Wartime Plane Wreck in Saanich inlet

[Hyper-limits]

A Canadian guard vessel has discovered a place wreck in the Saanich Inlet dating
back to the Second World War. The CG vessel was towing a submarine used for mapping the ocean floor when the wreckage was discovered.
The plane was a training aircraft that was attempting to land when it crashed in the inlet, killing its occupants.

That all the information I got so far.

I don't know the depth of the wreck yet. but this could be a great news for Tech diver
just like me or it will be to deep to dive. Some spot in the inlet are 600ft deep.

 

[wedivebc]

Get GPS co-ords Al and we'll go tomorrow

 

[SeanQ]

Cool! Any idea what sort of plane it is? I'd imagine the crash would be listed in historical records.

 

[MarkH]

Cool! Any idea what sort of plane it is? I'd imagine the crash would be listed in historical records.

I think the paper said it was a training plane (little fighter-type, 2-seater thing?). My guess is that it's out from Pat Bay out past the sound range (otherwise we would have heard about it long ago). Depths there are 150 feet-plus. That's my prediction anyways. Any bets?

 

[Daryl Morse]

If you send me the gps coordinates, I'll check the depth on a nautical chart for you.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I think the paper said it was a training plane (little fighter-type, 2-seater thing?). My guess is that it's out from Pat Bay out past the sound range (otherwise we would have heard about it long ago). Depths there are 150 feet-plus. That's my prediction anyways. Any bets?

Two seat variants of fighters were not commonly used for transition training during WW 2 so I suspect a "little fighter-type, 2-seater thing" could be:

1) A North American AT-6 / Harvard

2) The earlier fixed gear North American BT-9 / Yale

3) Or perhaps a much smaller and slower Fleet-Fairchild Cornell.

But then again, Patricia Bay Air station was a Commonwealth Training base but also housed operational training units for both the RCAF and the RAF and additionally served as a coastal patrol base for squadrons operating various fighter and bomber types. So it could be nearly any aircraft type operated by the RAF or RCAF.

 

[Hyper-limits]

If you send me the gps coordinates, I'll check the depth on a nautical chart for you.

I wish, I had the GPS coordinates. But if I had them you don't think I would share them with everybody on the internet

 

[Daryl Morse]

I wish, I had the GPS coordinates. But if I had them you don't think I would share them with everybody on the internet

Okay, if you get them, you can PM me and I'll send you a jpeg of the area.

 

[MarkH]

Two seat variants of fighters were not commonly used for transition training during WW 2 so I suspect a "little fighter-type, 2-seater thing" could be:

1) A North American AT-6 / Harvard

2) The earlier fixed gear North American BT-9 / Yale

3) Or perhaps a much smaller and slower Fleet-Fairchild Cornell.

But then again, Patricia Bay Air station was a Commonwealth Training base but also housed operational training units for both the RCAF and the RAF and additionally served as a coastal patrol base for squadrons operating various fighter and bomber types. So it could be nearly any aircraft type operated by the RAF or RCAF.

Found this on the internet (so it must be true!):

Aug 09, 2002 4:05pm
I have a query for any of your readers who may have also been witness to the following incident. To the best of my memory it occurred in September of 1943, when on board one of the C.P.R. coastal steamers, enroute from Vancouver to Victoria. A beautiful sunny day was marred by the tragic misadventure of an aircraft (from the Pat Bay air training base) falling into the sea in close proximity to our vessel. All pilots in training had received strict notification from the C.O.'s of the station, that no one was to engage in the practise of buzzing these passenger vessels. If any of your readers, especially of the military, recalls this incident, I would appreciate hearing from you, with sincere thanks.
J.M. Belcher
jesbel at oberon dot ark dot com
Campbell River, BC, Canada

It sounds like it was on the other side of the peninsula though. -Unless CPR steamships docked in Saanich Inlet. When I was in the war, the trainer I flew was the 2 seater Tiger Moth, but I doubt any of the ones I crashed would have survived this long underwater since they were made out of wood and fabric.

 

[MarkH]

By the way, the above excerpt was from a site for Lancaster Bomber fans so maybe that's what it was.