Page 40 • The HERALD • 20th November 2025 v F @heraldpublishing v M.D.S. DIGITAL INSTALLS/SERVICE • DIGITAL AERIALS/FREEVIEW • SKY DIGITAL/FREESAT DIGITAL • EXTRA TELEVISION POINTS • TELEPHONE LINES/POINTS • TELEVISION SYSTEMS SETUP/TUNED • WALL MOUNTED TV’S QUALIFIED, FAST FRIENDLY SERVICE FREE SURVEYS/QUOTES BEAULIEU: 01590 611011 MOBILE: 07717 194441 PolarPlastics PVC-U SPECIALIST IN: l WINDOWS l DOORS l CONSERVATORIES l FASCIAS l CLADDING l GUTTERING l GLASS UNITS l WINDOW REPAIRS l FENCING & GATES www.polarplastics.co.uk Email: sales@polarplastics.co.uk l Open 6 Days a Week l No Hard Sale Family Business l 10 Year Insurance Backed Guarantee Registered Company 10 HOLBURY PRECINCT, HOLBURY DROVE, HOLBURY TEL: (023) 8089 9611 M. C. HALL LTD 4 Carpentry 4 Fencing 4 Decoration 4 Extensions 4 Kitchens 4 Loft Conversions 4 Bathrooms 4 New Build First Rate Building & Carpentry Work Start to Finish Service • References Available • Fully Insured • 1 year guarantee Free Quotations and Friendly Advice Given Contact: mchall126@btinternet.com or call 023 8089 8456 or 07976 937941 Website: www.mchallltd.co.uk A MERCY FLIGHT IN FOG THAT CRASHED AT HILLTOP IN 1979 AND SPARKED A RACE TO SAVE A LIFE by Marc Heighway Marc is available as a guest speaker to deliver local history talks. Find out more at nfhwa.org/speakers Just before dawn on 17th November 1979, a twin-engined Piper PA-34 Seneca II (G-BFKO) was transporting a kidney by air, to surgeons at St Mary’s Hospital in Portsmouth. However, bad weather had already forced a detour as the organ transplant, taken from a man who had died in a road accident, was unable to depart Leeds by air, so it was instead driven to Manchester to be placed onto the onward ight to the Fleet Air Arm station at Lee-on-Solent. Waiting in the Portsmouth operating theatre was a male patient in his thirties. At the controls of the aircra were two Sta ordshire airmen, pilot Charles Strasser of Trentham and co-pilot Frederick Holdcra of Stoke-on-Trent. Due to thick fog, they were having to y on instruments and managed to reach Lee-on-Solent in the early hours when they began an instrument-landing-system approach. However, their rst attempt at a landing was abandoned at ve hundred feet due to visibility issues, so they looped back and prepared for a second approach. In heavy fog and darkness, the aircra descended below a safe height without visual reference and was now over the New Forest. With no warning, they struck Beaulieu Heath at Hilltop, next to the road that runs between Dibden Aftermath of the accident on Beaulieu Heath (Credit: Tony Johnson©) Aftermath of the accident on Beaulieu Heath MARCHWOOD VETERANS BREAKFAST CLUB Are you a service member of the Armed Forces, a Veteran, or family member of someone serving? If so, 17th Port and Maritime Regiment RLC would like to welcome you to their monthly breakfast club which is open to all current and ex-military services, all ranks, all ages and families. e aim is to come together as an Armed Forces Family, catch up with friends, help social interaction and mental health, talk about current and past experience, support towards housing (SFA’s and social), resettlement support for civilian life, job networking and o er tness wellbeing advice. Go along and enjoy a full English Breakfast at a very small cost of £5 with unlimited FREE brews at Sgts Mess, 17RLC, McMullen Barracks, Cracknore Hard Lane, Marchwood SO40 4ZG on the fourth Saturday of the month between 10am and 12noon. e next two meet ups take place on Saturday 22nd November and Saturday 28th December. All personnel attending will need to book into the Guardroom on arrival and will need photograph ID, you will then be directed to the mess. Purlieu and Beaulieu. e time was 04:48. Thankfully there were no fatalities. An accident inquiry identified contributory factors including poor weather, fatigue, an incorrectly reported cloud base, and pilot distractions. As a result, the aircra had to descend below the minimum safe altitude without the required visual cues, hence crashing onto the heathland. Press photographs show the Seneca badly damaged beside the Dibden Purlieu to Hilltop Road with the le wing torn o , landing gear broken, and fuselage scarred but broadly intact. Despite the wreck, the mission to deliver the kidney continued. Sealed in ice, the organ was recovered from the cabin and handed to police. A tra c o cer then drove the 36 miles to Portsmouth at speed, delivering the box to surgeons who then pressed on with the planned transplant. Many local residents will be familiar of seeing fog on that particular stretch of road at Hilltop, but it’s poignant to think how on that morning in 1979 the weather led to this incident. It was incredible how quickly everyone moved into action including the pilots, police, and hospital sta , all of whom did their bit to keep the chance of a successful transplant alive.
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