Powell River Tiger Moth Story by Philip Ward Models

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Located on the North East coast of Vancouver Island, the radio station at Port Hardy Airport was one of the biggest in Canada at the time. It served the many regular commercial flights between Seattle and Alaska, as well as local flights. In the late 1940s, Northwestern and Pan American Airlines were flying D.C.3s and D.C.4s which landed at Port Hardy for fuel. Air crews were given weather and air traffic information for the region. This information was generally sent by Morse code, as many aircraft were not equipped with audio radios.

First trained as a ships radio operator and then as a weather observer at the Vancouver International Airport, David Williamson went with three other graduates to Port Hardy in 1947. A year later, David and several other men decided to get their pilots license. They contacted the Aero Club of B.C. and persuaded them to conduct their first ever lessons at a satellite field. The club sent two Tiger Moths and an instructor. Soon after, seven of these new pilots paid $100 each to purchase the Moth CF-CHT.

On November 15th 1949, David decided to fly down to Vancouver with a stop over at Comox for fuel. He set out with Doug Fink, an airport weather man, as passenger. When they took off, there was heavy, low ceiling cloud on the island side but clear skies over the water towards the mainland. Unfortunately, this condition persisted right down the Island to Comox. David dropped down to see if visibility improved, but it did not.

Here lay the problem. Not enough fuel to reach Vancouver or fly back to Port Hardy? and no radio. David decided to cross over the water to Powell River on the Mainland. With excellent visibility, David found a deserted gravel road on which to land. He noticed the hydro lines on an adjacent paved road, but not the anchor guy wire which crossed the gravel road. The Tiger Moth's tires hit that wire dead in the middle. No longer lined up straight on the road, a wing tip hit the roadside embankment, causing a ground loop.

David and Doug walked away with only a scratch, but CF-CHT faired worse. It was barged down to Vancouver where it was salvaged for parts.

David Williamson has a wonderful sense of humor. Now, many years later, he laughs that a weatherman and a radio operator were caught by the clouds in an airplane with no radio.

By Philip Ward