Four Degrees Celsius (17 page)

The Arctic, to most, is a place that exists only as an idea in the imagination or on a map. For many, it is an image of snowy nothingness, rather than a physical location at the top of the world. But to the bush pilots and prospectors of the 1920s and 30s, the Arctic was filled with tremendous potential, and through their fortitude and foresight, they helped to develop the mineral assets that MacAlpine had sought. These individuals lived the idea.

The search and rescue of 1929 set a record, still unbroken, for the miles flown and number of planes and pilots involved in a search and rescue mission.
[12]
It also holds the title of the greatest aerial search in Canadian history and set an unbroken record for cost. Thayer Lindsley personally paid over half of the $400,000 price tag of the rescue.
[13]
This amount in today's dollars, using the price of gold as the standard, would be in excess of twenty-one million dollars.

The impressive understanding of flying in winter conditions that was gathered during the search from the Dominion Explorers was worth the cost. It would serve as a benchmark for not only the world to use as the airplane became pivotal both in exploration and in daily transportation, but also for future prospecting in Canada. For the next several years, Canadian pilots would be the leaders in aerial transportation, prospecting, and their vast experience would be drawn upon as aviation developed in North America and around the world.

Almost immediately after the start of the Depression, mining became a central economic driver in Canada, affecting development, research, culture, the environment, and peoples' livelihoods, not just in the North, but throughout the country. It still is.
[14]

This expedition was the spark that ignited the interest of a nation and which highlighted the inventiveness, courage, humility, and compassion of its people's character. It is these traits that have made Canada a country that, though young, has carved a unique identity in the world.

Andy Cruickshank was sitting in his Prince George office, writing his “Pilot's Instructions” for passenger flights. Since he was training a new generation of pilots, he was developing a manual to assist in their classroom study. The topic he was working on was “Takeoff.”

1. Taxi slowly. Passengers are given unpleasant sensations if planes are taxied faster than 10 miles per hour over rough fields.
   
2. Use all available area for take-off. When plane is in position for take-off it should be stopped and the brakes set and the motor run at full throttle, testing both magnetos. This is a precaution which is required by the Department of Commerce on all air lines in the United States, and passengers riding lines regularly are aware of the significance of this procedure and expect it. As we are carrying through passengers from the States, it is necessary that we conform, apart from this it is good practice.
   

Cruickshank continued to list the important details that a pilot should be aware of and follow. He wrote that passengers may become frightened if the pilot turns the plane too close to the ground, and that any banks should be made at an angle no greater than 30 degrees. Holding the plane steady would help in reducing the possibility of air sickness, as would keeping the aircraft at an altitude that avoids bumpy air. Cruickshank's final point was that the pilot must take an interest in the passengers' well-being, and a good way to do that is to inform them of the distance travelled, and any interesting points in the landscape below. It was his belief that pilots should indicate a willingness to answer questions that any passenger asks of him, adding that this, too, adds to the pleasure of the flight.

Andy Cruickshank and a new generation of “student” pilots stand outside a house in Swanson Bay, located on the Inside Passage in British Columbia.
Karram Family Collection.

Once he was satisfied with the instructions, he stacked his notes and picked up the package that sat on his desk. It had come from Dominion Explorers in Toronto on a WCA flight and was addressed to Captain and Mrs. Andrew Cruickshank. The parcel was wrapped in brown paper and was bulky and intriguing, but Cruickshank wanted to wait until he was at home with Esmé before he opened it.

He tidied up his desk, said goodbye to the employees of WCA, and headed to his car. He looked forward to this part of the day, as he headed home to his family. The drive was short and before long he was pulling up alongside of his tiny dwelling. Home was welcoming and warm, and smelled of something savoury bubbling on the stovetop. The fire crackled and instantly Cruickshank felt the comforts of his surroundings. Hellos and hugs took some time, and then he and Esmé sat at the kitchen table to open the package together. In it was a letter from Thayer Lindsley, a little velvet pouch, and a square box. They opened the letter first and read what had been written.

