REALISM combined with farce as a major air crash simulation exercise was carried out in Glasgow in April 1975.

The scenario created was of a plane crashing into a tenement, with volunteers playing their part as "victims" of the disaster.

Two became victims of the exercise, having to be treated for shock after explosions that triggered the start of it proved too realistic for them.

Emergency service crews entered into the spirit of the exercise, arriving at the location - known beforehand only to senior officers - within five minutes of the call, and then telling newspaper photographers to stop taking pictures and help with stretchers.

More than 200 people were "rescued" from the plane, a tenement and a double decker bus within two hours and the search begun for the plane's black box.

Scenarios of hijacking and looting were also included in the exercise, with a plane door, believed to have caused the accident when it fell out, found later on the roof of a building nearby.

Phew!