Such is the enduring sense of loss, that many restaurants and other buildings around the city still display photographs of the team they called "Il Grande Torino".

Before the Second World War, Italy had twice won the World Cup under the guidance of legendary coach Vittorio Pozzo. In the mid-1940s,as the nation emerged from the Fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini, the arrival of a new golden generation of star footballers offered something positive for Italians at a difficult time .

Torino played at the Stadio Filadelfia in the Lingotto district of the city, not far from the great Fiat headquarters. Torino had already won the Italian Championship - or Scudetto - four times in a row and were fast becoming the backbone of the Italian national team. On one memorable occasion they did provide all 10 outfield players for a match against Hungary.

The captain of their side was Valentino Mazzola, an attacking player who became a highly respected figure in the game.

His team-mate Mario Rigamonti once described him as "half the team".

Mazzola had become friends with Benfica’s Francisco Ferreira. They had played against one another in an international match. Mazzola scored one of the goals in a 4-1 victory for the Italians.

Ferreira was soon to retire from the game and told his friend, "I would like to organise something special.I would like to face the best team in the world."

So it was agreed that in May 1949, Torino would play a special friendly against Benfica in Lisbon. Both teams entered into the spirit of the occasion and in front of a large crowd, Benfica won 4-3.

That evening there was a celebratory banquet and the following day, the Torino players boarded a Fiat G-212 plane for the flight home.

As the aircraft approached the city of Turin, the flight path was across the hill of Superga. On the crest of the hill is a basilica built in the 18th century.

As the plane flew onwards towards its final destination, conditions had worsened with rain and fog. Shortly after five o clock that evening, it crashed into the side of the mountain. A total of 31 people were killed.

There were no survivors.

As news of the catastrophe spread, many made their way to the site. Amongst those who arrived at the crash site was Pozzo. To him fell the grim task of identification.

The death of captain Mazzola robbed Italian football of a talismanic figure. "When we walked around Turin, I couldn't understand why people stopped him all the time," recalled his son Sandro, who was only six-years-old at the time of the crash, but went on to enjoy a distinguished playing career of his own with Internazionale and Italy.

Other casualties included Erno Egri Erbstein, a Hungarian émigré who had become head coach and trainer Les Lievesley, a former Manchester United player, recruited initially as youth team coach in 1947. Victims also included the journalists who had travelled with the team.

When news of the disaster came through, the Senate in Rome suspended their session as a mark of respect.

Investigations into how the tragedy had happened were carried out. It emerged that the on-board instruments had malfunctioned to have given false altitude readings.

It was estimated that half-a-million came out on to the streets on the day of the funeral. The mourners included the players and officials of Juventus, the other great club in the city. Players from the youth teams of both clubs wore their club shirts as they joined the funeral procession.

Reporter Orio Vergani wrote in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera of, "The farewell of Torino to the fallen of Superga. Under grey skies, the city came to a standstill as the coffins appeared."

The coffins were draped with the colours of the team and the name of each victim in simple lettering on a white background. These were decorated with "the most beautiful flowers".

In an age when television was in its infancy, it fell to the cinema newsreels to show the funeral procession.

"A team without an equal on the continent," said the newsreel announcers.

The popular Italian sports magazine Guerin Sportivo devoted eight pages in tribute. "Torino are in our hearts," it said.

At the funeral service, Otto Barassi, President of the Italian Football Federation gave an oration. "I fulfil a solemn duty. I announce to you dear brothers, that Torino have won a fifth Championship," he said. 

The remaining matches of that 1948-1949 season were completed by the Torino youth team. Rival clubs reciprocated in a gesture of solidarity and many of the young players involved were overcome with emotion.

The Argentinian club side River Plate came to the city for a match in aid of the families. They met a Torino 11 made up of players from other clubs.

The Chilean Football Association proposed that that May 4 should be designated "World Football" day.

Later a monument was erected on the hillside. Etched in the club colours are the names of all those who perished.

There was another air tragedy later in 1949. Boxer Marcel Cerdan was among 48 who died in an air crash in the Azores. He had been travelling to the United States for a title bout with Jake La Motta.

When the Italian team set out for the 1950 World Cup tournament in Brazil, they chose to travel by sea.

In 1958, Manchester United were known as "The Busby Babes" because of the emphasis on youth in the team. They were returning from a European match in Belgrade when their aircraft crashed in snow at Munich airport. Though manager Matt Busby and star player Bobby Charlton were among the survivors, the crash claimed many victims. The grief felt brought the clubs in Turin and Manchester together.

For Torino, the 1940s had proved the greatest and most poignant decade in their history. In the early 1960s, they moved from their fabled Stadio Filadelfia to the Stadio Communale - now known as the Stadio Olimpico.

For the next half-a-century, the ground was left as a ruin, but in 2015 construction of a new stadium on the same site began and this is now used for youth team matches.

There have been many disasters affecting sport in more recent times. The aircraft carrying the Brazilian club Chapecoense to a match in Colombia crashed in November 2016, killing 71. 

Last October a helicopter crashed as it left Leicester City's ground after a Premier League match. Five people died, including the popular club chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

Earlier this year,a light plane carrying Emiliano Sala from Nantes to Cardiff City went down in the English Channel. 

Each has been felt with a profound sense of loss. 

They have also brought the first major sporting air tragedies of 1949 into sharp relief.