6 Group Unavailable
115 Lynx Squadron RCAF Annette Island, Alaska. Noordyne Norseman IV aircraft 2481 took-off Ketchikan, Alaska but encountered a sudden snow squall while attempting to land (on pontoons) at Metlakatla Harbour on Annette Island, Alaska. The Norseman crashed into the sea six miles north-west of Annette Island near Warburton Island, Alaska. The pilot and six passengers (3 United Service Organizations (USO) performers and 3 RCAF members) were all killed in this flying accident
Pilot, Squadron Leader Fred Burpee Curry (RCAF) and passengers Leading Aircraftman Edward Kitchener McMichael (RCAF), Flight Lieutenant Ian Macmillan Dowling (RCAF), Flight Lieutenant Ernest Bunting Stapleford (RCAF) and the three civilian USO performers, Maxine Gretchen Gloeckner, Adelaide Marie Kaiser and Christine Street were all killed in this flying accident
115 Squadron flew on communications, artillery co- operation and rescue operations under Western Air Command
Tragically, two days later, when the bodies of the three USO performers were being returned to the US mainland aboard a Dakota C-47 aircraft, one of the escorting 118 Squadron RCAF Kittyhawk aircraft AK 821 crashed, killing the pilot, Arthur Jarred (RCAF)(USA)
Quietus Last Flight, Accident Proneness in WWII, Wartime Aviation Stories on the Canadian Home Front by Anne Gafiuk, Chapters 5, 7
Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database
