Warbird Information Exchange

Hi everyone,

I have some sad news today. Over the weekend a beautifully restored 1936 Fairchild 24 C8E crashed shortly after take-off from Langley Airport, BC.
The airplane in question is owned by Geoff and Bruce Guest who spent the last many years restoring her. This year at the Arlington Airshow it won Antique Reserve Grand Champion, which makes this accident even harder to swallow.

Another part of the story is that this exact airplane had a significant connection with the Guest family. Off the top of my head I can't remember exactly how, but as it goes a family member of theirs (father or grandfather) was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and when the RCMP purchased this exact airplane brand new, this family member was responsible for picking it up from the factory on the back east (Can't think of exactly where) and he flew it across Canada; all the way to British Columbia. He then flew the airplane in BC for many years doing his RCMP duties. Eventually the airplane was retired from the RCMP and entered civilian use.

Some time later, Geoff and Bruce Guest looked into where the airplane had ended up and they discovered it still existed, and was owned by a gentleman in the United States. They contacted the owner and purchased it, then began their long restoration.

I actually had the pleasure of watching their progress over the years because I was a glider pilot with the Air Cadet program and we flew out of Langley Airport, where they worked on the plane in their hangar. On my lunch breaks I'd often find their hangar door open and I would poke my head in to see how they were getting along with their project.

It is very sad to see what happened to the airplane and hope that it will return to the air one day. The outlook for that is quite bleak considering the damage it sustained, but anything is possible, right?

The article (with picture) is below:

http://www.canada.com/langleyadvance/ne ... 25b10098b4

The article says they failed to make an emergency landing, but in my books the pilot did the best he could given his circumstances and altitude to work with, AND since both occupants were able to walk away from it, I'd say it was a D*MN GOOD emergency landing. Obviously hitting the trees complicated things.

Anyways, I apologize for any inaccuracies in this story, but I'm writing it from memory. If I didn't get all the facts right, please fill them in so that this story doesn't go on with mis-information.

-David M.

Obviously a rugged design for the crew to walk away with only minor injuries. Thank heavens for that. I'm sure it can be repaired- aircraft from that era were pretty basic.

Yes, quite rugged, thankfully. I was actually at work when a co-worker told me about the crash and it scared me to death since I knew these guys had one that they recently got flying. It really saddened me to find out that it was them for certain.

They really put their blood and sweat into that airplane. It must have really been heart breaking for them.

the way the airplane came down it appears to have significant damage to the spar and rear fuselage section. But, the rear seat forward appears to be in fairly good condition.

I'm curious to know what they intend to do with it. It would be a shame to see them sell it considering what it means to their family, but I can't really see them doing another long-term restoration on the airplane. That would almost be too frustrating.

-David

Hi David,

Thanks for the info. I seen the accident on the news and wondered if it was CF-CCO. Glad to hear they walked away but too bad about the damage to the plane. It was a nice plane, hopefully they'll try to rebuild it.

Brian

That's sad news indeed. Lovely airplane.

It's particularly poignant because last Wednesday I bought one. (I'll start a thread.)

Anybody got a number where I can reach the pilot?

Dave

It speaks well of Mr. Guest that he aimed it away from people and took his chances in that direction.

_________________
"I love the smell of 100LL in the morning."

Does anybody know how things are going with regards to any restoration work being done to this beautiful bird?

Thanks,

David