6 Group Unavailable
Halifax aircraft NP 805 crashed on take-off killing the pilot and two members of the ground crew. The survivors were Flying Officer L. Jorgenson of Morris, Manitoba, FSs. J. Gray of Winnipeg, Manitoba, S. Reid, T. Cohen, from Nova Scotia, K. Davidson from Ontario, and Pilot Officer J. Burns of Westmount, Quebec.
Len Jorgenson provided the following account "The Halifax was taking off from RCAF Station, Eastmoor, at noon, for a cross-country flight prior to operations that night and had a full gas load of 1400 gallons but no bombs. At the end of the runway there was a low semi-flat roofed building (a Picket Post) where LACs R.F. Charbonneau and J.D. Beddard were sun bathing in the spring sunshine and watching the take-offs The aircraft was barely airborne when the pilot yelled that the rudders and controls were locked and to prepare for a crash. The under carriage hit the building killing the two LACs, the Halifax crashed through the trees and burst into flame. Flying Officer Porritt was killed but the rest of got out safely except for Davidson who spent two years in hospital.
p> I think a few of us have nightmares over that one. I also wonder why the controls were frozen. Most controls on the a/c had V shaped pieces of wood with red flags inserted to prevent the control surfaces from flapping in the wind. Did we forget to take out these inserts, or were the red flags taken off by someone? We know this happened before for some reason, some thought it was sabotage - or someone didn't like the aircrew." FS Davidson, the flight engineer, was thrown to the front of the aircraft in the crash. Thru the flames he saw the pilot was buckled up and either unconscious or dead. Davidson tried to pull him out but he was stuck and the flames were burning him severely.