6 Group Unavailable
435 Transport and Rescue Squadron (Certe Provehendi) CFB Edmonton. Hercules C-130E-LM aircraft 10322 struck high ground and crashed on approach to Canadian Forces Station Alert, Ellesmere Island NWT during the semi-annual "Operation Boxtop" supply airlift to the station. At 508 miles from the geographic North Pole, CFS Alert is the furthest north permanent human settlement on our planet
Boxtop 22 was the 22nd flight of the second airlift of 1991. Crewed by Aircraft Commander Capt JP Couch, First Officer Lt J Bales, Lt M Moore, Navigator; Sergeant Paul West, Flight Engineer and MCpl Roland Pitre, Loadmaster/Traffic Technician
There were thirteen passengers aboard the aircraft, a mix of military and civilian personnel flying in for duty or to attend to various services for the staff at Alert
For the first time on one of these flights, the Hercules was also carrying an internal bulk fuel tank containing 3,400 litres of diesel fuel for use at CFS Alert. When the aircraft crashed, it broke into three pieces, causing the internal fuel tank to burst open and catch fire
The remote location and weather made any rescue response extremely difficult and hazardous but a massive rescue operation was undertaken involving 24 Canadian and US military aircraft as well as 2 Canadian civilian aircraft
Hundreds of dedicated air and ground search and rescue personnel, persevering despite the most extreme weather conditions and rugged landscape were involved in the recovery
The rescue involved aircraft and personnel from Canadian Military: 103 RU, Gander, 405 Squadron, Greenwood, 408 Squadron, Edmonton, 412 Squadron, Ottawa, 413 Squadron, Greenwood, 415 Squadron, Greenwood, 424 Squadron, Trenton, 429 Squadron, Trenton, 435 Squadron, Edmonton, 436 Squadron, Trenton, 440 Squadron, Edmonton, 442 Squadron, Comox. Canadian Civilian: Greenland Charter Air Services and Bradley Air Services US Military: 11th Air Force, Elemendorf, 22nd Air Force, Travis AFB, 56th Air Rescue, Kleflavik, IcelandMCpl R Pitre CD (CAF), Captain JA Trepanier CD (CAF), MWO T Jardine CD SSM (CAF) andWarrant Officer R Grimsley CD (CAF) were killed in this accident
Capt JP Couch (CAF) survived initially and helped other survivors after the crash but died of hypothermia before rescuers arrived
There were thirteen survivors among those aboard: Civilian R Thomson, Civilian S Hillier, Lt J Bales (CAF), Sergeant P West (CAF), Lt M Moore (CAF), Capt R Dumoulin (CAF), Capt W de Groot (CAF), MWO M Tremblay (CAF), MCpl T Cobden (CAF), MCpl D Meace (CAF), MCpl M Ellefsen (CAF), MS D Montgomery (CAF) and Pvt B Vance (CAF)
Death and Deliverance by Robert Mason Lee
The Royal Canadian Air Force Journal, Vol. 8, No. 4, Fall 2019