When General David Galtier hovered above the French Alps in a helicopter on 24 March 2015 he could not see the 60-tonne plane he was looking for.

Instead he saw thousands and thousands of little pieces of metal. “There was nothing,” he says. “Only these little stars shining in the mountains.”

Ten years on, he recalls to Josephine McDermott how he led the police’s search operation, from the moment he heard about the disappearance of Flight 4U 9525, to the handing back of the victims’ possessions.

In the first 24 hours, the possibility that such a routine, short-haul flight cruising with two experienced pilots on board could end in the loss of 150 people was almost impossible to comprehend.

Then, Gen Galtier heard the cockpit voice recorder which revealed the last efforts from air traffic control to communicate with Andreas Lubitz who had locked himself in the cockpit. Investigators drew the harrowing conclusion that he had intended to crash the plane.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: The memorial site of the Germanwings plane crash. Credit: AP)