They Were First At The Crash Scene

Sometime you find the nicest gems when you are just looking for something entirely different. Recently we just celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Sabena OO-CBG accident which was recorded by Rogers TV. While we were checking YouTube to see if Rogers had put something up, we discovered an old Land & Sea production back some 25 years ago. It was about two trappers that were first on the scene just hours after the accident happened. This lost video is a real treasure indeed. For your enjoyment.

70th Anniversary of Sabena Crash

Sept. 18 marks the 70th Anniversary of the historic Sabena crash which occurred when a DC4,OO-CBG, while on approach to Gander airport, crashed into the wilderness some 25NM SW of the runway in 1946. There were 44 people on board including the flight crew.16 survived but were severely injured. Unable to call for help they remained alive surviving the weather, the mosquitos and lack of food for 2 days before rescuers found them and administered assistance. Detailed information can be found on our website describing the rescue mission.

The GAHS will be hosting a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary on this date at the 103 SAR hanger under the authority of 9 Wing, Gander. Invited guests will include the Belgian Ambassador and USCG personal. During the ceremony, the GIAA will dedicate two streets at the airport in honour of two individuals who were instrumental in the rescue mission's success. In addition, 103 SAR will fly the ambassador and special members of the group to the crash site for an aerial viewing. Although this is a private ceremony due to Base security reasons, Rogers TV will be documenting the entire proceeding for public viewing on the Rogers local public channel. USCG is also celebrating its 100th anniversary by noting this rescue mission was the first time a helicopter was used in a civilian rescue. USCG then adopted the helicopter as its main rescue vehicle leading other countries to follow suit.

This was an historic aviation crash in not only was the helicopter proven to be a useful rescue aircraft but other aviation regulations were developed in the field of airport approach procedures and mandatory crew rest regulations. Civilian Ground Controlled Approach radar, the first in the world, was introduced at the Gander airport shortly after. Another role Gander played in aviation's history.

OO-CBG, Sabena Crash Video

In 1946 Sabena Airlines OO-CBG crashed west of Gander. The USCG Association has presented this video . It was one of the first effective uses of the helicopter for civilian rescue work. This documentary includes actual film and photographs of the rescue underway and also features a narrative by one of the Coast Guard helicopter pilots, CDR Stewart Graham (ret). Army Captain Samuel Preston Martin, MD was instrumental in organizing the lifesaving effort. He was posthumously awarded the USCG Legion of Merit in 2007 - 41 years after the rescue. The cemetery at the crash site was named in his honour ’St. Martin In The Woods’. This video was first shown at that award ceremony. Our compliments to the USCG for this presentation.

Sabena Crash Rescue Videos

We just posted links to video associated with the Sabena crash from news reels by Pathe Uk and a USCG documentary. When viewing these videos, take particular notice to one scene used in several of the videos, of a PBY landing on R32 with two very large hangers in the background. For those seeing these hangers for the very first time, these were the USAAF hangers located on the American side. Their location would be where the Airport Fire Hall and Terminal buildings are located today. Also pay particular attention as to how large these hangers where. It was an eye opener for me because I had forgotten how huge these buildings were. There must have been 8 or 9 of those hangers located on the American side. One of which was converted into a hockey stadium and used for years before relocating to the drill hall on Foss Ave. An Olympic size ice surface was no problem in these buildings.

Rianna wins 1st place

As a follow up to our previous item, Rianna Hickey writes  telling everyone she has won 1st place with the project we assisted on;

Hi, this is Rianna again.  I thought i should tell you that my project got 1st place at the heritage fair and now I go to the regionals in st. john's  May 3rd.  Thanks for your help!   If you have anything you think I should include please let me know.  Thanks.  I'm sending a picture so you can see.

Way to go Rianna. Glad to have helped.

Thank you Rianna

We received email this weekend from Rianna Hickey, a Grade 6 student from Whitbourne Elementary School, requesting our assistance by providing help with her Newfoundland Heritage project . Apparently her school does not have wireless internet and was unable to show the rescue pictures for her Sabena Airplane Crash project. We provided her with photos in time for her to complete her project making her a very happy little girl.  Please read her letter of thanks posted in the Visitors Comments from the link in the left column. It is very refreshing indeed and we appreciate it.

Street Names for Gander

To the uninformed, when the new town was built, the new town council made a policy that all street names would be named after pioneers of aviation with just a few exceptions ( Memorial, Elizabeth and Edinburg). I think it would be appropriate for this Society, when established,  to promote three other people to be considered for street names. Namely, Group Captain Foss,  Dr. Samuel Martin, and USCG Commander Stew Graham. Mr. Graham was the second pilot ever to fly helicopters, was one of the helicopters pilots who flew out Sabena OO-CBG survivors, and went on to become instrumental in developing SAR helicopter rescue procedures. We hope in the future to produce an article on this aviation pioneer for this website. Unfortunately USCG records for the second helicopter USCG Lt. August Kleish are incomplete and no history is available.

OO-CBG Accident Report

The OO-CBG Accident Report has just been posted on the website . Tom Beard wrote a summary at the beginning followed by the official report itself. Some of the events that led up to the accident are very indicative of this era, that being this was the start of commercial air travel with a definite lack of accepted rules and regulations. Accidents like this were bound to happen before findings were noted, with lessons learned and recommendations enacted upon. One would have to notice the flight crew were very young, with little experience. Was age or the lack of experience an important factor or was it the fact that the crew being in operational status for over 16 hours, that created poor judgment caused by fatigue? It wasn’t mentioned as a contributing factor in the official report. However they did state that pilot error was the key to the accident with no recommendation to consider a maximum operational flying time.

Another point, not only was the accident the first by a commercial air carrier in the world but this report was the also first and only aircraft accident report made by the Government of Nfld. That should be a good trivial question for the aviation buffs out there.

Sure would like to hear comments on this one.

OO-CBG Final Flight Path

I just received email from Tom Beard, a retired Lt. Commander from the USCG, who has sent us his research on the Probable Final Flight Path of OO-CBG . He has also collected more detailed information plus the accident report which I hope he will send along at a later date. If it does happen,  I certainly will be adding the information to this section.

Sabena Rescue Photos

For those who went looking for those  Sabena Rescue Photos as listed in the update page, well, they are there now. Just a little bit of finger/brain trouble. The slide show is played through an Adobe Spry Widget which I don't have much control over. In my opinion it is a little too fast but that is easily corrected if you want to take over manually. Just click on the picture and the auto feature will stop. Now you will have to click for each photo after. You can also start the auto again by watching for the 'start' icon when moving the mouse over the photo. As for the slide show, if you read some of the USCG documents you will easily follow the story. The slide show is in chronological order as much as possible. I will have some film clips which I hope to add later. Right now we are waiting for copy write permission before that happens.

Welcome to the coffee shop. Grab yourself a cup and have a chat with us.

I just completed a new section in the 1946-1958 era called Sabena Crash. Thanks to the US Coast Guard Assoc. for letting us publish this material. It is really worth reading especially the heroic effort made to save these  survivors. To me it was almost like reading a fiction book. This would certainly make a wonderful movie if the right people could read about these events. Another point about the ordeal was that it took 59 years to recognize officially the work of Dr. Sam Martin. That’s in it’s self is sad that the award had to be made posthumously. I might also add, there was some pretty fancy flying done by those helicopter and PBY flight crews.