Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age: 13
- Grade: 8
Description
Mount Slesse, a jagged 2,500-metre peak near Chilliwack BC known locally as "The Fang," lived up to its evil reputation on December 9, 1956, when Trans Canada Airlines Flight 810 slammed into it, killing all 62 aboard. For five months nobody knew what happened. Flight 810 had just disappeared into the night. Adding to the sensation was the fact that the flight carried five professional football players fresh from the CFL All Star game in Vancouver and a mystery man by the name of Kwan Songwho was rumoured to be carrying a sizeable fortune in cash. Finally on May 10, 1957, a diminutive female mountaineer named Elfrida Pigou discovered the gruesome crash site, setting off a stampede of macabre treasure hunters. It wasn't until May 25, 1995, that the BC government placed a protective zone around the debris field, declaring it a Heritage Wreck Site. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of this historic tragedy, Betty O'Keefe and Ian Macdonald have written a gripping, blow-by-blow account of western Canada's worst aviation disaster, carefully examining its context, causes and aftermath.
About the authors
Betty O'Keefe was a Vancouver Province reporter for seven years in the 1950s, working as childrenís columnist, features writer and church editor. She then worked in corporate communications for 15 years and was commissioned to write two corporate biographiesóBrenda: The Story of a Mine and The Mines of Babine Lake. Betty was the first woman to head the public-relations committee for the Mining Association of BC and the first woman to chair the information department of the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association.
Ian Macdonald was born and educated in Glasgow and worked for several years on Scottish newspapers before moving to Canada. He was a reporter in Ontario and Alberta before finding his way to the West Coast where he worked on the Victoria Colonist, the Vancouver Province and the Vancouver Sun. He was Ottawa correspondent for the Sun for five years before becoming press officer for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. He made an award-winning documentary film, and then turned seriously to the writing of history. Betty O'Keefe was born in Vancouver and wrote for the Province newspaper for several years. She then moved into the field of public relations as a consultant and later as supervisor of communications for a large Canadian corporation. In 1988 she opened her own communications company, but decided that her real interest was in writing history. Together, Betty O’Keefe and Ian Macdonald have co-authored a dozen books.
Librarian Reviews
Disaster on Mount Slesse: The Story of Western Canada’s Worst Air Crash
On December 9, 1956, Western Canada’s worst aviation disaster occurred. This book investigates the causes of this tragic event and the search for the downed plane. Trans-Canada Airlines Flight 810, carrying sixty-two persons, collided with the 2500 metre mountain peak of Mt. Sleese. The mountain is known in the area around Chilliwack as the Fang. The five-month search, long before the times of emergency locators and black boxes, and the causes of the accident are described, culminating in the discovery of the wreck on May 12, 1957. In 1995, the BC government placed a protective zone around the area of debris and pronounced it a Heritage Wreck site. This book marks the 50th anniversary of the horrific events.Source: The Association of Book Publishers of BC. BC Books for BC Schools. 2007-2008.
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