It was January 1961 and I had been posted to 1 Wing Marville. My family and I had traveled to Ottawa by train, stayed over-night in a hotel, and boarded the Comet at Uplands the next day. We just got nicely in the air when the pilot advised that we had an emergency, and would have to return to Uplands. We flew around to jetison fuel and landed with all emergency vehicles waiting. The problem couldn't be repaired that night, so we returned to the hotel.
The next day we got nicely seated when the pilot requested everyone to deplane as they were experiencing a fire warning light. We waited in the terminal while that was fixed. We just got seated again when the pilot advised the batteries were dead and they couldn't start the aircraft. After another wait in the terminal we boarded again. We finally departed Uplands and the next stop was to be Gander.
No way.
Somewhere over New Brunswick one of the engines quit. The pilot initially indicated we would be landing at Moncton and then subseqently advised we would be landing at Summerside. As was the case in Uplands, we were met by a number of emergency vehicles. We stayed in Summerside over-night - women and small children slept in the hospital while the men and older boys were placed in barracks.
The next morning we took off and landed at Gander, refuled and continued for Marville,
Did we make it? -- no way --
Marville was experiencing a power failure, and as a result, we landed at Shannon in Ireland. Four hours later and several drinks called Leprecauns, we finally managed to arrive at Marville.
Web Site Comment - Isn't it funny how things work out at times? I had made a somewhat routine trip to Marville in a Comet in September 1960. In my case it was a C-45 Expediter from Trenton to Uplands and then a Comet from Uplands to Gander and onwards to Marville. No muss no fuss - but then I didn't get to try the Leprecauns in Shannon.
Updated: September 1, 2003