Page 23 - September 2019

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The Crash of Dakota 962 This September will be the 73 anniversary of this tragic
September 15, 1946 event.
by Anne Gafuk
I learned about the crash of Dakota 962 while researching
another project, discovering Charles Proctor two years ago.
He was a passenger on the ill-fated flight of September 15,
1946, flying from Minot, North Dakota back to Estevan,
Saskatchewan, as one of the pilots on a lend-lease run. The
catastrophe made papers coast to coast, as well as
internationally.

Below are a few links to others who keep the men’s
It was considered the worst air accident since the end of memories alive.
the war.
Discussing this horrendous accident with another member Per Ardua Ad Astra
of the Calgary chapter of the Canadian Aviation Historical
LINKS
Society, Bill Cameron, in his mid-80s, told me of his
connection to the men aboard the Dakota, as a teenager.
www.gent-
family.com/Estevan/estevandakotacrash.html

www.aviation-
saftey.net/database/record.php?id=19460915-0

www.sites.google.com/site/cahsreginachapter/estevan-
1946
I combined Bill’s story with the twenty-one men’s stories.
Esprit de Corps magazine, out of Ottawa, published the www.athabaskang07.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/septe
story in October 2017. mber-15-1946/

http://espritdecorps.ca/perspectives-1/decimated-
demoralized-disbanded-no-124-ferry-squadrons-demise- www.discoverestevan.com/local/1946-plane-crash-
monument-arrives-in-estevan
following-the-1946-crash-of-dakota-962

Just after I finished the writing the story, I met two men www.leaderpost.com/news/saskatchewan/forever-in-
involved in the Estevan Memorial “Forever in the Clouds”: the-clouds-21-fallen-wwii-airmen-honoured-with-
Darren Jones, artist, and Lester Hinzman, the organizer. estevan-monument
Most recently, Marie Donais Calder
www.mariedonaiscalder.com contacted me, as she is
writing a book about the crash.