Barbara Jane Harrison: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=SeptemberApril 20192021}}

| name = Barbara Jane Harrison

'''Barbara Jane Harrison''' [[George Cross|GC]] (24 May 1945&nbsp;– 8 April 1968), known as '''Jane Harrison''',<ref>Michael Ashcroft, ''George Cross Heroes'', 2010</ref> was a British [[Unitedflight Kingdom|Britishattendant]] who was posthumously awarded the [[flightGeorge attendantCross]], for her role in the evacuation of [[BOAC Flight 712]]. She is one of four women to have been awarded the [[George Cross]] for heroism,<ref>Other women have received awards that were later replaced by the GC for actions in peacetime</ref> and the only woman awarded the medal on that basis for gallantry in peacetime. (theThe other three female George Cross recipients served with the [[Special Operations Executive]] in occupied France during the [[Second World War]]).

Harrison was born on 24 May 1945 at the family home in Kingsdale Crescent, [[Bradford]], [[West Riding of Yorkshire]] to Lena and Alan Harrison. She was their second child, another daughter, Susan Elizabeth, having been born in 1941. Harrison attended Greystones School, Bradford. The family later moved to [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|Scarborough]], where Harrison attended Newby County Primary School. In 1955 her mother died. She passed her [[Eleven plus exam|11-plus]] and attended [[Graham School|Scarborough Girls' High School]]. In 1961, her father moved to [[Doncaster]]. Harrison stayed on at Scarborough to complete her [[GCE Ordinary Level|O levels]] before joining her father in the summer of 1961. She then attended [[Doncaster High School]] until Easter, 1962.<ref name=OttawayC1>{{cite book ran| first =Susan | last =Ottaway | year =2008 | title =Fire over Heathrow, The Tragedy of Flight 712 | chapter =Chapter 1 | pages =1–9| publisher =Pen and Sword Books | location =Barnsley A|isbnp=978-1-84415-739-6 ch1}}</ref>

After completing her training, Harrison was assigned work onboardon board BOAC's [[Boeing 707]] fleet. She moved to Emperor's Gate, [[Kensington]], [[London]], where she shared a flat with other BOAC flight attendants, and purchased a [[Ford Anglia]] car for use in getting to work at [[Heathrow Airport]]. She also joined Universal Aunts, which provided staff to do odd jobs; one of her assignments was babysitting [[Jason Connery]], son of actor [[Sean Connery]].<ref name=OttawayC3>{{cite book ran| first =Susan A| last p=Ottaway | year =2008 | title =Fire over Heathrow, The Tragedy of Flight 712 | chapter =Chapter 3 | pages = 19–40| publisher =Pen and Sword Books | location =Barnsley |isbn=978-1-84415-739-6 ch3}}</ref> While she enjoyed her job, long-haul flights with their several stopovers were exhausting, and she had told a friend she was considering quitting BOAC.{{sfnran|A|Ottaway, p. =29}}

On 8 April 1968 Harrison was rostered at her own request to work BOAC Flight 712 Whiskey Echo long-haul to Sydney, Australia, via Zurich, Tel Aviv, Tehran, Bombay (now Mumbai), Singapore and Perth. She told a colleague that she had been invited to a wedding in Sydney, but it is possible that she wanted to see a [[Qantas]] pilot whom she had met some months before.{{sfnran|Ottaway, pp. A|p=26, 29–30}}

HarrisonOn 8 April 1968, Harrison (aged 22,) was a flight attendant on boardaboard [[BOAC Flight 712]] when it left [[Heathrow Airport]] at 16.27 BST on 8 April 1968, bound indirectly for [[Sydney]].

The citation for Harrison'sHer George Cross citation recites what happened almost immediately after takeoff:

