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CF-ECY
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AIRCRAFT DATA |
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| Manufacturer: | Republic Aviation Corporation; Farmingdale, Long Island, New York, USA. | |
| Model: | RC-3 Seabee | |
| Type Certificate No: | A-769 | |
| Serial Number: | 621 | |
| Manufacturing Date: | 1947-04-?? | |
| Engine: | Franklin 6A8-215-B9F (215 HP at 2500 RPM) | |
| Remarks: | ||
| Reg. No. | Date | Remarks |
| CF-ECY | 1946-07-04 | Date
of Allotment to Canadian Civil Aircraft Register. Reserved for Curtiss-Reid Flying Services, Ltd.; Montreal, Quebec, Canada. |
| 1947-04-?? | Manufacturing Date. | |
| 1947-04-?? | Test flight. | |
| 1947-04-10 | Date of Deletion of Reservation. | |
| 1947-04-15 | Officially delivered from Republic Aviation Corporation to Reserved for Curtiss-Reid Flying Services, Ltd.; Montreal, Quebec, Canada. | |
| 1947-05-12 | Registered on Canadian Civil Aircraft Register. | |
| 1947-??-?? | C
of R issued to: Sherbrooke Airways Co., Ltd.; Sherbrooke, Quebec. (AOC #381). Bases at Windsor Mills and Little Lake Magog. |
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| 1947-10-21 | 15
miles from Windsor Mills, Quebec: At 9:50 in the morning pilot Eguène
Gagnon (26), flying for Sherbrooke Airways, took off from St-Côme en
Beauce for St-Francois Airport. His three passengers were Maurice Frank
(30), Edwin Thresher (25) and Maurice Bérubé (20), three Americans
from Maine returning from a poultry-buying expedition in Canada. Just
after 11-o'clock the Seabee passed "Company Woods" east of
Windsor-Mills, when Gagnon warned his passengers that he had engine
trouble. There were violent vibrations, and shortly after the engine
stopped. (Propeller failure?). When making emergency landing, Gagnon
aimed for the narrow Watopéka River. However, the Seabee impacted trees
some 500 ft before the river, coming to rest just a few feet from the
river. The clock was 11:12.
Gagnon was severely injured when tree branches penetrated the cockpit windshield. Passengers Frank and Thresher had been thrown out of the aircraft and landed on the opposite side of the river some 20-30 feet from the wreck. Bérubé ended up in the water. Bérubé was the only person able to walk, and he helped Gagnon out of the Seabee wreck, before he started to walk through the bush to find help. After two hours, he stumbled on a logging camp. At this time, rumors of the accident had already spread through Windsor. When hearing about the aircraft crash in Bois de la Compagnie, Gèrard Cayer - manager of Bourget Foundry, called for a taxi to bring him to the accident area. Gèrard Cayer and taxi-driver Gérard St-Pierre were the first rescue personnel to reach the injured, followed by several others after instructions from Bérubé. Dallas Grant, a Windsor habitant, also started to search for the Seabee by airplane. Sadly, Gagnon died at 20:27, just minutes before the three injured carried on stretchers could be lifted into ambulances taking them to St-Vincent-de-Paul Hospital. Bérubé and Thresher were released from hospital a few days later. Frank was in critical condition, and was transferred to a New York hospital mid-December. |
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| 1948-01-30 | Deleted from Canadian Civil Aircraft Register. | |
| Sources: |
RAC Seabee Delivery List. www.historiccar.ca. www.mpierrela.wordpress.com/tag/republic-seabee/ |
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