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Sutherland, Douglas Cameron (Pilot Officer)

Killed in Flying Accident 1942-November-04

Birth Date: 1919-July-12 (age 23)

Born: Toronto, Ontario

Son of Donald and Agnes Sutherland, of Weston, Ontario.

Home: Weston, Ontario

Enlistment: Toronto, Ontario

Enlistment Date: 1940-05-17

Service
RCAF
Unit
1 OTU- Operational Training Unit
Base
Bagotville, Quebec, Canada
Rank
Pilot Officer
Marshal
Air Chief MarshalA/C/M
Air MarshalA/M
Air Vice MarshalA/V/M
Air CommodoreA/C
Group CaptainG/C
Wing CommanderW/C
Squadron LeaderS/L
Flight LieutenantF/L
Flying OfficerF/O
Pilot OfficerP/O
Warrant Officer 1st ClassWO1
Warrant Officer 2nd ClassWO2
Flight SergeantFS
SergeantSGT
CorporalCPL
Senior AircraftmanSAC
Leading AircraftmanLAC
Aircraftman 1st ClassAC1
Aircraftman 2nd ClassAC2
Position
Pilot
Service Numbers
J/9860
1 Operational Training Unit, Bagotville, Quebec. Pilot Officer DC Sutherland (RCAF) and Flying Officer WE Copp (RAFVR) were on an instrument check and were flying at 7,000 feet when Harvard IIb aircraft FE 397 went into a uncontrolled spin. They were both killed when the aircraft crashed four miles north-west of Jonquiere, Quebec.

Canada Source Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Find-A-Grave.com Finadagrave.com

Canada Primary Source Library and Archives Canada Service Files (may not exist)

Home
Google MapWeston, Ontario
Burial
Google MapSt Phillip's Cemetery
Plot 16

Harvard FE397

North American Harvard NA-26 NA-44

North American Harvard Mk. IV
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

The North American Harvard appeared in 1937, in response to a US Air Corps proposal for an advanced trainer. The first of 50 Harvard Mk. Is ordered by the Canadian Government were delivered to RCAF Sea Island, BC in July 1939. By early 1940, the Mk. II was being assembled in California with an all metal fuselage replacing the original tube and fabric structure. 1200 Mk. IIs were supplied from US sources, until Canadian built Harvards started being produced in 1941.

In August 1938, Noorduyn Aviation of Montreal farsightedly signed an agreement with North American, to build the Harvard under licence. When the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) came into being in December 1939, Noorduyn received its first orders and went on to produce nearly 2800 Harvard Mk. IIBs for the RCAF and the RAF, between 1940 and 1945. In Canada, Harvard Mk. IIBs were used as advanced trainers with the BCATP at fifteen Service Flying Training Schools across the nation. They helped pilots make to the transition from low powered primary trainers, like Fleet Finch or the de Havilland Tiger Moth, to high performance front line fighters such as the Spitfire.

At the end of WW II, although the RCAF retained the Harvard as a trainer, a large number of them were sold off to civilian operators. The RCAF soon regretted this, for by 1949 the Cold War with the Soviet Union was in full swing and the RCAF urgently needed trainers again. 100 T-6J Texans were leased temporarily from the USAF and a further 270 Harvards, the Mk. IV version, were ordered from Canadian Car & Foundry, Thunder Bay. The RCAF used the Harvard Mk. IV for a further fifteen years, before finally retiring it in 1966.

A total of 20,110 Harvards were built between 1938 and 1954, 3,370 of them in Canada. Countless numbers of privately owned Harvards are still flying today.

Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Harvard Mk. IV was built by Canadian Car & Foundry, Thunder Bay, Ontario in late 1951. The aircraft saw service at four RCAF flying schools across the nation until it was sold to a civilian owner in 1965. It was the third aircraft to join the Museum after Dennis Bradley, Alan Ness and John Weir donated it in 1973. Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

YouTube Harvard Advanced Trainer

Wkikpedia Wikipedia Harvard Advanced Trainer

General Harold A Skaarup Web Page

last update: 2021-10-19 20:12:13

Harvard Mk. IIB FE397

With No. 1 (F) Operational Traiing Unit at Bagotville, Quebec. Crashed on 4 November 1942, 4 miles north-west of Jonquiere, Quebec. Entered spin during instrument check flight, both instructors killed (P/O. Douglas Cameron Sutherland and F/O. William Edwin Copp, RAF).

1942-08-05 Taken on Strength 2022-02-07
1942-November-04 Accident: 1 Operational Training Unit Loc: Jonquiere Quebec Names: Copp | Sutherland
1943-01-23 Struck off Strength 2022-02-07

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