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Wilken, Cyril Douglas (Flying Officer)

Killed in Flying Accident 1951-December-19

Male Head

Birth Date: 1924-November-06 (age 27)

Born: Stone, Saskatchewan

Son of Alfred and Ruth Wilken.

Husband of Helga Emme (nee Rueckwald). Father of Judith Wilken. Brother of Roger, Della and Audrey.

Home: Stone, Saskatchewan

Enlistment Date: 1943-07-05

Service
RCAF
Unit
6 RD- Repair Depot
"Nil Nobis Irreparabile" (Translation: Nothing Beyond Repair For Us")
Rank
Flying 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
24948
Book of Remebrance has him listed as Army but he is RCAF.

Canada Source Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Find-A-Grave.com Finadagrave.com

Home
Google MapStone, Saskatchewan
Burial
Google MapLutheran Cemetery

Harvard 3825

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. II 3825

With No. 8 Service Flying Training School at Moncton, NB; No. 13 SFTS at St. Hubert, Quebec; and No. 2 Flying Instructors School. ATR-11 radio installed post war. With No. 418 Squadron (Auxiliary) at Edmonton, Alberta. Also with K Flight at RCAF Station Trenton, dates unknown. Stored post war at Medicine Hat, Alberta. Category A crash on 13 December 1951, reported at RCAF Station Rockcliffe, Ontario. Aircraft was ferrying from Medicine Hat to No. 3 Flying Training School at Calgary. One of a flight of three Harvards that failed to reach Calgary due to bad weather, and was attempting to divert to Claresholm. Became lost in low cloud, stalled attempting to clear a ridge that suddenly appeared in front of them. Struck trees on high ground in the Blue Creek Hills near Turner Valley (about 20 miles south-south-east of Calgary). Passenger Corporal C. Johnson thrown clear, pilot Flying Officer C.D. Wilken trapped in cockpit. Johnnson walked out, finding help 2 days later, Wilken freed from cockpit 14 hours later. Wilken died in a Calgary hospital several days later. Large pieces of wreckage remained at crash site until removed by scavengers in the 1990s.

1941-05-08 Taken on Strength 2019-08-20
1941-August-29 Accident: 11 Service Flying Training School Loc: Sturdee Aerodrome Names: Peck | Reddie
1941-October-16 Accident: 11 Service Flying Training School Loc: Aerodrome Names: Mcmillan
1942-June-10 Accident: 8 Service Flying Training School Loc: Aerodrome Names: Greco
1952-01-04 Struck off Strength 2019-08-20

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