A fact from October 1926 Air Union Blériot 155 crash appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 20 January 2011 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
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The article says that this was the first in-flight fire occuring on an airliner, in a Times editorial on 4 October There has in fact not been a single case of a fatal accident caused by firing in the air to a British plane engaged in public transport and on a scheduled service since 1919. So probably not the first. MilborneOne (talk) 20:14, 15 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hmm, not so sure. Was The Times referring to the start of civil aviation in 1919 (civil aircraft registrations were first introduced on 1 May 1919)? At the inquest, the exchange of questions and answers was:-
The Coroner - Can anyone give the jury any information on fires occurring in the air?
Major Cooper replied that there had been no cases with civil aircraft.
So, with the info coming from someone closely involved in aircraft accident investigation at the time, I think we can be confident in the statement, unless an earlier civil airliner in-flight fire can be proved. Mjroots (talk) 22:04, 15 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]