Lindsley expressed his great appreciation for Cruickshank's excellent service during the search for the MacAlpine party. He wrote about the hazardous conditions and observed that Cruickshank had indeed placed his own life in danger for the sake of others. He continued that he held Cruickshank in the “very highest esteem” and relayed that there was no really adequate recompense for his involvement, but that he would like to give Cruickshank five hundred shares of Ventures Limited as a “small reward” for his services. He also asked that this be kept as a private matter between the two of them, since he did not want any publicity surrounding the gift. This would prove to be a substantial offering.
[1]
The gift was a generous one, but the letter behind it held even more significance to Cruickshank. For him, respect from another was the highest form of tribute. Esmé would hold onto those shares for decades.

Next, Esmé opened the velvet pouch and out fell matching gold nugget earrings. The nuggets, each measuring roughly one inch, were hung simply from a gold post. These were from MacAlpine, and given with his thanks for the support she showed to her husband during the search. Cruickshank had been able to devote the time and energy to the job at hand, knowing his wife was in control of their family, and MacAlpine was aware of the sacrifice Esmé was willing to make as her husband flew into the Arctic. The earrings, worn by Esmé throughout her life, were passed down to her daughter Dawn and then on to granddaughter Kerry-Dawn, who wore them on her wedding day. They remain a cherished family keepsake.

Cruickshank opened his box and inside was a gold cigarette case. He held the case in his hands and ran his fingers over the initials ADC that had been engraved on the front of the case. Cruickshank recalled the nights he spent with MacAlpine at Burnside and at Fort Reliance. Smoking served a two-fold purpose in the North. In the summer the smoke helped to ward off mosquitoes and other pesky insects, and during the winter months smoking was a social pastime. Cruickshank carried this case with him for the remainder of his life — a reminder of the great adventure in which he had played a major role. The case now belongs to grandson Edward.

MacAlpine's thoughtfulness and appreciation extended over the years and he never forgot the men and women who worked tirelessly on his behalf. This was evident in an interview with Domex pilot Stanley MacMillan. MacMillan, years later, recalled the fortitude and “legend of Colonel MacAlpine's leadership … he was our tower of strength and quickly formulated the disciplines that would sustain us both physically and mentally.” MacMillan continued that it was no easy adventure for MacAlpine and he suffered as much or more than most of the group, but “his leadership was unquestioned in act or in thought. It has often been said that even among the most enlightened peoples of this earth, the veneer of civilized behavior is thin. We didn't suffer any conspicuous peeling of this veneer but incidents did occur where one might say fractures developed. It was at such times that we found reason to be most grateful that Colonel MacAlpine was able to imbue us with the restraint necessary to keep our group intact.”
[2]

Decades later, an interesting study, funded by the National Science Foundation (2000), was undertaken and MacAlpine's leadership skills would once again be considered. The study was to assist with protocol for extended long-duration space missions. Concern about the sensitivity to psychosocial issues during confined space-life was mounting. By reviewing documented historical data, information was gathered to identify areas of possible conflict. Once areas were pinpointed, procedures would then be set in place to avoid deterioration and breakdown of human relations in the NASA space program. The diary of Richard Pearce, which detailed the assigned daily duties of each member, was used to examine the effects of the human interaction during the weeks that were spent confined in the extreme Polar environment. Major Baker and Colonel MacAlpine had assigned each man in the group a daily task to perform and essentially gave each one a purpose. In doing so, the group showed “No notable shifts in how the passage of time was experienced beyond some impatience expressed by some members of the party to cross newly forming ice to arrive at their intended destination.”
[3]

Since winter flying in the North was in its infancy, developing the rescue plan required thoughtful and careful discussion, yet it also needed a daring group of men that could implement each stage. There were no gas depots in the North, maps were primitive and inaccurate, and the magnetic pole rendered compass readings useless. Wireless communications were few and far between. Plane engines had not been experimented with at these latitudes and temperatures or for such a long duration. Change over from floats to skis without the equipment found in aerodrome hangers had not been attempted. It was all new and the lessons learned in the Arctic, a land long shrouded in mystery, would require brutal hard work, resourcefulness and simple determination. These men, both determined and self-reliant, changed the course of aviation history, and with it the course of Canada. Remarkable as it may seem, something as simple as having four more gallons of gas in the planes would have enabled the Dominion Explorer expedition planes to reach Cambridge Bay and the search and rescue would never have been called out, and the lessons never learned, possibly postponing the development of the vast rich mineral deposits that would become one of the main contributors to Canada's economy.

