcutta, saw the aircraft descending in flames. Severe rain and thunderstorms were present in the area. The wreckage was later found scattered along a 5-mile (8-kilometer) track, with main sections still burning. There were no survivors.
Victims
The aircraft carried 43 occupants: 6 crew members and 37 passengers. According to the official report, the passengers comprised 31 British nationals, three Americans, two Burmese, and one Filipino. Among the victims were Australian politician Trevor Oldham and his wife, who were listed as British nationals in the report.
Investigation
The investigation concluded that, after encountering a squall, the aircraft "suffered structural failure in the air which caused fire." The probable cause of the failure was reported as "overstressing which resulted from either: severe gusts encountered in the thundersquall, or overcontrolling or loss of control by the pilot when flying through the thunderstorm." The investigators also recommended considering whether any modification to the Comet's structure was necessary.
This crash preceded two similar fatal accidents involving structural failure of Comet aircraft: BOAC Flight 781 and South African Airways Flight 201. Following these events, the entire Comet fleet was grounded until an extensive redesign led to the development of the Comet 2 version.