'A bit haunting': Vancouver Island divers help locate crashed WWII bomber in Newfoundland
Five divers from Vancouver Island have been exploring parts of the East Coast that very few Canadians will ever see.
Divers Maxwel Hohn and Russell Clark from the Comox Valley, along with three others from the island, are part of an international team that reached the underwater crash site of a Second World War bomber in Gander Lake, Newfoundland.
The B-24 Liberator bomber crashed in 1943, killing all four crewmembers on board.
"When you come across this wreckage, it’s a mix of feelings. There’s sadness with excitement because the crew did lose their lives," said Hohn.
The initial dive on Monday was to scout out the wreckage and confirm it was there.
"It’s about 36 metres to 48 metres [down]. It’s kind of on a very, very steep slope," said Hohn.
"It’s been there since 1943 so I think it’s pretty secure where it is," he said.
DECADE-LONG SEARCH
A Newfoundland researcher had been looking for the aircraft for roughly a decade. Its position was finally narrowed down in June using side-scan sonar.
"The crash happened within a small distance of the Gander Air Force Base," said Comox Valley diver Russell Clark.
"At the time in 1943, navy divers were dispatched onto the aircraft to try to recover the bodies of the airmen," he said.
Only one body was recovered at the time. The remains of the other three airmen are still in the wreckage.
"Nothing was disturbed or touched or taken during the exploration, it was purely an image gathering dive," said Russell.
An image of the wreckage is shown. (Maxwel Hohn)
Hohn added that the experience was eerie but rewarding.
"Getting down there you’re on a gravesite and it’s a bit haunting, but it’s also really exciting to find a piece of history and prove that this bomber is in this location," he said.
All details, maps and documentation on the bomber will be handed over to the Royal Canadian Air Force, which still owns the aircraft.
'IMPORTANT TO SHARE'
Monday's dives were conducted one day after the 79th anniversary of the crash.
The research team hopes the find will help bring Canadians closer to their history.
"It’s important to share this cultural history story with other Canadians that probably don’t know how much Newfoundland was embroiled in the Second World War," said Jill Heinerth, explorer in residence with the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.
"I knew nothing about the fact that German U-Boats came in and were sinking the wrecks at Bell Island and destroying the loading wharf from the Bell Island mine," Heinerth added.
"And these Liberator bombers would have been protecting some of these convoys," she said.
The team was near Bell Island again Wednesday searching for more artifacts.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.