On November 11, 2017, a plaque was unveiled at Britannia Yacht Club to commemorate the fatal crash of Royal Canadian Air Force Consolidated PBY-5A Canso Flying Boat in July 1945. The plaque includes the crash history, a poem and the names of the officers who were killed. The plaque was organized with the help of local aviation author Peter Pigott.
On the afternoon of July 23, club members watched a Royal Canadian Air Force Canso during a training drill of practicing water landings on the Ottawa River. The Second World War had ended that May and those who had survived would soon return to sail at the club. The Canso was the last of the RCAF’s 162 Squadron, a home defence unit that had been posted in January, 1944 to Reykjavik, Iceland and later Wick, Scotland. The squadron had sunk five U-boats, shared in the destruction of a sixth and damaged a seventh.
Touching down on the river, the Canso’s wing tipped into the water and tore off. The aircraft then flipped over and began sinking. It went to the bottom within minutes, trapping the crew inside. By the time boats from the yacht club and Aylmer, Quebec got to the scene, it was marked by floating log books, oil slicks and bodies. Killed were:
- Flying Officer M. Olson, the pilot
- Flying Officer R.G. Murphy, the navigator
- Warrant Officer Class 1 P.E. Bulley, wireless air gunner
- Warrant Officer Class 2 S.W.R. Brown, wireless air gunner
- Warrant Officer Class 2 L. M. Whitehead, flight engineer.
Injured were Flying Officer A.F. Gerding, and Flight Lieutenant J. Beattie, an observer from Rockcliffe. For attempting to rescue Murphy, who had been trapped in the sinking aircraft, Olson was recommended for the George Cross, but somehow this was not followed through.
