From Seekers of Gold by Daryl Friesen
Wanting to learn more about his discovery Boileau went to the Vancouver Library and began pouring over records of crashed airplanes. As the story goes there was a Mitchell B-25 bomber that was used after the war to haul military cargo from one point to another in Canada. Well, one went down on its approach to Vancouver and it was carrying some fairly expensive cargo. Eight hundred thousand dollars in cash in order to pay the armed forces personnel on the west coast and a further eight thousand dollars worth of gold bullion. The story says that the aircraft has never been found.
Boileau then of course decided to go back into the canyon and try to locate the aircraft and who wouldn't with that kind of money at stake. Now the story was really starting to grab my attention. Here is what happened to Boileau when he went back to try and find the lost aircraft.
We climbed, crawled and scaled our way up first over one ridge and then another between huge boulders and across narrow ledges. This struggle continued for more than four hours when we almost made up our minds to turn back. Just at the edge of a large ice flow we rested and took some time to gaze at the mountain ridges that were still ahead of us. This location was well above the tree line and all that lay ahead of us was ice and snow.
While contemplating our next move, I noticed a sparkle of light that came from the crest of the mountain. I pointed this out to Tom and he took my rifle and looked through the scope and "voila", we had located the main body of the aircraft. I took the rifle from Tom and viewed the spot myself. Yes there it was a large wing section draped over the very top of the mountain ridge.
Turning back now was out of the question. We stepped up our pace and switch backed our way up the ice flow that laid ahead and climbed over the boulders that separated us from the downed airplane.
As we traversed the final rock obstacle it all came into view. Right at our feet laid a huge Mitchell B-25 bomber. The Canadian Air Force insignias on the wings staring us in the fact. It was quite obvious that given the condition of the aircraft that there could not possibly have been any survivors. The cockpit section was buried under some ice and snow. The remainder of the plane was completely exposed to the elements.
I took a number of photographs of the different sections of the aircraft and we began a detailed search of the wreckage. Keep in mind that we could not gain access to the main section of the fuselage because it was completely collapsed into itself. However there was no problem in surveying the rest of the wreckage.
Off to one side but very close to the main body of the aircraft was evidence of a small fire. Here we found remnants of parachutes, jackets, boots and suitcases. The rest of the aircraft was as clean and shiny as the day it ran off the assembly line.
The huge wings were broken off the fuselage and the two large engines were separated from the wings complete with propellers intact. All these mechanical parts were not scattered over a wide area but here in fact, very close together, considering the size of the aircraft and the speed that it must have been traveling when it hit the ridge.
My opinion is that the plane came down in a horizontal glide and that it did not blow apart on impact. Most of the year round the wreckage lies buried under the ice and snow and remains obscured from view. Neither the air force nor I could locate any records of this aircraft.
We found no gold or cash, but then again we were unable to gain access to the main cargo compartment of the plane, so to this day I cannot say what may still be in the wreckage.
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Thanks
Jackson
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