1943 Saint-Donat RCAF Liberator III crash
Royal Canadian Air Force No. 10 Squadron RCAF Consolidated Liberator III · CFIT (controlled flight into terrain)
From Gander International Airport (YQX) to Mont Joli Airport (YYY)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 24 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Military
Consolidated Liberator III
- Aircraft type
- Consolidated LIBERATOR
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- 3701H
- Onboard fatalities
- 24
- Route
- From Gander International Airport (YQX)To Mont Joli Airport (YYY)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1943 Saint-Donat Liberator III Crash was an aerial accident that killed 24 peoplethe worst accident in Canadian military aviation history.
During a routine flight from Gander, Newfoundland to Mont-Joli, Quebec, a combination of inclement weather and a mapping error caused the Liberator to collide with the Black Mountain (French: Montagne Noire), killing all those on board. The wreckage was discovered accidentally more than two years later.
Today, a hiking trail leads to the site where remains of the aircraft can still be seen along with numerous plaques detailing the accident and a monument honouring those who died.
Accident
On 19 October 1943, bad weather conditions had kept all aircraft at Gander International Airport grounded until 22:16 hours when the accident aircraft finally received authorization to leave on a routine flight to Mont-Joli Airport with a crew of 4 and 20 passengers, reportedly proceeding on leave. After about three hours in the air, at 01:45 the pilot made contact with Mont-Joli Airport control tower to ask for authorization to land, only to be notified that the landing strip was closed due to the weather and diverted the aircraft to Rockcliffe Airport, Ontario or Dorval airport, Montreal, Québec. Besides a call for help reportedly heard by another aircraft flying near Grand-Mère, Quebec, no other contact was made with the Liberator.
Investigation and cause
Cause
At an altitude of 875 m, the Black Mountain (La Montagne Noire) is the highest point of the region of Saint-Donat. While the exact cause of the accident is still unknown, it was later discovered that its height was not correctly reported on contemporary navigation maps. Given the poor weather conditions on the night of the crash, it is very likely that the pilot noticed the mountain too late to climb away from it.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1943 Saint-Donat RCAF Liberator III crash” (revision 1364267593, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 1943 Saint-Donat RCAF Liberator III crash
- Revision
- 1364267593 · 2026-07-15 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q17985130
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "1943 Saint-Donat RCAF Liberator III crash" (page 43742673, revision 1364267593)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.