On 2 September 1958, an Independent Air Travel Vickers VC.1 Viking (registration G-AIJE), with three crew members aboard and loaded with two Bristol Proteus turboprop engines, crashed after taking off from London Heathrow Airport, en route to Athens via Tel Aviv, Nice and Brindisi.

A Mayday call was made from the aircraft at 06:32 GMT, shortly before it crashed into a row of houses on Kelvin Gardens, Southall, Middlesex.

[1][2] The aircraft burst into flames on impact, killing all three crew members as well as four people on the ground, a mother and three children.

[1] The report stated that "it is quite clear...that the policy of this company was to keep its aircraft in the air at all costs and without any real regard for the requirements of maintenance.

Despite receiving severe burns to his body he managed to save himself and his infant nephew by jumping from his window into the arms of rescuers.