'Their story should be preserved': Summerville memorial to honour deaths of 4 Allied airmen

A memorial was unveiled Sunday in Summerville, N.S., to mark the deaths of four Allied airmen who died 80 years ago today when their plane crashed in the West Hants area during a training mission.

The airmen — two New Zealanders, a Canadian and an Australian — were stationed at Pennfield Ridge in New Brunswick as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The program provided training for airmen from Commonwealth countries during the Second World War.

"We should acknowledge what these young people did," said Gary Nelson, vice-president of the West Hants Historical Society.

"Three of the four came from halfway around the world and the other fellow came from half a continent away to train to preserve our freedom and our way of life in 1943. And then, really through no fault of their own, they were involved in this crash and their story should be preserved."

The airmen who died were:

• P/O John C. Loucks, air gunner, Bracebridge, Ont.
• P/O George W. Cowie, pilot, Wellington, New Zealand.
• P/O Clifford A. Griffiths, navigator, Auckland, New Zealand.
• Sgt. Arthur Cornelius Mulcahy, wireless air gunner, Sydney, Australia.

Sunday's ceremony was held at the Musgrove Road Cemetery, which is within sight of where the crash happened.

Jack Loucks of Ottawa visited Nova Scotia for the ceremony. His dad's first cousin was the Canadian who died in the crash.

Loucks said his relative liked playing hockey and basketball, and building model airplanes. He enlisted at 18 in 1942 and was stationed at Pennfield Ridge for around a month.

"His second time up [in a Ventura] was that fateful flight on the 25th," said Loucks.

He's done research to learn more about his relative's life, but even within the family not a lot is known. Loucks said a family member helped put that into perspective.

"She said, 'Jack, back in the '30s during the Depression, everybody was just worried about getting food on the table, let alone luxury travelling and visiting relatives, right? And the families were scattered all over Ontario,"' said Loucks.

Why the plane crashed

The Ventura AJ186 was one of five Ventura planes taking part in a training exercise.

After departing Pennfield Ridge, the route was to head to Smiths Cove, N.S., Falmouth, N.S., Sackville, N.B., Sussex, N.B., Saint John and then back to the base.

When the AJ186 was flying over the Avon River in Falmouth, it developed engine trouble.

"When it turned inland it began to lose altitude quite quickly," said Nelson.

"It flew over a grove of pine trees, hit the top of one of the tallest pine trees, took the top off and did a somersault and crashed on what was then known as Musgrove Road."

The road is now called Musgrave Road due to an error, but the cemetery goes by the historically accurate name, said Nelson.

June 25 was the last day of school, and some kids in Summerville saw the crash on their way home.

"Over where the crash had just occurred red fire and black smoke billowed up in a surging cloud," local historian Edith Mosher wrote about the incident in her book, Family Book of Fact & Fiction.

"At the sight and sound of that terrible explosion echoing among the trees, people came pouring out of house along the village's main road, piling into cars, running on foot, all heading rashly, as I was, toward that flaming scene."

Cause still unknown

It's unclear what caused the crash, but an accident report offered up a possible explanation.

"The engine ... may have cut out as a result of fuel starvation as there was a history of fuel pump unserviceability," it said.

The bodies of the airmen from Australia and New Zealand are interred at two cemeteries in Windsor, N.S., while Loucks is buried in his hometown.

Nelson said work began last summer on the memorial as there wasn't anything in the community drawing attention to the crash. The memorial will have information and will include the names of the airmen who died.