There is precious little information available about an airplane crash in the Fraser Valley in April of 1957, but a melting ice field on a mountain towering above Harrison Lake may have revealed the 63 year old wreckage of Walter Dalton乌鸦传媒檚 aircraft.
Dalton, a Vancouver real-estate executive, had two passengers on board on April 24, 1957 including radio personality and CBC reporter Fred McDowell.
He was flying from Penticton to Vancouver when his plane went down in an area that was noted for claiming aircraft. Over four months in that year alone, three planes were lost and nine people died within 15 miles of each other in the Hope-Princeton corridor.
With today乌鸦传媒檚 airplane technology, it is relatively safe for a knowledgeable pilot to navigate over and through the wind-whipped peaks of the Cascade mountain range, but in Dalton乌鸦传媒檚 day it was regarded as treacherous territory, described by some as the 乌鸦传媒榞raveyard of lost planes.乌鸦传媒�
Some wrecks and bodies were recovered. Many were not, with rescue/recovery crews thwarted by dense forested terrain and dangerous flying conditions.
Dalton乌鸦传媒檚 plane was covered by ice and snow at 7000 feet elevation and there it stayed, defying discovery for more than six decades.
One day recently, John Faulkner of Chilliwack乌鸦传媒檚 Librico Helicopters provided a ride for a team of Sts-ailes Community School students, accompanied by an archaeologist and a UBC geo-scientist, dropping them off near the glacier field.
乌鸦传媒淲e were on an archaeological trip in traditional Chehalis territory that has a lot of artifacts and historical/cultural significance,乌鸦传媒� said the expedition leader Adam Palmer, a mountain skills teacher at Sts乌鸦传媒檃iles Community School. 乌鸦传媒淎s we were moving from one location to another, I saw something in the distance that looked like plane wreckage.
乌鸦传媒淎s we start walking towards it, we saw this tangled mess of aircraft in the ice.乌鸦传媒�
Palmer has been up there many, many times and not seen the wreckage, but on this trip the timing was perfect.
乌鸦传媒淭he snow level is at the lowest point it乌鸦传媒檒l be all year,乌鸦传媒� he said. 乌鸦传媒淲hen we got closer we could see that, over time, it乌鸦传媒檚 embedded in the ice. Over the years, the sun hitting the wreckage at certain times of the year has been heating it and causing it to melt further into the ice. Then it re-solidifies in the colder months.
乌鸦传媒淎nd because a glacier is a river of ice flowing down, it乌鸦传媒檚 been stretching and pulling and twisting it within the ice, to the point where the glacier and the aircraft have kind of become one.乌鸦传媒�
The sight, Palmer said, was an eerie one for many reasons.
Who knows how many times he乌鸦传媒檚 walked right over top of the airplane during his expeditions, never suspecting it was there.
乌鸦传媒淲e乌鸦传媒檙e on this archaeological expedition looking for ancient artifacts, and everyone was more interested in trying to dig to the bottom of the aircraft to see if there were remains of any survivors,乌鸦传媒� Palmer said. 乌鸦传媒淵our automatic response when you see something like that is, 乌鸦传媒榃hat happened?乌鸦传媒� It乌鸦传媒檚 human nature that you want to know.乌鸦传媒�
When Faulkner and his helicopter returned three days later, Palmer乌鸦传媒檚 crew told him about the wreckage. They snapped plenty of pics and video on the ground, and Faulkner took more photos from the air as they flew over the site.
When he got back, he told Blair Edlund.
Edlund operates an airplane repair business (EA Structures Ltd.) at the Chilliwack airport, and the story piqued his interest.
乌鸦传媒淟uckily enough, the registration on the airplane tail was still there, as clear as day,乌鸦传媒� Edlund recalled.
Faulkner thought the wreckage looked 乌鸦传媒榝airly fresh,乌鸦传媒� but when Edlund tried looking up the registration in the Transport Canada database he got no hit.
乌鸦传媒淪o either this plane was really old or it was not registered for some nefarious reason,乌鸦传媒� he surmised.
Shifting into 乌鸦传媒榓mateur sleuth乌鸦传媒� mode, Edlund started digging.
The only reference he could find to an airplane crash in that area came from a MacLeans article published in January of 1958, appropriately titled 乌鸦传媒楾he Toughest Flying Country in the World.乌鸦传媒�
It references an airplane going down in the region.
While he can乌鸦传媒檛 be 100 per cent certain this airplane is that airplane, it乌鸦传媒檚 a very strong guess.
乌鸦传媒淭ransport Canada乌鸦传媒檚 digital archive only goes back to the late 1980s, so the MacLeans article was how I determined that yes, it was a recorded crash and there was loss of life,乌鸦传媒� Edlund said. 乌鸦传媒淚 spent hours trying to get this info.
乌鸦传媒淎 lot of these crashes from way back when, they never get resolved. They just get frozen in time.乌鸦传媒�
This wreckage may get frozen once more as winter sets in and the glacier swallows it up.
乌鸦传媒淚 don乌鸦传媒檛 know what will happen with it,乌鸦传媒� Edlund said. 乌鸦传媒淭ypically, if it乌鸦传媒檚 able to be removed it乌鸦传媒檚 removed, but for all the time it乌鸦传媒檚 been sitting up there, maybe they乌鸦传媒檒l just leave it.
乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 probably only visible for two to four weeks out of the year, so it might be a while before anyone sees it again.乌鸦传媒�
eric.welsh@theprogress.com
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