Central Newfoundland
Buchans Mining Company Plane Crash
Word was received on Sunday evening that the aircraft was missing. There was some confusion about where the plane went down as Frankham had radioed earlier that he was going to attempt a landing on Red Indian Lake. An intensive aerial search of a 40-mile radius of Buchans was started immediately. Two Lancaster aircrafts from R.C.A.F. Torbay, and an E.P.A. Beaver piloted by Paul Hlookoff all took part in the search. None of the survivors was dressed for cold weather survival and they had to wear hockey sweaters and socks to keep warm. They spent a long and uncomfortable 21 hours in the bush with near zero temperatures, freezing rain and cold winds. After an all day search of the area on Monday, wreckage and smoke was spotted by Constable Bruce Gillingham of the RCMP in the E.P.A. Beaver. Upon hearing an aircraft overhead, the survivors walked to a nearby clearing so the pilot could see that all of the men were well and accounted for. Cooper radioed Buchans at 5 p.m. that the downed craft was found and great relief was expressed upon hearing the news. The people of Buchans remembered a plane crash in September of 1951 that took the lives of five men when a Norseman aircraft went down near South Pond. George Pike, a star player with the Buchans Miners, was killed in that crash. Upon discovering the men, the R.C.A.F. air dropped emergency supplies to the ground. The air drop was right on target as the men had to quickly get out of the way of the falling supplies. All emergency rations on board the downed Beaver had been consumed by the survivors. Shortly thereafter, pilots Cooper and Hlookoff landed nearby, picked up the survivors and returned to Buchans. Cheers of great joy and thanksgiving were shown for their deliverance from the ordeal.