KERRY KARRAM COLLECTION
No. 11548. Fokker 8 Super Universal (G-CASQ c/n 824) Western Canada Airways
Photograph from Daryl Goodwin via Western Canada Aviation Museum

Fokker 8 Super Universal


08/31/2012. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "On August 24, 1929, a group of Dominion Explorers Expedition (Domex) prospectors flew into the Arctic to search for mineral deposits. Overdue at their destination, on September 23 Western Canada Airways began a search and rescue operation which would become the most expensive and extensive in Canadian history, costing over 21 million dollars in today's currency value, and more than 17,000 mls (27,360 km) flown by the five search aircraft.

Kerry Karram's grandfather, Captain Andy Cruickshank, was assigned to lead the rescue team. Kerry's book, Four Degree's Celsius, A Story of Arctic Peril, documents the search and rescue drawing upon the reports in the Northern Miner and Manitoba Free Press newspapers, and the recently discovered diaries of Andy Cruickshank and Richard Pearce, a member of the stranded party.

G-CASQ was Cruickshank's aircraft. Grounded many times by weather, damage and mechanical problems, readying the aircraft to resume the search again was a complicated task, using found materials and tools carried on board, made even more difficult in sub-zero Arctic temperatures. From the book:

Created August 31, 2012