Hope and Prayer

• Main Author: Wilber, Tom
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Cornell University Press 2023
• Subjects: Arctic; Gar’; Newfoundland; Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.7591/cornell/9781501769641.003.0008

This chapter focuses on a crew aboard a B-24 approaching a Royal Canadian Air Force Base in Newfoundland. Unlike their American counterparts, the chapter describes that British and Canadian planes were not typically personified with names and artwork; this one was known simply as Liberator 586. The crew of six had departed Iceland under clear skies, though as they approached their destination in Gander, pilot A. A. T. “Al” Imrie called the base for conditions and learned the airfield was closed because of poor visibility and heavy snow. The chapter tells that the circumstances were similar to what Ponder and crew had experienced during the waning hours of the previous day, with a few crucial differences. It then introduces Imrie, formerly a professional rugby player, who was a squadron leader and veteran U-boat patrol pilot, and an experienced navigator: Lieutenant Garnet “Gar” Harland, one of the best in the business. With only twenty miles to go, the chapter chronicles how they began packing maps for the anticipated landing when a sudden change in the plane's harmonics signaled a new problem. In days that followed, arctic air swirled in behind the departing storm as search crews took to the air, eyes straining against the snow-swept Labrador bush for a wisp of smoke, shred of debris, or fluttering parachute from the Canadian plane.