Birth Date: unkown date
Born:
Parents:
Spouse:
Home: Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: unkown date
Service
RAF
Unit
45 Group (RAF)
Base
RAF Ferry Command, Bermuda
Rank
Civilian
Position
Radio Officer
Service Numbers
Took off from Dorval on a first-leg transfer flight to Bermuda on a trans-Atlantic flight to the UK.
Crashed in the Strait of Canso in the Atlantic, off Nova Scotia. There were only 2 survivors from the six man crew: Sergeant Norman James Cheney, RNZAF 414862 Radio Operator. Sergeant George Harold Salt, RAF 569399 Flight Engineer.
RAF Ferry Command. Canso I aircraft FP 209, flying out of Bermuda, crashed in the Strait of Canso, catching fire near the CNR wharf at Pirate Harbour, Mulgrave, Nova Scotia with the loss of four of the six aircrew aboard
Pilot Officer SF Fairbairn (RCAF), Sergeant NJ Cheney (RNZAF), Canadian Civilian, DLD DeBretigny and British Civilian pilot Captain RH Sandeman, were all missing, presumed killed in this flying accident
The missing have no known grave
F
Pilot Officer Fairbairn and Sergeant Cheney are commemorated on the Ottawa Memorial
DLD DeBretigny and RHM Sandeman are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial
Ocean Bridge, The History of RAF Ferry Command by Carl A Christie page 315,358
The Consolidated Catalina and Canso were close cousins. The Canso was the true amphibious version of the design and therefore included a conventional undercarriage to allow for either water or land use. The Canso provided more than two decades of valuable service to the RCAF. The Catalina variant came first and was produced beginning in 1935 for the United States Navy. The amphibious version, designated PBY-5A, came in service early in 1941 and the RCAF began using the aircraft on anti-submarine patrols that same year. After the Second World War, the RCAF used Cansos for search and rescue, Arctic survey missions and various transport operations. RCAF
Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
www.findagrave.com
[Royal Air Force Serial and Image Database]...
Canso PBY
Wikipedia Canso PBY