Lady Luck and a Lost Aircraft
Richard Bentham
It was late on the night of 19 May 1958. I was scrambled in a CF-100 all weather jet fighter aircraft from 409 Squadron located at Comox, BC. I was requested to try and assist a lost Mooney – a private airplane coming from Alaska. I was told that there was a family on board. Some of the major problems were that the plane was lost, it was running out of fuel, and no one had a clue where it was.
They thought it was coming down the BC coast as it was in radio contact, with "Turnpike" - the call sign for a USAF manned long range radar station located at Puntzi Mountain - some 120 miles west of Williams Lake.
I headed northwest, up Georgia Strait, at 10,000 feet but saw nothing. I suggested that they tell the pilot to turn on his landing lights. He did, and still I saw nothing.
Much to everyone’s surprise, on the other side of the coastal range, an airman at "Turnpike" saw a set of landing lights high up but not far away. It turned out to be the Mooney. The duty controller got all the cars he could muster to line up and light the small runway located at Puntzi Mountain and the Mooney landed safely. Subsequently, the controller got an "attaboy" in the USAF flight safety magazine.
The details of this story are based on recollections from Richard Bentham. He would like to communicate with anyone that can provide any additional information pertaining to this incident. Richard can be reached, via email, at:
bentham@bmts.com