NavList:

David, you wrote:
"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?"

I am not sure I understand what is meant by compression medically, but I assume it's brain injury, an extreme concussion? I agree with you that there had to be more to it than the gash on his head. Apparently the survivors were well supplied after they were discovered shortly after the crash, and food and drink, including beer, were air-dropped to them at regular intervals. One report mentioned that the the survivors found a common purpose in looking after the six-month-old baby who was one of the passengers (with his mother). It's so strange thinking about their plight today. They were really trapped out there in that sea of dunes. From the vantage point of 2015, I find myself thinking, 'why didn't they just send in helicopters?' Oh right... helicopters are a rare sight in 1952! So few and with such limited capabilities that they could not help in such a remote part of the world.

Frank Reed