Small World

[Barry Churcher]

This photo was loaned to me by Garney White. It shows a Harvard that landed in his fathers field in Minesing Ontario. His fathers farm was long and flat with no fences so the pilots training at Camp Borden would practice emergency landings. This pilot got a little low on a fly over. The plane had the wings removed and was taken back to Borden on a flat bed. Garneys family moved to Whitby after the war and his mother got a job in the local hardware store. Ralph MacCarl, the owner of the store looked very familiar to her but it took her some time to figure it out. Ralph was the pilot of the plane. The young girl in the photo is Garnet's sister Edith. Garnet worked for me for years as a mechanic and Edith and Ralph were customers. Ralph has passed away and his old time hardware store with every nut, bolt and fastener imaginable has been closed. Garnet said one other plane landed on their property but it flipped over killing the pilot and the instructor.
Barry

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

I imagine that was a bit of a highlight for the kids!
Rich

[Keith Webb]

Amazing coincidence, thanks for sharing the pic and the story, Barry.

I've interviewed quite a few Australian pilots who trained in Canada, even a few who were at Borden.

One of them, actor Charles "Bud" Tingwell made an inadvertent wheels-up landing there. His abiding memory was how easy it was to walk off the wing onto the ground, and of the station commander's staff car tearing up to him to find out what happened. He was lucky not to have been scrubbed.
Bud went on to fly Spitfires and Mosquitoes in a photo recce role over Greece and Crete.

Originally Posted by Barry Churcher

This photo was loaned to me by Garney White. It shows a Harvard that landed in his fathers field in Minesing Ontario. His fathers farm was long and flat with no fences so the pilots training at Camp Borden would practice emergency landings. This pilot got a little low on a fly over. The plane had the wings removed and was taken back to Borden on a flat bed. Garneys family moved to Whitby after the war and his mother got a job in the local hardware store. Ralph MacCarl, the owner of the store looked very familiar to her but it took her some time to figure it out. Ralph was the pilot of the plane. The young girl in the photo is Garnet's sister Edith. Garnet worked for me for years as a mechanic and Edith and Ralph were customers. Ralph has passed away and his old time hardware store with every nut, bolt and fastener imaginable has been closed. Garnet said one other plane landed on their property but it flipped over killing the pilot and the instructor.
Barry

[Ryan]

What a great story. Shame about the old hardware store.