Dartmouth – Penticton – Patricia Bay

On November 4, 1941 at 02:00 PM, Dartmouth – Penticton – Patricia Bay experienced a crash involving Canadian Vickers Stranraer, operated by Royal Canadian Air Force - RCAF, with the event recorded near Squamish British Columbia.

The flight was categorized as military and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

5 people were known to be on board, 5 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 5, crew fatalities: 5, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The crew was performing a flight from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, to Patricia Bay, British Columbia, with an intermediate stop in Penticton. The seaplane left Penticton seaplane base at 1026LT. Few minutes after his departure, the radio operator informed ground about his ETA in Patricia Bay at 1300LT. At 1400LT, the crew changed his frequency and informed ground about his position north of Vancouver, flying in very bad weather conditions with snow falls. As the aircraft failed to arrive in Patricia Bay, SAR operations were conducted but eventually suspended few days later as no trace of the aircraft nor the crew was found. Six years later, walkers found the wreckage of the airplane on Mt Baldwin (1,427 meters high) located 10 km southeast of Squamish. It appears that the aircraft hit the mountain ten meters below the summit. All five crewmen were killed. Crew (5th Squadron): P/O Gerald Searing Palmer, pilot, Sgt Jack Fenton Bliss, Cpl John Robert Bruce Fernie, LAC Gilbert Fowler Willette, LAC Charles Murray Ross.

Aircraft reference details include registration 946, MSN CV-225.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 49.7388°, -123.1342°.