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 1922 - 1953 (30 years)
Report of death of Cpl Roger Lalonde.
On February 1, 1953 RCAF Lancaster KB914, which had earlier been on an anti-submarine exercise, headed to Goose Bay, Labrador, to join in the search for a missing civilian aircraft. There were 9 crew members aboard the Lancaster.
Cold weather conditions which included rain that soon became freezing sleet and heavy snow, made the flying difficult. The airplane, approaching Goose Bay for a landing suddenly had only two of its engines working; and to make matters worse the Goose Bay air base had to shut down temporarily because of the poor weather situation, and its Ground Control Approach (GCA) system was not available. So the Lancaster was ordered to divert to Torbay, Newfoundland, instead. With the continuing worsening weather, the loss of the plane's engine power, and a change in flight direction, the radio contact that ground personnel had had with the plane suddenly ended. Lancaster KB914 was declared missing.
The search was hampered by more bad weather and, to make matters more difficult, there were two other missing aircraft that also required attention.
On June 15, 1953 the wreckage of the Lancaster KB914 was spotted from the air. An RCAF ground search party flew out to the wreckage site to recover the human remains and to investigate the scene.
On June 26 funerals were held in Greenwood, Nova Scotia, for the nine airmen-the ceremonies took place in the Catholic Chapel and in the Station Drill Hall. The body of each RCAF airman was then transported to his Canadian hometown for final burial.
--Find A Grave Memorial ID 108328492
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