Rossland Range Plane Crash

Research prepared by Ron Dennett

On October 18, 1947, a Royal Canadian Air Force plane crashed near Mount Plewman at the headwaters of Murphy Creek in the Rossland Range. There were no survivors.

The plane was a North American B-25 Mitchell Bomber, an American twin-engine, medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation (NAA). First flown in August of 1940, the B-25 began operational service with the United States Army Air Force in 1941.

The design was named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation.  The B-25 first gained fame as the bomber used in the April 18, 1942 Doolittle Raid, in which 16 B-25Bs led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle flying from the deck of the United States Navy aircraft carrier Hornet attacked mainland Japan.

Nearly 10,000 Mitchells were manufactured. They were used by many Allied air forces and served in every theater of World War II. B-25s remained in service after the war, their use spanning four decades.

The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) used the B-25 Mitchell as training aircraft, light transport, and to fly special missions.

On October 18, 1947 a RCAF plane carrying nine people crashed somewhere in the Rossland Range. The aircraft was heading north in stormy weather with seven military personnel and two civilians. The weather was grim that day, it was the first snow of the season, the wind was howling, it was foggy, and visibility was very limited.

The following account from Wayne Krewski’s website “Ridge Records” gives Jim Douglas’s firsthand version of the story (the complete version can be found on Krewski’s “Tale Spinners”  CD):

“Jim was on the top of Red Mountain one day in October of 1947 clearing the first ski run. The first ski lift was still a couple months from being ready. It was the first snow of the year and the visibility in the fog was about zero. The plane came right over top of him and Ken Gresley-Jones, and although they couldn't see it in the fog, it sounded so close that they both hit the ground. The plane was headed north when it passed Mount Plewman. Bart Dudley was in the Old Glory Met Station that day, but he never heard a thing over the wind howling outside.”

“Though the peak of Old Glory was nearby and it was at the time manned by the Met Men, no one heard the plane go down because it was so windy. The plane likely iced up and lost control because it lost a lot of elevation in a very short distance to end up on the floor of Plewman Basin. It's a small basin enclosed on three sides by a steep horseshoe ridge. But once the plane hit the floor of the basin, no one survived.”

Five years later, in October of 1952, Wilf Gibbard, the man who lead pack horses to haul supplies up to the Met Men of Old Glory, spotted something shiny in the bush while on a hunting trip. There weren't any remains left - just the odd piece of plane debris - an explosion is assumed to have erased much of the evidence. A burial marker was erected originally with a wooden cross, which has since been replaced with a metal cross.

Record Mountain Gives Up Secret

[Left image caption] Members of the party who visited the scene of the crash yesterday include (left to right): Wilf Gibbard who first discovery the wreckage Tuesday; Constable Charles Brown, Rossland; Constable S. A. Rammage, Nelson; and Constable P. W. Howarth, Rossland, all of the R.C.M.P.

[Right image caption] Part of the landing gear can be seen in the foreground with pieces of the ill-fated plane strewn among the timber which has held its secret for the last five years. The plane was lost on October 18, 1947.

-Photos by Bob Porteous, Trail Times Staff Photographer.

“As the result of a discovery made by W. R. Gibbard of this city on Tuesday afternoon, the mystery which has shrouded the disappearance of an RCAF plan for the past five years, has been cleared up and another page in RCAF records will now be completed.
Mr. Gibbard, who regularly travels the wooded trails north of the city while in the course of his duties which entail packing supplies to Old Glory, was on a hunting expedition Tuesday. When about three miles off the route which he usually follows, he spotted what proved to be the wreckage of a plane.
He immediately notified the RCMP and at 6 a.m. yesterday a search party left here to investigate the find. The party included Constable Rammage and the police dog Wolf of Nelson, Constable P. W. Howarth and Constable C.M. Brown of the Rossland RCMP detachment, W. R. Gibbard, who guided them to the scene, and Bob Porteous of the Trail Times staff...

Identify Craft
The wreckage was reported by the RCMP to cover an area of approximately half a mile long and about 100 yards wide. Only small sections were found and all of it was badly smashed but the party was able to obtain some serial numbers and identification marks from which the RCAF at Vancouver has definitely established that the wreckage is that of “the B-25 Mitchell of Reconnaissance flight which was lost October 18th, 1947...

Nine Aboard
Seven RCAF crew members and two civilians, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Knight of Penticton, were aboard the plane when it disappeared, but no signs of any bodies were found by the search party. It was the opinion of the search party members that there was an explosion at the time of the crash and it was felt no one would have survived. A few personal effects including parts of parachute packs and flight boots were found ...parts of the mangled plane were partially overgrown and a small swath, apparently cut by the plane, through timbers was nearly invisible.
The scene of the crash was on a ridge extending from the first summit above Rossland to the Blueberry creek area and the altitude was about 5500 feet...
The find appears to bear out a report made by residents in the Blueberry area at the time of the crash that a flash denoting an explosion had been seen. However an intensive search was conducted at the time with no results.”

The list of those who lost their lives in the crash is as follows:

The Crew of Mitchell Mk. III D-10 RCAF No. 413 Squadron. (P)

Pilot Flight Lieutenant JOHN LESLIE MACLEOD, DFC
Age: 28
Glen Norman, Ontario, Canada
Honours and Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross

Flying Officer GEORGES YVON LEBEL, DFC
Age: 25
Cacouna, Quebec, Canada
Honours and Awards: Distinguished Flying Cross

Flying Officer BENJAMIN THOMAS COOK , DFM
Age: 28
Glenella, Manitoba, Canada
Citation: Distinguished Flying Medal

Flying Officer ARTHUR GOLD ROBERTSON
Age: 32
Stoney Mountain, Manitoba, Canada
Citation: 1939-45 Star, France and Germany Star

Leading Aircraftman BLISS EUGENE STRADIE BOWMAN
Age: 24
Winchester, Ontario
Citation: War Medal 1939-1945

Lance Corporal WILLIAM HUGH MOLYNEAUX
Age: 24
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Corporal JAMES NOAH SABOURIN
Age: 25
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Citation: 1939-1945 Star, France & Germany Star

Civilians  Mr. and Mrs. F.M. Knight from Penticton, B.C.

In addition to wreckage of the plane there is a metal cross erected as a memorial to the nine victims of the crash.

The following pictures were taken by Ron Dennet in August 2014

Landing Gear,

Main Wheel

Tail (Vertical Stabilizer)

Engine

Boeing B-25 Mitchell Bomber Technical Specifications:

First flight Aug. 19, 1940 Span 67 feet 6.7 inches 
Wing area 610 square feet  Length 53 feet 
Weight Empty, 20,305 pounds; normal gross weight, 27,051 pounds; useful load, 6,746 pounds 
Power plant Two 1,700-hp Wright Cyclone supercharged 14-cylinder radial engines, driving 12-foot-7-inch full-feathering, constant-speed Hamilton Standard three-bladed props 
Speed In excess of 300 miles per hour 
Crew Pilot, co-pilot, bombardier, radio operator, gunner 
Range In excess of 3,000 miles, using droppable tanks
Landing gear Hydraulically operated tricycle