We had lived in Gravenchon a couple of years, when my friend Fifi's sister Lily got married. My sister was one of the bridesmaids (she was probably about 6 by then). I said there was no way I would have wanted to be one, but I was secretly very jealous. The dresses were beautiful, pale yellow and white stripes with little pink flowers embroidered on the white stripes. Even my sister looked really pretty. Catherine was also a bridesmaid and she and my sister looked like sisters. They wore a headband with pink flowers that matched the ones on the dress. It was an absolutely beautiful wedding, and everyone was as happy as one could be.
One of the wedding pictures was Lily sitting on a stool with her wedding dress spread out around her, holding a bouquet of pink and yellow flowers, and on either side were three bridesmaids in their beautiful dresses. My parents had a copy of that picture and I can see it still.
About a year later, Lily and her husband came back to visit and we found out she was pregnant. Everyone was ecstatic. The whole neighborhood had participated in the wedding, and now there would be a baby. It was a great celebration. They stayed about a week, then they went to Paris to catch a flight to their home in Africa. The plane crashed and they were both killed.
Many years later, when I was looking for fabric for a chair, I saw some that was very similar to Lily's bridesmaids' dresses and it broke my heart. It looked a lot like this, except yellow instead of lavender.
TAI Flight 307 was a scheduled flight between France and the Ivory Coast via Mali operated by a Douglas DC-7C. On 24 September 1958, the aircraft crashed during its departure from Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport, France when it flew into trees. All of the flight crew and 45 of the 56 passengers on board were killed; the other 11 passengers were seriously injured. The DC-7C arrived at Bordeaux from Paris, making a scheduled stop on its route to West Africa.
Following a two-hour stopover, departure from Bordeaux took place at 22:33 GMT. Weather at the time of departure was a 3-knot (3.5 mph) wind and light drizzle that did not significantly restrict visibility. Following takeoff, the aircraft reached an altitude of 30 metres (98 ft), and failed to climb further before flying into a pine forest located 2,950 metres (9,680 ft) from the end of the runway.
The aircraft cut a swath through the forest; some of the passengers were thrown clear of the wreckage as the fuselage broke up, before being destroyed in a post-crash fire. Because of the darkness and a lack of roads in the accident area, rescue workers had difficulty reaching the scene of the crash; their vehicles were unable to approach closer than 0.5 miles (0.80 km) to the impact site. Twelve survivors were taken to a hospital in Bordeaux; one later died despite medical care, bringing the total number of deaths caused by the crash to 54.
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| DC-7C |
The Investigation Board appointed to determine the cause of the crash reported that the accident was most likely caused by a combination of factors. Evidence from a reconstructed flight showed that with an increase in speed for a few seconds, the rate of climb of the aircraft will decrease; with a lack of visual references "a pilot may follow a line of flight that will bring the aircraft back near the ground if, during this period, optimum climbing speed is not maintained and the altimeter is not carefully watched".