Three years following the Domex rescue, the bush-pilot community would be rocked by the sudden and tragic deaths of several aviation heroes.

On June 29, 1932, Andy Cruickshank left the mining camp at Great Bear Lake on a three-hour flight to Fort Rae. His plane was overloaded and his fuel was reduced to accommodate the load. The engine on G-CASL he was flying had been changed just two days prior to the flight, and although Cruickshank had reported to the engineers that there was something seriously wrong with the engine after he tested it, he was instructed by his boss to fly the aircraft. Cruickshank told Esmé he would not sign the log book as his formal acknowledgement that the plane was not airworthy. His gut feeling once again was correct.

He took off with two engineers, Harry King and Horace Torrie, into a clear sky. Just twenty minutes before his destination was reached his engine died. He never made Fort Rae. Just short of a tiny lake, in the Northwest Territories, Cruickshank's plane fell from the sky. The tangled wreckage showed he had been trying to bring his plane to a safe landing on a lake close to Lake Mazenod. All three were killed. They were the first fatalities for Western Canada Airways Ltd.

Cruickshank and Torrie's combined funeral was held in Edmonton in early July 1932 and was marked by military rites. Cruickshank's casket was draped with the British flag, representing his service in the war, and bore the cap and sword he had worn. His casket rested on a gun carriage, and behind the carriage was a horse draped in black with boots reversed in the stirrups as a mark of Cruickshank's service with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Members of the RCMP, clad in their ceremonial red serge, marched in the funeral procession with the 19th Alberta Dragoons. Edmonton's militia officers also marched in the procession to the muffled drumbeats and music of the 49th Battalion Edmonton regimental band. Six airplanes flew over the procession. Pilot Hollick-Kenyon then brought his plane down low, over the grave, in the funeral salute of the air. At the burial, the firing party fired three volleys, a bugler sounded the last post, and the military men then gave their final salutes.

A Department of National Defense enquiry showed that the engine that had been installed on 'SL was the old engine from 'SP, the aircraft that sank in Churchill Harbour during the Dominion Explorers Expedition. The court documents continually questioned the airworthiness of 'SP's engine after its immersion in salt water. However, the fact remained — the engine had been put back into service and installed on 'SL just two days prior to the Fort Rae flight. The cause of Western Canada Airways first fatal crash remains unsolved. Esmé and her two young daughters, Dawn aged three, and June aged one, were left on their own.

Bill Spence, during a winter Arctic flight, crashed into the white nothingness. He and his air engineer were killed instantly. J.D. Vance and his engineer caught a wing during a routine lake landing, sending his plane cart wheeling into the watery depths. Bill Nadin, with pilot Calder, also succumbed to an untimely death in a tragic crash on the same Great Bear–Fort Rae run as Cruickshank and his crew.

Reverend Canon Comyn-Ching from St. John's Church, Fort McMurray, paid tribute to Andrew Cruickshank and Horace Torrie at their funeral, and his words would easily apply to all the men who devoted their lives to being a bush pilot:

Greater still they belong to that noble company of pathfinders who blaze a trail through to the ends of the earth. This North Country will ever be indebted to the part they played in its future. No glorification of self, no note of boastfulness or blatancy, but a deep love of adventure and discovery doing just another days work. In building the north they did not expect to see the happy ending themselves, theirs was only the far off [Mount] Pisgah view of it, but you who are their kinsmen will think with pride that they were privileged to give their lives that through them it might remain an inheritance for the generations to come … and yet up there amid the crash of stars, they did their work well, unwavering vision of the end to work for, with every quality of self-sacrifice and heroic resolve, going forth on their knightly quest of the north — following the Holy Grail of the great adventure.
[4]