ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 160161
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| Date: | Tuesday 26 May 1953 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Avro Lancaster Mk X (MR) |
| Owner/operator: | 407 (Demon) Sqn RCAF |
| Registration: | KB995 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 10 / Occupants: 10 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Iron Mountain, Syskiyou Mountain Range, Coos County, Oregon -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RCAF Comax, British Columbia (YQQ/CYQQ) |
| San Diego Municipal Airport – Lindbergh Field, CA (SAN/KSAN) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
On 26.5.1953 KB-995 left for San Diego with spares for another squadron aircraft that had become unserviceable during an exercise that No 407 Squadron, RCAF, was participating in. It never arrived.
The following is taken from the "407 Squadron History" edited by Tom Procter: "Details are sketchy, but it appears that the crew had been waiting most of the day for the weather to clear before departing Comox. When they finally did get a chance to leave late that day, their orders were to take a route over the mountains to Tofino, then turn south on the 125th meridian at or below 2000 feet in VFR weather conditions. Basically, they were to remain clear of cloud. This route would keep them over the Pacific, well clear of land until they turned landward towards Arcata airfield, their first stop. For some reason the Captain elected to fly south on the 124 degree 30 minute meridian, 30 minutes east of their previously proposed route. This change reduced the distance from shore.
What followed is pure speculation, but accident investigators believe that the crew encountered bad weather. Instead of turning seaward to avoid land, they climbed to 4000 feet in an effort to get above it. It is also suspected that all of the navigation equipment was not turned on as the aircraft began to drift eastward over land and into the mountains. This much is known, because that fateful night Lancaster KB-995, in heavy rain, struck the east side of a 4100 foot mountain at the 4000 foot level.
"A search for KB-995 began immediately by all the crews involved in the exercise. They staged their search from North Bend, Oregon and on 30 May, 1953 the wreckage was found. KB-995 had crashed on Iron Mountain in Oregon. The entire crew of ten was killed instantly. They were:
F/O Joseph Yvon Elias Aurele BOURGEOIS (Radio Operator)
F/O John William BROWNIE (Radio Operator)
F/O Robert James CALDER (Navigator)
F/O David Fair ELLIS (Flight Engineer)
F/O Kenneth Edgar ELSDEN (Pilot)
LAC John HARALDSON
F/O Harry Charles MADDICK (Co-Pilot)
Cpl Donald Gordon SPENCE
LAC William Henry WALDRON, and
F/O Cyril Jerome WILLIAMS.
"To honour the memory of the crew, a cairn funded by local citizens, was erected near the crash site." The reported crash location of Iron Mountain is a mountain located in the Willamette National Forest in the Syskiyou Mountain Range, Coos County, Oregon at approximate Coordinates (42.6853872, -124.1445390).
Sources:
1, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix 1 June 1953, p1
2. http://www.sonsofdamien.co.uk/Man-Lanc%20407RCAF.htm
3. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122433319/joseph-yvon_elias_aurele-bourgeois
4. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26278445/john-william-brownie
5. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108864741/robert-james-calder
6. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/85506721/david-fair-ellis
7. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108979761/kenneth-edgar-elsden
8. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109019978/john-haraldson
9. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108986101/harry-charles-maddick
10. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109019509/donald-gordon-spence
11. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/109020414/william-henry-waldron
12. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108996982/cyril-jerome-williams
13. https://www.bombercommandmuseumarchives.ca/lancavro.html#indexkb995
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Mountain_(Oregon)
15. https://www.baaa-acro.com/crash/crash-avro-683-lancaster-iron-mountain-10-killed
16. http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=55452
17. http://www.rwrwalker.ca/RAF_owned_JP100.html
18. https://legionmagazine.com/en/2010/06/lancasters-hit-civvy-street-air-force-part-39/
19. https://www.merriam-press.com/aircraftwrecksofthepacificnorthwestvolume2.aspx
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 06-Sep-2013 08:48 | TB | Added |
| 26-Dec-2014 22:34 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Date, Aircraft type, Registration, Operator, Source, Narrative] |
| 12-Feb-2015 14:11 | Paco | Updated [Operator, Narrative] |
| 24-May-2015 20:49 | Unitex | Updated [Operator] |
| 03-Aug-2017 05:50 | Anon. | Updated [Location, Source, Narrative] |
| 31-Dec-2017 22:38 | TB | Updated [Operator, Location, Source] |
| 19-Jan-2018 14:59 | TB | Updated [Source] |
| 18-Jun-2021 20:09 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 18-Jun-2021 20:19 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 20-Jun-2021 08:41 | Anon. | Updated [Operator, Narrative, Operator] |
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