NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: UNK
Date: 2015 Jun 1, 04:47 +0100
Tom, Bill, David,
Yes I noticed an apparently happy, standing, smiling co-pilot in the photo, but with bandage around his head.
Healthy, ex RAF bomber pilots don’t tend to die of “exhaustion”, even after a gruelling march across the desert.
To a medic, this shouts out epidural hematoma as you suggest.
The irony is the photo also shows the French Army Medical Officer who had courageously parachuted in. He was a colonel and therefore presumably experienced military doctor who would know all about head injuries and hematomas. They would probably be treatable with simple trephination and drainage as well, even in the desert in 1952.
Oh well, we will probably never know now, unless someone goes and Xrays the skull of the poor man (might show a skull fracture that usually precedes the bleed).
Subject probably best left to rest now.
The other irony, is that Captain Langley was apparently a war hero bomber pilot with the DFC and thousands of hours flying and 36 bombing missions, safely bringing his original crew through the hell. He also landed the thing on sand with wheels up. No mean pilot then. Even these sorts of experienced guys can fall into the Procrustes trap.
The final irony for me is why and who decided to march the traumatised and injured folk 15 miles across the desert to the Oasis!? That could have killed them all.
The French military should have told them to” stay with the plane, we will parachute in water and supplies and come a get you, one way or another.”
Oh well, the lessons of history.
Francis
From: NavList@fer3.com [mailto:NavList@fer3.com] On Behalf Of Tom Sult
Sent: 31 May 2015 21:02
To: francisupchurch@gmail.com
Subject: [NavList] Re: Navigation errors and Sahara crash 1952
That is interesting and make one wonder about an Epidural Hematoma. This is a bleed outside of the protective cover of the brain called the dura. Generally a venous,and so slow, bleed with hours to days of no symptoms followed by becoming progressively symptomatic.
Tom Sult, MD
Author: JUST BE WELL
justbewell.info
On May 31, 2015, at 13:16, David Pike <NoReply_DavidPike@fer3.com> wrote:
The most alarming bit of the report for me however was the almost cursory 2 line statement about the death of the co-pilot "from exhausion, strain and heat" 2 days after the accident in which he received only minor injuries! I guess, so soon after the war, life was still cheap? I suspect this death would have involved a slightly more detailed investigation now!
Francis, Bill. I too looked at the report of the documentary which Frank refers too. Image 3 is a photograph of the crew and a para-rescue team shortly after the accident. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/archaeology/gallery_desert_rescue_03.shtml All are smiling and happy including the Co Pilot except for his sore head. Is it possible that his unexpected death a couple of days later was as a result of “compression” on top of heat exhaustion? Dave
