Summary: | Item is an original black and white photograph showing a crashed airplane, the back and side view. MS. COLL. 76 (Banting), Box 67, Folder 1 Title based on contents of photographs. Note with photographs reads: '1989. These pictures were taken at the site of the airplane crash that took the life of Sir Frederick Banting. The airplane was a Hudson bomber and was being ferried to Britain at the time and crashed wither in Labrador or Newfoundland. I'm not sure now which it was. I worked for Canadian Airways Ltd. at Moncton and some of our planes went to the scene and came back with these pictures. It happened either late in 1940 or early 1941 K. F. Chapman.' Sent to Mr. and Mrs. Howard Banting, Toronto by K.F. Chapman in 1989 and then donated to the Thomas Fisher Library by Howard Banting in 1996. Banting was en route to England when his plane, a Lockheed Hudson bomber, crashed on the east coast of Newfoundland on February 20, 1941. Shortly after take-off from Gander the plane had developed mechanical problems. The pilot, J.C. Mackey, attempted to bring the plane down near Musgrave Harbour but hit a tree on landing. Both the radio operator and the navigator were killed on the impact and Banting was fatally injured. He died the next day. The pilot survived.
|