Aircraft Crashes around Bedeque
Last week, in trying to find the origin of our aircraft parts, we found out about Bedeque’s aviation crashes.
The Mosquito (above) was a superb* high performance fighter/bomber manufactured from wood during World War Two, with over 1,000 built in Ontario, Canada. Here is what the Head of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) said about it
"It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy. The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that? There is nothing the British do not have. They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops. After the war is over I'm going to buy a British radio set - then at least I'll own something that has always worked."
Hermann Göring, 1943.
On December 10th, 1944 a Mosquito Mk25 of RAF Transport Command (No. 45 Group) crashed into Bedeque Bay shortly after takeoff from RCAF Summerside. The aircraft was en route from Dorval, near Montreal, QC, to Europe via Gander, NL. The weather conditions were very poor with a snow squall at the time, as reported by the lighthouse keeper at Sea Cow Head. The crash site was just a quarter mile from the Head, but the visibility was so bad that the keeper only heard the crash, and did not see it. The ferry ‘Prince Edward Island’ went to look for survivors, but found only a few pieces of floating wreckage
Further research has revealed a little more about the crew. The pilot was a Norwegian, Sub Lieutenant Sigmund Breck of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, whose father was the Mayor of Bergen, the second-largest city in Norway. As with so many of the young airmen in Canada, he had been hosted by a Canadian family, and had recently become engaged to one of the daughters. The Navigator in the two man crew was Flying Officer Francis Sorensen, who despite having a Norwegian/Danish surname was in the Royal Australian Air Force.
Transatlantic ferry flying is never easy, and especially in winter could be a dangerous activity. There were 237 fatalities during ferry operations in WW2, and the Mosquito crash was not the only one on December 10th (a Liberator crashed near Montreal). The ferry flights were a means to get the crews over the ocean as well as the aircraft. Generally, the Navigator needed to be experienced, but the pilots were often not long out of training. This explains the Navigator having the higher rank. By mid-1944, there was a backlog of aircraft waiting for pilots, so the necessities of war meant inexperienced pilots being put behind the controls. Of course, a pilot with few flying hours in a high performance aircraft would be under a lot of pressure making a departure in a snowstorm and flying on instruments – the conditions can be very disorientating.
There are rumours that the wreckage was discovered by sport divers in the 1970’s. It would have been left undisturbed, being a war grave. The crew were listed as Lost at Sea in 1949, and their names are on the Ottawa Memorial.
A photograph (below) was discovered showing a crashed aircraft just south of Leard Mill Road in Bedeque. Analysis showed it to be a Fleet Finch biplane trainer that crashed after the war due to engine failure. It was a civilian aircraft by then, having been bought by an airman at RCAF Summerside for private use. An Ambulance driver, Corp. Erickson DFC, received special praise for getting through the deep drifts of snow to reach the pilot, who then made a full recovery.
The author acknowledges the help of Lech Lebiedowski (Alberta Aviation Museum), Dr. Carl Christie (RCAF Historian), and Jack Burgess (WW2 ferry Navigator) with the research.
*I am biased; my grandfather was the foreman of the wiring shop at the Mosquito factory in England.
The Mosquito (above) was a superb* high performance fighter/bomber manufactured from wood during World War Two, with over 1,000 built in Ontario, Canada. Here is what the Head of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) said about it
"It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy. The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that? There is nothing the British do not have. They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops. After the war is over I'm going to buy a British radio set - then at least I'll own something that has always worked."
Hermann Göring, 1943.
On December 10th, 1944 a Mosquito Mk25 of RAF Transport Command (No. 45 Group) crashed into Bedeque Bay shortly after takeoff from RCAF Summerside. The aircraft was en route from Dorval, near Montreal, QC, to Europe via Gander, NL. The weather conditions were very poor with a snow squall at the time, as reported by the lighthouse keeper at Sea Cow Head. The crash site was just a quarter mile from the Head, but the visibility was so bad that the keeper only heard the crash, and did not see it. The ferry ‘Prince Edward Island’ went to look for survivors, but found only a few pieces of floating wreckage
Further research has revealed a little more about the crew. The pilot was a Norwegian, Sub Lieutenant Sigmund Breck of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, whose father was the Mayor of Bergen, the second-largest city in Norway. As with so many of the young airmen in Canada, he had been hosted by a Canadian family, and had recently become engaged to one of the daughters. The Navigator in the two man crew was Flying Officer Francis Sorensen, who despite having a Norwegian/Danish surname was in the Royal Australian Air Force.
Transatlantic ferry flying is never easy, and especially in winter could be a dangerous activity. There were 237 fatalities during ferry operations in WW2, and the Mosquito crash was not the only one on December 10th (a Liberator crashed near Montreal). The ferry flights were a means to get the crews over the ocean as well as the aircraft. Generally, the Navigator needed to be experienced, but the pilots were often not long out of training. This explains the Navigator having the higher rank. By mid-1944, there was a backlog of aircraft waiting for pilots, so the necessities of war meant inexperienced pilots being put behind the controls. Of course, a pilot with few flying hours in a high performance aircraft would be under a lot of pressure making a departure in a snowstorm and flying on instruments – the conditions can be very disorientating.
There are rumours that the wreckage was discovered by sport divers in the 1970’s. It would have been left undisturbed, being a war grave. The crew were listed as Lost at Sea in 1949, and their names are on the Ottawa Memorial.
A photograph (below) was discovered showing a crashed aircraft just south of Leard Mill Road in Bedeque. Analysis showed it to be a Fleet Finch biplane trainer that crashed after the war due to engine failure. It was a civilian aircraft by then, having been bought by an airman at RCAF Summerside for private use. An Ambulance driver, Corp. Erickson DFC, received special praise for getting through the deep drifts of snow to reach the pilot, who then made a full recovery.
The author acknowledges the help of Lech Lebiedowski (Alberta Aviation Museum), Dr. Carl Christie (RCAF Historian), and Jack Burgess (WW2 ferry Navigator) with the research.
*I am biased; my grandfather was the foreman of the wiring shop at the Mosquito factory in England.
