On the 24th November 1955, an RCAF Canso (a/c number 11073) piloted by F/O Sutcliffe, departed Sea Island and was deployed to Tofino to pick up FtrCops. These personnel were being deployed to Holberg to augment their FtrCop staff during a large scale Exercise Crackerjack. We left Tofino about noon and at 1400 hours we crashed in choppy seas in Johnstone Strait, some 130 miles NW of Vancouver on the northern tip of Vancouver Island.
This was my first experience in a water landing. At first I heard what sounded like a scraping noise and the next thing we knew, water was gushing in and the fuselage was completely filled with water. We lost three people, one of whom was from Tofino - AC2 NC Thompson.
We were lucky that more lives were not lost. This was due to the fact that the fuel tanks were less than 1/4 full at the time of the crash. This allowed the aircraft to stay afloat. Only the wing area, mind you, as the fuselage was completely submerged. Apparently an error had been made when on approach to land in the Strait, consequently the nose broke off and immediately we were all under water. Only for the fast action of crew member LAC FA Fatt, who got the rear canopy opened and stood by the cargo door until the last minute - making sure that those who were in the rear of the aircraft were able to escape.
I can't recall how long we were standing on the wings, but we were picked up by a tug boat. The captain of this tug (Western Challenger) told us that he thought that something was wrong in that he saw the plane attempting a water landing and then he lost sight of the aircraft. The next thing he saw were people standing on the water. He then realized that the plane has crashed. This tug was towing a log boom, so the capatin gave the order to cut the boom and went full speed ahead to our rescue. The following extract was taken from the Vancouver Sun, 25 Nov 55 - "The choppy seas had calmed down enough to allow the survivors to be rowed to the Western Challenger." This was the statement made to the reporter by AC1 Albert Gallant of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
We were then taken to Kelsey Bay and bused to Comox. There we were given a complete medical. Most of us were tired and shaken up from the ordeal. We stayed a couple of days or so before we returned to Tofino. While at Comox, most of us had to be re-issued clothing. The clothing stores was unable to provide us with a complete uniform (shirt and ties) so we were issued with blue turtle neck sweaters. We thought this was great until at least six of us were passing by the Base Headquarters building. The SWO bellowed at us to get in his office and he really gave us a going over - without bothering to ask any questions. When he was finished, LAC Don Graham told him what had happened to us. Talk about back peddling.
They wanted to fly us back to Tofino - but we refused so they sent us to Port Alberni by Bus and then by boat from Port Alberni to Ucluelet. We had to stay overnight in Port Alberni. Needless to say, we partied most of the night.
Al Gallant was fortunate to have been one of the 16 survivors in this aircraft crash. Our thanks to Al for providing all of the information about the incident. While 52 AC&W Squadron in Tofino was only operational for three years (1955-1957) I suspect that memories of this crash remain quite vivid, even today.
-- Ren L’Ecuyer, January, 1999.
