On Apr. 21, 2009 I’ve published an article about the Air India 101 that crashed into the Mount Blanc in 1966. Quite surprisingly, that post remains one of the most commented of this blog.
Since then, Daniel Roche, the French aviation enthusiast who has been researching this topic since many years and has conducted several expeditions on the crash site [collecting 5 tonne (?!?!) of plane parts], has sent me emails with pictures that, according to him, would prove his theory of a collision with an Italian fighter jet.
I’ve already written in my previous article what I think about the crash. Plane crash investigations require experts in various fields. They must be performed in accordance with specific procedures and protocols, that cover also how evidences must be collected and preserved. So, regardless what Daniel believes, I still think the official report of the French BEA says it all about the reasons of the crash of the Air India 101 flight.
Furthermore, I don’t like conspiracy theories very much.
However, the last pictures Daniel has sent to me are quite interesting because they show some aircraft parts he has found on the glacier. Text on the debris is English, suggesting an American fighter. I don’t know where he actually found them and I haven’t checked yet if another US or Italian plane has crashed in the same area but I’m curious to hear from any of this weblog’s readers who is able to identify the type of aircraft that parts and tank (?) belong to.
I think I found your USAF angle. See attached article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_101
Look at the last line:
In 1950 an Air India Lockheed Super Constellation on a charter flight had crashed at almost the same location with the loss of 48 crew and passengers.”
Could this be the Super Constellation parts?
Countries purchase USAF-managed parts all the time, so parts with “USAF” stamped on them wouldn’t necessarily be from USAF aircraft.
The idea that maybe this guy found debris from a Lockheed Super Constellation has some merit. Lockheed made and contracted for a lot of parts for military and commercial aircraft, so it’s not at all a stretch that parts stamped with USAF made their way onto Lockheed’s commercial jets.
I AM DANIEL ROCHE/THE 8 AUGUST 2012 EMISSION TV FOR MY ADVENTURES THE NAME/ZONE INTERDITE M6 FRENCH TV 20H50/TEN MINUTES FOR ME CONGRATULATIONS
What if some of the aircraft parts were manufactured in U.S ? These could be parts of IA 101 found in the debris