From the archives: Mayo man's tragic fate in 1958 air crash
By Tom Gillespie
THE surprise homecoming of Thomas Roach, Buffalo, New York, in August 1958 - 65 years ago this year - and his equally surprising snap decision to return to the States after spending only four days in his native Castlebar had a very tragic ending as he was one of the passengers on the Dutch KLM super-constellation plane which crashed on Wednesday night, August 14, with all passengers and members of the crew, totalling 99, killed.
Details of the terrible disaster, which took place 105 miles out from the west coast of Connemara and immediately after the plane left Shannon Airport, were carried in The Connaught Telegraph some days later.
It was believed then that it was the worst air crash in civil aviation history.
When the plane lost contact with Shannon the alarm was raised and an immediate search was started. Later, wreckage was located by an RAF aircraft and all ships in the vicinity rushed to the rescue to make the tragic discovery that there were no survivors. French trawlers, which were first on the scene, removed a large number of bodies and they were taken to Galway.
The story of Mr. Roach’s visit home had indeed a very sad ending. He arrived in Castlebar the previous Thursday to pay a surprise visit to his nephew, Patrick Roach, Castle Street, Castlebar, and to renew acquaintances with his old friends in his native Turlough.
It was his first visit home in 40 years and during his short stay he called on many old friends.
His nephew, Patrick Roach, told a Connaught Telegraph reporter that his uncle told him on Monday morning: “I’m going to Dublin. I have no business hanging around here. I have seen what I wanted to see.”
The nephew added: “My uncle told one man in the house he might go to Killarney and another man he might go to Lourdes. I hope he is not on the missing plane anyway.
“He was sort of fed up with the bad weather and felt the climate here was very cold.
“He just told me on Monday morning he was going to Dublin and said he might return to America about Wednesday. He was a man who kept to himself and knew where he was going.”
Thomas Roach was unmarried and lived with his sister, a Mrs. Holmes, in Buffalo. He had three other sisters and a brother in America. He was a retired postman and was working as a salesman.
It transpired, however, that Mr. Roach was in fact a passenger on the ill-fated aircraft. His body was not among the 34 recovered.
At an inquest on those 34 bodies in Galway, Dr. John Kennedy, Professor of Pathology, University College, Galway, said none of the bodies could be identified as crew members.
The details of injuries for each body, together with the cause of death, was submitted.
In the presence of Dr. Zeldenrust, four of the bodies were examined in detail. Subsequently, in the presence of Dr. Van Dreger, chief of KLM medical services, one additional complete examination was made.
In his opinion, the nature of the injuries did not favour the view that they were caused directly by explosion.
The jury returned the verdict that ‘death was due to a violent impact sustained in an aircraft over the Atlantic, there being no evidence to show the cause of the impact’.