It was the worst-ever peacetime crash of a Royal Canadian Air Force plane.
On Sept. 15, 1946, at the Estevan Regional Airport, Dakota 962 stood on her tail, stalled and crashed, killing 21 people.
Twenty of the airmen on board were experienced pilots and highly decorated combat veterans. Among the 20 pilots killed were nine recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). Two more received the medal posthumously. Some had Distinguished Flying medal ribbons alongside their DFC.
Leading aircraftsman Bill Kirko of Toronto, age 20, was the groundcrew airman. His discharge notice from the service was sitting in a basket at a Winnipeg orderly room.
The only epitaph for the plane at the National Defence History section in Ottawa is a handwritten entry on an aircraft record card, 鈥�1619146 struck off.鈥� 鈥淎 mass funeral service was held in Estevan for the airmen.鈥�
The crash brought grief to 21 families. Thirteen young women became widows. Some had small children who would never know their fathers.
These men walked our streets, ate at our tables and fought for our country. They flew in our cloudy and clear skies.
The Forever in the Clouds monument, which depicts the 21 faces of the fallen airmen, belongs in Estevan in the heart and soul of the city.
