Engine from 1950s Indian plane crash found

Annecy: A Frenchman claimed yesterday he had found one of the engines of the Malabar Princess, an ill-fated Indian aircraft that crashed on the French peak of Mont Blanc in 1950.
The Air India plane went down on November 3, 1950, a few metres from the summit of Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain at almost 5,000m, killing all 48 people on board.
Daniel Roche, 56, an aviation collector from Lyon in southeast France made the discovery during a climbing expedition near Chamonix in September, partly buried in a glacier. “There is no doubt about it, this comes from the ‘Lockheed L-749 Constellation’,” he said.
The 2,500-horse, 18-cylinder engine, weighing several hundred kilograms, was to be airlifted yesterday by helicopter to Chamonix, he said.
A real estate agent, Roche has amassed more than a tonne of wreckage from Mont Blanc over the past four years, including a propeller and an air hostess handbag from the Malabar Princess.
01/10/08 Gulf Times, Qatar

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Categories: Air India - International Oct 2008, Foreign Oct 2008, NACIL Oct 2008, Safety Oct 2008