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 DaltonB次元官网网址檚 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 todayB次元官网网址檚 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 DaltonB次元官网网址檚 day it was regarded as treacherous territory, described by some as the B次元官网网址榞raveyard of lost planes.B次元官网网址�
Some wrecks and bodies were recovered. Many were not, with rescue/recovery crews thwarted by dense forested terrain and dangerous flying conditions.
DaltonB次元官网网址檚 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 ChilliwackB次元官网网址檚 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.
B次元官网网址淲e were on an archaeological trip in traditional Chehalis territory that has a lot of artifacts and historical/cultural significance,B次元官网网址� said the expedition leader Adam Palmer, a mountain skills teacher at StsB次元官网网址檃iles Community School. B次元官网网址淎s we were moving from one location to another, I saw something in the distance that looked like plane wreckage.
B次元官网网址淎s we start walking towards it, we saw this tangled mess of aircraft in the ice.B次元官网网址�
Palmer has been up there many, many times and not seen the wreckage, but on this trip the timing was perfect.
B次元官网网址淭he snow level is at the lowest point itB次元官网网址檒l be all year,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淲hen we got closer we could see that, over time, itB次元官网网址檚 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.
B次元官网网址淎nd because a glacier is a river of ice flowing down, itB次元官网网址檚 been stretching and pulling and twisting it within the ice, to the point where the glacier and the aircraft have kind of become one.B次元官网网址�
The sight, Palmer said, was an eerie one for many reasons.
Who knows how many times heB次元官网网址檚 walked right over top of the airplane during his expeditions, never suspecting it was there.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙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,B次元官网网址� Palmer said. B次元官网网址淵our automatic response when you see something like that is, B次元官网网址榃hat happened?B次元官网网址� ItB次元官网网址檚 human nature that you want to know.B次元官网网址�
When Faulkner and his helicopter returned three days later, PalmerB次元官网网址檚 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.
B次元官网网址淟uckily enough, the registration on the airplane tail was still there, as clear as day,B次元官网网址� Edlund recalled.
Faulkner thought the wreckage looked B次元官网网址榝airly fresh,B次元官网网址� but when Edlund tried looking up the registration in the Transport Canada database he got no hit.
B次元官网网址淪o either this plane was really old or it was not registered for some nefarious reason,B次元官网网址� he surmised.
Shifting into B次元官网网址榓mateur sleuthB次元官网网址� 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 B次元官网网址楾he Toughest Flying Country in the World.B次元官网网址�
It references an airplane going down in the region.
While he canB次元官网网址檛 be 100 per cent certain this airplane is that airplane, itB次元官网网址檚 a very strong guess.
B次元官网网址淭ransport CanadaB次元官网网址檚 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,B次元官网网址� Edlund said. B次元官网网址淚 spent hours trying to get this info.
B次元官网网址淎 lot of these crashes from way back when, they never get resolved. They just get frozen in time.B次元官网网址�
This wreckage may get frozen once more as winter sets in and the glacier swallows it up.
B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 know what will happen with it,B次元官网网址� Edlund said. B次元官网网址淭ypically, if itB次元官网网址檚 able to be removed itB次元官网网址檚 removed, but for all the time itB次元官网网址檚 been sitting up there, maybe theyB次元官网网址檒l just leave it.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 probably only visible for two to four weeks out of the year, so it might be a while before anyone sees it again.B次元官网网址�
eric.welsh@theprogress.com
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