Remembering the Cornell WWII trainers
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Dear Jeff, I must tell you how much I enjoyed the article you wrote regarding the 3399 Yale aircraft, and its initial fly in to our airport as you reported.
Being 86 years of age and living here since 1997, I will have to ask your forgiveness for not being able to identify the trainer type I am about to refer to, as follows.
I was 16 years of age in 1944, born in Novar, Ont., a small village some nine miles north of Huntsville. Enrolled in high school in Novar and on one return trip at the one-time village of Mellissa, just south of Novar, we came across an accident where a small plane had crash landed on a railway trestle, immediately on the north side of No. 11 highway. Of course our bus stopped and we boys, some of us, waded the waist deep snow over to the trestle where I picked up a multi-layered piece of yellow-coloured plane part, which I kept for many years but only have memories of now.
Apparently the (Cornell) plane was one of a few who flying north from Gravenhurst airport to the airport at Elmsdale. Being cold and snowing, the engine had quit and the solo site for landing was on the railway tracks where his plane was now on the trestle. His wing caught or snagged upon a water barrel causing the plane to slide over the western edge of the trestle and crash into the deep snow there.
The pilot had suffered a broken leg and did crawl through the snow out onto Highway 11 for assistance. Fortunately there was no train traffic at the time he landed on the trestle.
Some time later our school bus arrived on the scene and much of the above information above was, as I recall, from the local news, etc.
Now, to the meat of my interest in your article, the 3399 aircraft and its resemblance to those aircraft, one of which crashed as described above. They were single-winged, low on the fuselage as is the 3399, and the longer cockpit as was shown.
These aircraft were used for training fliers from Norway. They were built primarily of plywood sections, glued together. They were single-engined, with a longer cockpit where a second flier, the instructor I presume, could also be seated. (The section of plane I retrieved from the site was small enough for me to carry under my arm, and were cross sections glued together.)
Three airports were used to train these Norwegian fliers. They were Toronto Island, Gravenhurst and Elmsdale. Reports after the war were that these fliers were very well trained and flew many different types of aircraft with reported excellent skills.
After the war some of those Norwegians returned to Muskoka and opened a flying business at Elmsdale Airport. I had one flight where I asked to be flown around Novar. It was my first flight and I recall sitting next to the pilot, being asked not to touch any of the controls. When landing back at Elmsdale, I was sure we would snag the fence, we were so close to the ground!
Thought you would be interested in my tale of these many years ago.
Calvin Coulter,
Tillsonburg