1944 Montreal RAF Liberator VI crash
Royal Air Force Liberator B Mark VI · Crash
From Dorval Airport to Britain
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
- 15 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 10
- Occupants
- 5
- Survivors
- Unknown
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Liberator B Mark VI
- Aircraft type
- Liberator B MARK
- 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
- Unknown
- Operator
- Royal Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 5
- Route
- From Dorval AirportTo Britain
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On April 25, 1944, a Royal Air Force Liberator B Mark VI en route to Britain via Gander, Newfoundland crashed into the Griffintown neighborhood in downtown Montreal, Quebec minutes after taking off from Dorval Airport. The five-member crew and ten civilians on the ground were killed, and a large fire destroyed at least 10 homes.
Crash
Just after takeoff at 10:24 AM, the crew reported problems. The plane cleared Mount Royal but started to lose altitude over downtown Montreal. It passed in front of the Sun Life Building and narrowly missed the tower of Windsor Station and the chimney of the Dow Brewery. At 10:30, it struck residential buildings near the corner of Shannon Street and Ottawa Street. There was an explosion, and fire immediately broke out, spread by the 9,000 litres of fuel. Firefighters took hours to contain the blaze. In all, 10 to 15 homes were destroyed in the crash and subsequent fire.
Investigation and cause
Cause of the crash
The Ministry of Defense report cited structural failure of the tail section as the cause of the crash. Witnesses in the Sun Life Building described seeing part of the tail detached as it flew at low altitude apparently trying to reach the river to ditch.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1944 Montreal RAF Liberator VI crash” (revision 1364267622, 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: 1944 Montreal RAF Liberator VI crash
- Revision
- 1364267622 · 2026-07-15 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q3578999
- 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 "1944 Montreal RAF Liberator VI crash" (page 59168518, revision 1364267622)
- Date
- Wikipedia article text, read with AI assistance: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia article text, read with AI assistance: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia article text, read with AI assistance: 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 article text, read with AI assistance: aircraft fatalities plus ground fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia article text, read with AI assistance: ground fatalities
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.