March 28, 2002 More Drama in the Skies Around North Bay

Flaming plane plummeted through night sky

Last week I described the crash of a Bristol Bolingbroke bomber on the Girard farm on River Rd. in north Chisholm Township on January 6^th, 1942. In an interesting twist of fate, a CF100 "Canuck" all-weather jet interceptor from the North Bay airbase got in trouble in the same area on December 8^th, 1958. The crew ejected, dropping the cockpit canopy on the Girard farm. When the need for ejection takes place, an explosive device under the seats catapults the crew 90 feet into the air, through the cockpit canopy and opens the chutes.

The Buckman Crash

The Chisholm Women’s Institute History Book states that "the flaming plane plummeted through the night sky and crashed in the pasture of Homer Turgeon’s farm nearby. All that was left of the twin jet aircraft were scattered pieces of twisted metal and a smoke filled crater, 15 feet deep and 50 feet across." Squadron Leader Bob Burnett was in charge of the training flight with the other pilot, 21 year old Leslie Buchman. Burnett parachuted safely to earth and went to Maurice Laferrierre’s home a half mile away and called the airbase.

The young pilot was nowhere in sight. The rescue crew was certain that he had ejected and began a search in the December weather. Dozens of local men joined in the search with "the haunting thought that the missing officer could be alive somewhere." The body was found ten days later in a small clearing at the back of the Turgeon property, about a half mile from the crash. There is no report as to whether he died from exposure or from the ejection itself.

The George Hunter Crash

On July 30, 1953, the North Bay Daily Nugget flashed a front page headline story that 30 year old George Hunter of Hamilton had ejected from his CF100 and that the plane had crashed near McQuaby Lake, 25 miles southwest of North Bay. Most plane crash sites are cleaned up, but this one remains and has become a part of the local folklore. As mentioned last week, the Almaguin Highlands Secondary School Wilderness Club visited the site. With the cooperation of the Nugget, where Arnie Hakala wrote a fascinating front page article on the adventure, they researched the crash.

Doug Cox, one of the students from Almaguin, discovered that the pilot George Hunter, now 78, lives in Callander, and contacted him. George has since visited the school, and provided a flying manual which is on display there. He expects to go with the students when they return to the site this spring. The Nugget story in 1953 shows a picture of Hunter with his parachute and ejection seat taken in Powassan after he was picked up and taken there after the crash. He recently told me that an original copy of the Nugget article has been given to the Callander Legion, where it is on display.

Hunter was flying alone in the two-seater CF100 that day, when he had engine trouble. He was at 10,000 feet when a warning light went on and he saw smoke in his starboard engine. He had 1,300 gallons of fuel on board, and when he pressed the fire extinguisher button it didn’t work. The radio wires were burned, making base contact impossible. He headed the plane for a lake nearby and, with a plume of smoke trailing behind, ejected. He became the first CF100 pilot to eject in a critical situation. The next day he was back flying again.

There were several other CF100 crashes among the 692 planes manufactured. The plane was called the "Canuck," but many referred to it as the "Clunk" or the "Coffin." Captain Doug Newman, who was in charge of the Canadian Forces Museum of Aerospace Defense in North Bay, was originally informed that the crash had taken place in 1954 and reported that there were four crashes in that year alone, with only two survivors.

Apparently one plane crashed in South Bay, north of Nipissing Village. 

In one case, the canopy on the cockpit flew open and the plane shot off the runway, ending in the bush with the crew running for their life before the plane exploded. 

The pilot’s best friend died when his CF100 crashed into Lake Nipissing. 

I ran across an article in the Nugget by one of the senior RCAF officials defending the CF100, indicating that the number of accidents among the 692 planes was not excessive.

More next week

While looking at the Nugget report of the Hunter CF100 crash, I found that a P-51 Mustang single engine fighter plane had gone down north of North Bay ten days before, resulting in the largest air search since the crash of Toronto Maple Leaf NHL star Bill Birilko near Timmins. More on this next week.