On 17 February 1959 , the Turkish Airlines aircraft Vickers Viscount Type 793 , registration TC-SEV , carrying Adnan Menderes and a party of government officials on a special flight from Istanbul to London Gatwick Airport crashed a few miles short of the runway , near Rusper , Sussex in heavy fog and caught fire . Nine of the 16 passengers and 5 of the 8 crew lost their lives . Menderes , sitting in the back part of the plane , survived the accident almost uninjured and was hospitalized at The London Clinic 90 minutes after receiving first aid from Margaret Bailey , a local resident who rushed to the crash site
special flight
1959 Turkish Airlines Gatwick crash
Adnan Menderes