1960's a time of high tension...France was the fourth country to test an independently developed nuclear weapon in 1960, under the government of Charles de Gaulle. The weapons are part of the national Force de frappe, developed in the late 1950s and 1960s to give France the ability to distance itself from NATO while having a means of nuclear deterrence under sovereign control.
En 1968, tout était secret, "moins on en parle, mieux ça vaut", c'est la philosophie du governement du général de Gaulle.... Raymond Auffray." Everything was secret, less one said the better", that was the philosophy of the government at the time... In the '60's it was the height of the Cold War, new weapons were being manufactured and tested. France in particular wanted to be at the forefront of this technology. Testing these missiles was high on the agenda so firing them across civilian airline routes was deemed a necessary risk. Admitting that the guidance systems for the missiles was not functioning and could hit anything else in the sky at the time was not... |
Secrets of State - the book written about the crashSecret d'Etats - Max Clanet/Jean-Michel Verne (excerpt from)
When the researchers of the book seen above, tried to gain access to many files (2007-8) they were given a list of what they "could" look at. The army states they have no archives relating to firings from missile bases. The Poker archives are missing, archives of the Suffren (navel frigate -see Gas Mask) whereabouts unknown, archives of the GTES missing, CERES missiles archives blocked only a judge can allow access.......so no luck there. It is extraordinary that one can access detailed archives way back to 1725 from the Ministry of Defence, but so much is missing from 1968! Jean Dupont, a pilot and member of the crash investigation commission, 1970, writes " why were the radar films hidden from him" .." much more serious, the chapter dealing with the hypothesis of a missile hit was completely changed" without his agreement. He writes.. " if anything should happen to me, the slightest accident, the slightest illness you should seek out the responsible amongst the military authorities and the government. "le moindre accident, le moindre maladie. Il faudrait rechercher les responsables parmi les authorités militaires et gouvernementales". |
To take a look at a Caravelle, its interior and exterior - click on these links.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qByUHbUjUdw To view a video of the interior of a Caravelle - it is a very narrow plane, nothing is far from anything! Hard to imagine the cabin crew could not have got extinguishers and dealt with a small fire in a toilet.
1 Why was the Military so heavily involved ? It was an ordinary civilian flight.
2. Wreckage going missing - why? The first bits of wreckage began to arrive, but amazing many were immediately re-routed to Paris, no inventory was done no pictures were taken...nothing... ? Why? Some parts of the wreakage were taken to Toulon and not seen by the crash investigators. Why? 3. Wreckage going missing - why? The first bits of wreckage began to arrive, but amazing many were immediately re-routed to Paris, no inventory was done no pictures were taken.... ? Why? Some parts of the wreakage were never seen by the crash investigators. 4. French Pilots at the time did not believe the truth would out..why? *A letter from the National Syndicate of Pilots to the Transport in 1970 states, " You know Minister what rumours there are surrounding this disaster. These rumours have started up again, following the landing of a missile on the Varoise coast. To date we have refused to back this supposition. A premature abadonment of the research into these claims might lead us to revise our position in the face of more and more of our members who believe that the current investigation will not suceed." Many pilots at that time felt that flying over an active firing area posed real risks and that the investigation would never be allowed to discover the truth. |
5. A fire starts in the toilet - a cigarette in the bin - no extinguishers used - why?
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Map Ile de Levant and Corsica-Nice flight path.
Ile de Levant military base can be seen as a greenish area a little out to sea, between Toulon and Frejus.
Where did the misiles come from? Certainly not from the left of the plane...
Le Centre d'Essais de l'Ile de Levant which was extensively used during this period. It was just a few miles from and to the left of the Caravelle route and close to the port of Toulon. It was prohibited to sail near it or fly over it. The tests carried out there involved the Navy but also other parts of the military, and included work on nuclear devices. All types of missile took their first steps there, air to air, ground to air etc.
It tested not only French missiles but other countries also. France wanted to sell its devices to to other armies, members of these armies would often stay on the island, Israel to name but one.
The position of these islands is important. Damage to the left of the plane = possibility of a missile collision from Ile de Levant
Damage to the right of the plane = just a fire / no collision
Left side or right side damaged? Which is it?
Evidence suggested that the plane was damaged on the left-hand side of the plane, in direct line with the Ile de Levant military base. The right hand side would face towards Italy - no military bases or missiles there.
Some official reports stated damage to the left side of the plane - but was not taken into account in the eventually published final report:
In a report written by Henri Forestier, a director with the Central French Laboratories was asked to study the the debris from the crash.
He states " we can observe that the rear part of the Caravelle underwent a particularly intense fire around the rear toilettes to the left of the plane.... the alarms set off by the smoke would have allowed the cabin crew to get control of the fire quickly using the extinguishers.."
later on in the report he states " it would be important that the engines be found, especially the left one."
later again he states " The fire that took place on the 11th September '68 aboard the Caravelle seemed due to a fire in the left engine that communicated the fire into the interior of the plane" . However his letter was changed by an unknown to reflect the desired side "the right hand side".
Le Centre d'Essais de l'Ile de Levant which was extensively used during this period. It was just a few miles from and to the left of the Caravelle route and close to the port of Toulon. It was prohibited to sail near it or fly over it. The tests carried out there involved the Navy but also other parts of the military, and included work on nuclear devices. All types of missile took their first steps there, air to air, ground to air etc.
It tested not only French missiles but other countries also. France wanted to sell its devices to to other armies, members of these armies would often stay on the island, Israel to name but one.
The position of these islands is important. Damage to the left of the plane = possibility of a missile collision from Ile de Levant
Damage to the right of the plane = just a fire / no collision
Left side or right side damaged? Which is it?
Evidence suggested that the plane was damaged on the left-hand side of the plane, in direct line with the Ile de Levant military base. The right hand side would face towards Italy - no military bases or missiles there.
Some official reports stated damage to the left side of the plane - but was not taken into account in the eventually published final report:
In a report written by Henri Forestier, a director with the Central French Laboratories was asked to study the the debris from the crash.
He states " we can observe that the rear part of the Caravelle underwent a particularly intense fire around the rear toilettes to the left of the plane.... the alarms set off by the smoke would have allowed the cabin crew to get control of the fire quickly using the extinguishers.."
later on in the report he states " it would be important that the engines be found, especially the left one."
later again he states " The fire that took place on the 11th September '68 aboard the Caravelle seemed due to a fire in the left engine that communicated the fire into the interior of the plane" . However his letter was changed by an unknown to reflect the desired side "the right hand side".