My dad and I are putting together a family website with his memoirs. In 1956, on June 30th the helicopter my dad was in crashed at Knob Lake north of Labrador. I always wondered what happened.
I am looking for people that would have of heard about that accident.
On the picture we can see what was left of the Sikorsky. We can also see a Catalina at the back.
After that my dad served has a doctor for the RCAF for three years. The second year he was based in El Arish in Egypt with the UN Peace Corps.
album no 11-page 33b restes hélicoptère Sikorski.JPG (106.2 KiB) Viewed 4304 times
Hi!
Your picture shows the right hand side rear part of a Piasecki H21
Like those:
And not another Sikorsky model used on the MCL (Mid-Canada-Line) in the 50s
like the H19
or the H34
I worked a bit in photoshop to show you how i found out what it is
I added a part of a picture found on lswilson's site on your picture to compare both
In red you can see the particular angle between the white line and the rest of the fuselage and in green you can see the particular air vent of the H21.
reste heli démarche.jpg (355.23 KiB) Viewed 3521 times
Who Dropped It??
By Roger Cyr
In June or perhaps it was late May of 1956 and I was back at knob Lake for the third or fourth time. After almost fifty years I have a difficult time remembering all the trips I made into the Eastern Sub Arctic during the two and one-half years I spent with 108 Comm Flt helping build the Mid-Canada Line.
An H-34 Sikorsky out of Knob Lake with three crew members aboard experienced engine trouble and sat down hard on the shores of one of the many lakes that dot the northern landscape. A camp containing civilian workers was near by and they were able to find shelter and get a message through to Knob describing their predicament.
For reasons known only to powers far removed from the rank of LAC it was decided that I should be flown out to "guard" the helicopter that lay on it's side in the water and muskeg of an un-named lake along the 55th parallel. "We will be back to get you tomorrow." The crew of the H-21 told me as they flew away over the lake and sparsely wooded hills in a westerly direction.
Fifteen minutes after leaving me to fend for myself they too experienced engine failure and smashed into a small clearing wrecking their machine and seriously injuring one of the civilian workers who they were transporting to Knob Lake.
Finally on the fifth day another H-21 arrived and I was on my way back to Knob. Not so I was informed, for it was then that I learned of the plight of the other helicopter and the reason I had been left so long "guarding" the helicopter in the lake. I was dropped off at the latest crash site to help with the salvage operation. When I arrived the H-21 was on its side with a long jagged gash down the fuselage where one of the blades had pierced the metal and severed the arm of a civilian worker.
A Tech Rep who was based in Ottawa and two senior officers were inspecting the damage and they recommended the chopper be airlifted back to Knob and eventually Ottawa where a more extensive inspection could be done. Although I cannot remember the Tech Reps name, he and I had met during the previous winter when he smashed into my new car in the Squadron parking lot. He was from the southern USA and had never experienced a Canadian winter!
It took us the better part of three days to winch the fuselage into a position where we could remove the engine and rotor heads. We prepared the helicopter for transport back to Ottawa and I returned to Rockcliffe having completed my tour at Knob.
I had been back at the squadron a week before the helicopter arrived looking more beat up then when I had last seen it. Senior Officers and Technicians arrived to inspect the damage, and when the Tech Rep recognized my face he called me aside and said, "you dropped it." "It did not look like that when I inspected it at the crash site." "What am I going to tell my Company and especially Squadron Leader Hyslop." "This looks very bad for me suggesting to them that the ship could be repaired."
"I was not there when it was airlifted out." I said. They all left for a meeting in the CO's office.
That afternoon I received a phone call from the Squadron Orderly Room requesting my presence in the CO's office. I had a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach as I stood at attention in front of S/L Hyslop.
"Good to have you back Cyr," he said. "I had a phone call from you mother when you were in Knob, she hadn't heard from you for a while" "You should write home more often"
A history of this particular Vertol helicopter, 9636 (Might be of interest)
Ordered by the R.C.A.F. on 16/08/1955, completed on 03/11/1955 and delivered to them at Baggotville on 04/11/1955 from Plant #1 at Morton, PA painted in their new red and white scheme, arriving at Arnprior on 07/11/1955 for 108 Communications Flight; noted working on the Mid Canada Line on 17/03/1956 as '9636' in R.C.A.F., Air Transport Command scheme and by April 1956 with 108 (Comm) Flight at R.C.A.F. Rockcliffe, Ontario; crashed on 30/06/1956 near Knob Lake when the rear rotor blades struck a tree while attempting an emergency landing due to engine failure and also collapsed the starboard landing gear and rolled onto its side, with one of the blades creating a severe jagged gash down the fuselage and severed the arm of a civilian worker; it was airlifted back to Knob Lake and onto Ottawa where it was subsequently repaired; suffered engine failure in the Arctic on 19/07/1957. Heavily damaged, transported out and rebuilt. registered as CF-JJY on 23/09/1957 with the Dept. of National Defence, having been modified to a 42A commercial model by Vertol Canada at Arnprior; reported as having flown over the danger area at the Canadian Forces weapons testing facility Inspection Services Proof Establishment at Nicolet, PQ on 02/10/1958, following which two warning signals were fired but ignored; it was operated by Spartan Air Services till 1961 when Dominion Helicopters took over the Mid-Canada Line contract; suffered an accident on 17/05/1960 at MCL Site # 309, Knob Lake, Quebec, when remaining engine power blew a loose tarpaulin up into the forward rotor blades after landing, replacement blades were air lifted in from the Great Whale River site and the helicopter was repaired on site and flown back to Knob Lake; on the 29/01/1962 some four miles west of the MCL Site # 206 (at 55.25°N 61.45°W) the helicopter was thrown some 45° to the horizon in severe turbulence, coupled with an airspeed 40kts above maximum, caused damage to two rotor blades, replacements were air-lifted in and replaced on site (total airframe hours 1,969); on the 22/02/1962, whilst operated by Dominion Helicopters, it was noted at the MCL Site # 203 that the left hand stabilizer mounting had failed (total airframe hours 2004:30) and the stabilizer was left hanging, no other damage was sustained; this was possibly caused by the earlier severe turbulence incident; Returned to the Department of National Defence on 04/04/1966 and removed from the Canadian civil register; damaged in a hangar fire in March 1967; Restored to the CAF with same serial number, 9636; With 440 (C&R) Sqdn at CFB Winnipeg, Manitoba in the summer of 1969. Then moved to CFB Namao, Alberta. Withdrawn from use in June 1972 and placed in storage; Struck off to Crown Assets Disposal Corp for sae on 29/09/1972, re-registered CF-GQV and sold to Maritime Aircraft Overhaul & Repair Ltd., Moncton, N.B. who subsequently sold it to Atlantic Central Airlines Ltd., 4200 Loch Lomond Road, Box 2, Site 7, St. John, N.B. on 27/07/1973 for CDN$1.00 (together with 9638, 9641 and 9642); on the 24/09/1973 a ferry permit was issued for the flight to fly to St. John, N.B. (via Trenton and Ottawa) under the civil registration of CF-GQV; possibly suffered major damage following a wind storm during February 1976; the Canadian registration was removed by the 04/10/1976 and the DOT Canada confirmed on the 12/10/1976 that the registration CF-GQV, although allocated, was never formally registered in Canada; the aircraft was sold to Sealtite Roofing Inc., 2550 South 85th Street, West Allis, Wisconsin, USA in October 1976 and possibly stored at Golden, BC but is no longer there.
