An aircraft mystery finally solved
Sonar finds U.S. military plane that went down in Gulf of St. Lawrence 67 years ago
MONTREAL — From Friday's Globe and Mail
Last updated on Friday, Aug. 07, 2009 05:43AM EDT
It was a blustery Day of the Dead in 1942 when a United States Army Air Forces flying boat trying to take off from Canadian coastal waters sank, taking five U.S. servicemen to the ocean floor.
The Burgess family had a shoreline view in Longue-Pointe-de-Mingan, Que., on the snowy Nov. 2 as fishermen rowed into two-metre seas to pluck four survivors from the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Yesterday, not far from the crash site, Jean-Luc Burgess and government officials announced that surveyors using sonar had finally found the wreckage, some 67 years after the PBY 5A Catalina went down.
"This is an event that marked our entire village for decades afterward," said Mr. Burgess, a retiree and village mayor. The Nov. 2 Catholic day of remembrance, known as le jour des morts, was thereafter associated with the crash, he said.
"It's very satisfying to think we may see a final resolution and a proper burial for those soldiers."
A sonar survey of an area adjacent to the Mingan Archipelago National Park Reserve led by marine archaeologist Marc-André Bernier discovered the aircraft.
"The fuselage seems to be intact, there's nothing to indicate it broke apart, so there's reason to believe the remains might still be inside," Mr. Bernier said.
Later this month, divers will confirm the identity of the plane. U.S. authorities will later decide whether to proceed with raising the aircraft or retrieving remains.
"The sonar images are very convincing, but a visual confirmation is required," Mr. Bernier said.
"It's not an easy operation, we're going to take our time and do it properly in respect for the people on the plane."
The Gulf of St. Lawrence near the Mingan Islands was a linchpin to the war effort in 1942. The U.S. army crew flying on the Catalina were building a secret air base just outside of town. It would be a waypoint on the flight route from the United States to Europe passing through Newfoundland, Greenland and Iceland.
The vast waters just south of Labrador were also the scene of numerous U-boat attacks.
The doomed Catalina was part of a small fleet of amphibious planes deployed by the U.S., British and Canadian militaries.
On the fateful flight, the aircraft made two attempts to take off. Survivors reported it sprung a major leak in its front wheel well after smashing against wave tops. It sank within minutes.
The Catalina, with twin engines mounted on high wings, boat-like hull and, on some models, retractable wheels, helped locate the German battleship Bismarck, according to aviation writer Doug Legg.
The plane fell out of military use soon after the war, but found new roles, including aerial surveying and firefighting.
There were also "the relatively conventional roles of passenger and freight transport and rich man's airborne yacht," Mr. Legg wrote on the website Catalina News.
Enthusiasts still fly several of the aircraft.
The base near the Mingan Islands operated for just a few years, but construction money and the 175 solders who manned the base had a lasting impact on the tiny community.
The U.S. military built an array of infrastructure, from a gymnasium to roads and the local pier. Residents got to watch U.S. films with soldiers.
The air strip officially closed shortly after the war, but its twin 2,000-metre runways still dominate the landscape north of town and planes still occasionally use them.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nat ... le1244138/
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