DHC-3 Otter Archive Master Index

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c/n 396

9417
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c/n 396

9417

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• 9417 Royal Canadian Air Force. Delivered 28-Oct-1960.

Initially allocated to 418 Squadron, CFB Namao, AB.

Dec-1961 Into storage at Lincoln Park, Calgary, AB.

Jan-1962. 418 Squadron, CFB Namao, AB.

Nov-1975. Transferred to CFB St. Hubert, QC. for use by 401 and 438 Squadrons.

Accident: Lac des Chats north of Montréal, QC. 02-Oct-1981. Aircraft stalled whilst operating at low level and stalled into the woods. Three on board were killed.

Written off

Otter 396 was delivered to the RCAF on 28th October 1960 with serial 9417. It was allocated to 418 Squadron, Namao.  and flew with the squadron until November 1961. It then went into storage at Lincoln Park, Calgary for the month of December 1961, before returning to 418 Squadron, Namao in January 1962. While flying for the squadron, it was involved in two SAR missions. On 4th February 1963 it partook in the search for Howard DGA15P N58856, missing en route from Whitehorse in the Yukon to Fort St.John, BC. This massive search has already been referred to in relation to Otter 9408 (370) of 403 Squadron, Calgary. Also taking part was Otter 9418 (398) of 418 Squadron. On 10th September 1963, Cessna 175 CF-LBF and Cessna 180 CF-HRM took off from Rocky Mountain House en route to Edmonton, where HRM landed safely but LBF did not arrive.  Otters 9417 and 9418 were launched to search for the missing Cessna 175, along with Albatross 9310 of 111 Rescue Unit, Winnipeg. One of the Otters located the crash site and vectored helicopter 9632 from Cold Lake to the scene.

9417 continued to fly for 418 Squadron until November 1975, when it was transferred to St. Hubert, near Montréal for use by 401 and 438 Squadrons. It was destroyed in an accident on 2nd October 1981, just as the Otters were being withdrawn from military service. On that day, 9417 was on a cross-country training flight out of St. Hubert flown by a 401 Squadron crew, when it crashed at Lac des Chats north of Montréal. The pilot at the controls failed to maintain sufficient airspeed while manoeuvring at low level, resulting in an aerodynamic stall. The Otter crashed into the woods, sadly killing the three on board.

Full history up to 2005 courtesy of Karl E Hayes © from DHC-3 Otter - A History (CD-ROM 2005)