Mt Benson - Pleasure & Tragedy - Nanaimo sites & symbols

[Smokey©]

Does anybody know when the plane was suppose to take off and land? Ive thought about running the flight through my flight simulator. The plane that crashed looked alot like the PBY Catalina parked at the airport. Also does anyone know if they flew along the coast or inland on the inside of the mountains?

Date: 17 OCT 1951
Time: ca 18:55
Type: Consolidated Canso A
Operator: Queen Charlotte Airlines
Registration: CF-FOQ
C/n / msn: 395
First flight: 1941
Crew: Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Passengers: Fatalities: 20 / Occupants: 20
Total: Fatalities: 23 / Occupants: 23
Airplane damage: Written off
Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: Mt. Benson, BC (Canada)
Phase: En route (ENR)
Nature: Domestic Non Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport: Kildala, BC, Canada
Destination airport: Vancouver (unknown airport), BC, Canada
Flightnumber: 102-17
Narrative:
While flying VFR in adverse weather conditions, the pilot mistook Nanaimo for Vancouver. The plane crashed into Mt. Benson.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The probable cause of this accident was the continuance of the flight VFR at night under conditions of restricted visibility. Whilst it cannot be determined conclusively, it is probable that through a navigational error the pilot mistook Nanaimo for Vancouver. This may have been precipitated by inadequate pre-flight preparation in that the latest Meteorological Information was not obtained by the pilot before taking off on the south bound flight."

The Consolidated Catalina and Canso were close cousins. The Canso was the true amphibious version of the design and therefore included a conventional undercarriage to allow for either water or land use.

THERE COULD HAVE BEEN STOPS ON THE WAY . . .. STAN has more details.

[stanley strazza]

Does anybody know when the plane was suppose to take off and land? Ive thought about running the flight through my flight simulator. The plane that crashed looked alot like the PBY Catalina parked at the airport. Also does anyone know if they flew along the coast or inland on the inside of the mountains?

Howdy AceMCool...The flight should have taken off from the 3 K's (Kitimat, Kamano, Kildala) at noon of Oct 17th,1951...however it did not leave Kildala until well after 3 pm or there abouts...Pilot McQueen was a gung ho pilot they say so who does actually knows for sure where his flight path was....the normal direction should have been to follow the mainland coast south to Vancouver, but I know that he was no where near the coast what so ever.....the aircraft had to be very near Amber Airway#1 to follow the A/N signal beam which runs north and south from Port Hardy to Patricia Bay at Victoria...I can only tell you where it was as it approached Lantzville, that makes the flight path off course and West of Nanaimo.....strange huh!.......give me a jingle and I'll be happy to chat about it....250-619-4408........stanley strazza

[Flugel Horn]

"bump", so that new member MarsFan can see this thread.

Dan: I think you'll find this here thread interesting, re the Canso crash.

===============

I've recently finished reading the "The Accidental Airline" book by Jim Spilsbury. The chapter on the crash was very interesting reading, and I found this forum's thread to be a good companion piece of fact & discussion.

[stanley strazza]

"bump", so that new member MarsFan can see this thread.

Dan: I think you'll find this here thread interesting, re the Canso crash.

===============

I've recently finished reading the "The Accidental Airline" book by Jim Spilsbury. The chapter on the crash was very interesting reading, and I found this forum's thread to be a good companion piece of fact & discussion.

yo'... I am glad you enjoyed the story on the Canso-A crash event....it surely was a horrific crash allright............cheers!.........stan the man

[Flugel Horn]

Here's something plane-crash related:

From the Vancouver Island Military Museum, here is a map of military crash sites from WWII, on Vancouver Island and area:








....and here are your close-ups:

[nanaimoboy]

This is just a suggestion. But there has been so much talk about this crash site, that maybe this site should be given some sort of designation as a historic site? I'd like to see a marker put in place where the plane crashed with all the names of the people who died on that aircraft. Because, sooner or later, this area will be swallowed up by development, unless it is already part of the Mt. Benson Park, and I don't know if it is.

Anyway, if this was done, then developers would be less inclined to build homes on this land knowing that all these people died there. It's kind of like building a home on an Indian burial site. No one wants to do that.

Maybe a sign could be put up made from wood, first, marking the area. After that, something more permanent. Something that cannot be easily vandalized or torn down. An example of something more permanent is below. This has been in place for about 50 years in Victoria. And the kids have done everything except to nuke it to try to destroy it, but it is still as good as new. See the picture.

[stanley strazza]

.....oh ya' nanaimoboy...... when the rape of Benson gets close to the wreck-site, I''l be gettin' involved big time....I had intended to place a marker on the actual crash-site in the future as I start to pen my story on the crash of Canso-A CF-FOQ.....I don't think they will go near the wreck-site though, cause' it's pretty rocky there with shear rock faces everywhere......I have been keeping my eyes on the logging show for that.....as this is my ninth year at the CF-FOQ wreck-chasing hobby I so enjoy......we shall see where the raping bast--ds go next...........cheers!..........Stanley Strazza

[Nostradama]

.....oh ya' nanaimoboy...... when the rape of Benson gets close to the wreck-site, I''l be gettin' involved big time....I had intended to place a marker on the actual crash-site in the future as I start to pen my story on the crash of Canso-A CF-FOQ.....I don't think they will go near the wreck-site though, cause' it's pretty rocky there with shear rock faces everywhere......I have been keeping my eyes on the logging show for that.....as this is my ninth year at the CF-FOQ wreck-chasing hobby I so enjoy......we shall see where the raping bast--ds go next...........cheers!..........Stanley Strazza

I think you'd find a lot of help from various Legion branches, and probably from the air museum in Comox, on the air base. I think that's what it is, but there's something like a museum there--a friend of mine was invited for a ceremony there in the last few years because her father was commanding officer at one time. You'd get a lot of opinions in your favour. Plus a whole bunch of oldsters, either WW II vets or people who remember WW II, doing things like chaining themselves to trees. I'd be willing. And this is exactly the kind of human interest story the media loves: "Aging Vets Remember Fallen Comrades." They'd kill themselves to get their cameras in there.

Might have to find a way to get a whole bunch of aging bodies in there, 'tho.

[stanley strazza]

...yup, Nostradama...I suppose it would take that to get it noticed allright.....I don't know why the city fathers or even NALT who seem not to care or mention any dealings about the crash-site and the memory of it.....that's to bad I say, after all this chatter about it....we shall see what it's future will be on it, for sure for sure it will come, and soon.......stan the man

[Buzzard]

Hey thats my old neighbourhood, I grew up right by in Highrock Cairn.Have to say as teens in the 70s we always showed respected for that marker and the surrounding parkland.Had many of a good time up there.