{{quoteblockquote|

No. 2 engine of B.O.A.C. Boeing 707 G-ARWE caught fire and subsequently fell from the aircraft, leaving a fierce fire burning at No. 2 engine position. About two and a half minutes later the aircraft made an emergency landing at the airport and the fire on the port wing intensified. Miss Harrison was one of the stewardesses in this aircraft and the duties assigned to her in an emergency were to help the steward at the aft station to open the appropriate rear door and inflate the escape chute and then to assist the passengers at the rear of the aircraft to leave in an orderly manner. When the aircraft landed, Miss Harrison and the steward concerned opened the rear galley door and inflated the chute, which unfortunately became twisted on the way down so that the steward had to climb down it to straighten it before it could be used. Once out of the aircraft he was unable to return; hence Miss Harrison was left alone to the task of shepherding passengers to the rear door and helping them out of the aircraft. She encouraged some passengers to jump from the machine and pushed out others.<!-- With flames and explosions all around her, making an escape from the tail of the machine impossible, she directed her passengers to another exit while she remained at her post. She was finally overcome while trying to save an elderly cripple who was seated in one of the last rows and whose body was found close to that of the stewardess. Miss Harrison was a very brave young lady who gave her life in her utter devotion to duty.--><ref name=Gazette/>}}

According to witnesses, after the escape chute had been burnt away Harrison continued to force passengers to safety by pushing them out the door, even as "flames and smoke [were] licking around her face".{{refnran|A|Ottaway, pp. =72–74, p. 136}}

She then seemed to be preparing to jump but instead turned back inside;{{sfnran|A|Ottaway, pp. =76, 77}} there was another explosion and she was not seen alive again.{{refnran|A| Ottaway, p. =131}} Her body was found with four others near the rear door;{{refnran|A|Ottaway, p. =91}} all had died from asphyxia.{{refnran|A|Ottaway, p. =151}}

[[Anthony Crosland]] ([[President of the Board of Trade]] and the minister responsible for civil aviation) later wrote of Harrison's "lonely and courageous action" and "devotion to duty, in the highest traditions of her calling".{{sfnran|A|Ottaway, p. =139}}

|title=Barbara Jane Harrison, GC (Posthumously)

|publisher=Chameleon HH Publishing Ltd

|url=http://www.gc-database.co.uk/recipients/HarrisonBJ.htm

|accessdate=19 November 2007

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013214522/http://gc-database.co.uk/recipients/HarrisonBJ.htm

|archivedate=13 October 2007

|url-status=dead

It is now at British Airways' Speedbird Centre, which is dedicated to the history of the crew and story of [[British Airways]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/heritage/yorkshire-air-hostess-who-died-heathrow-plane-fire-be-honoured-her-heroism-1749601|title=Yorkshire air hostess who died in Heathrow plane fire to be honoured for her heroism|date=23 September 2019|newspaper=Yorkshire Post|access-date=14 August 2022}}</ref>

The "Barbara Jane Harrison, GC, Memorial Fund" was, set up in October 1969 with the aim of raising [[Pound Sterling|£]]1,000 by October 1970. Almostraised £1,500 wastowards raisedpurchase which was used to buyof a computer for the [[National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery]], London, for use by the [[muscular dystrophy]] laboratories for research into the disease.<ref name=OttawayC11>{{cite book ran| first =Susan A| last p=Ottaway | year =2008 | title =Fire over Heathrow, The Tragedy of Flight 712 | chapter =Chapter 11| pages =157–63 |publisher =Pen and Sword Books | location =Barnsley |isbn=978-1-84415-739-6 ch11}}</ref>

A plaque in memory of Harrison was unveiled on 23 October 1970.<ref name=OttawayA2>{{cite book ran| first =Susan | last =Ottaway | year =2008 | title =Fire over Heathrow, The Tragedy of Flight 712 | chapter =Appendix 2 | page =166 |publisher =Pen and Sword Books | location =Barnsley A|isbnp=978-1-84415-739-6 App2}}</ref> The ''Barbara Harrison Prize'' was established in 1968 by the [[Royal Air Force]] [[RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine|Institute of Aviation Medicine]]. It is awarded to the best student on a Diploma in Aviation Medicine course whose first language is not [[English language|English]]. The prize is now under the remit of the Department of Aviation Medicine at [[King's College, London]].

Also in 1970, a plaque memorial was unveiled in [[St George's Interdenominational Chapel, Heathrow Airport|St. George's Interdenominational Chapel]] in [[Heathrow Airport]] dedicated to Harrison.

* [[Neerja Bhanot]]

* {{rma|tag=A|reference=Susan Ottaway, ''Fire Over Heathrow. The Tragedy of Flight 712''.

* {{rma|tag=B|reference={{cite journal | last = O'Brien| first = Tim|date=June 2008 | title = The Last Flight of Whiskey Echo| journal = Aeroplane| volume = 36, Number 6| issue = 422| pages = 30–35| issn = 0143-7240}}

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