OLD PLANE CRASH SITE

Late in the morning of October 18th, 1947 a B-25 Mitchell Bomber belonging to the Royal Canadian Air Force crashed into Plewman Basin. They were heading north and clipped the nearby ridge in poor weather. The plane carried 7 crewmen and 2 passengers, both “smuggled” civilians, none of whom survived.
The B-25 Mitchell bomber was an American twin-engine, medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation (NAA). First flown in August of 1940, the B-25 began operational service with the United States Army Air Force in 1941. The design was named in honour of Major General William “Billy” Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation.  The B-25 first gained fame as the bomber used in the April 18, 1942, Doolittle Raid, in which 16 B-25Bs led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle flying from the deck of the United States Navy aircraft carrier Hornet attacked mainland Japan.
Nearly 10,000 Mitchells were manufactured. They were used by many Allied air forces including the Americans, Brits, Aussies, and others during WWII. and served in every theatre of World War II. B-25s remained in service after the war, their use spanning four decades.
When the war was over, Canada bought 164 B-25 Mitchell bombers in the late 1940s for the Royal Canadian Air Force to use as training aircraft, light transport, and to fly special missions during the early parts of the Cold War. Some of the planes remained bombers–this was the Cold War, after all.
It was on one of these special missions that the converted B-25 crashed  The plane carried nine people: seven military personnel and two civilians (both “smuggled” aboard), a couple named Mr. and Mrs. F.M. Knight, who owned a hotel in Penticton. The plane was conducting an aerial survey and heading to Penticton to drop off the Knights. The weather was grim that day; it was the first snow of the season, the wind was howling, it was foggy, and visibility was very limited. The plane likely iced up and lost control because it lost a lot of elevation in a very short distance to end up on the floor of Plewman Basin.” But once the plane hit the floor of the basin, no one survived.
The first ski lift was still a couple of months from being ready. It was the first snow of the year and the visibility in the fog was about zero. Ken Gresley-Jones and Jim Douglas heard the plane pass so close over their heads that they hit the ground, but they saw nothing due to the fog. Though the peak of Old Glory was nearby and it was at the time manned by a Met Men, Bart Dudley, but he never heard a thing over the wind howling outside.

No one would see anything of this plane crash for five whole years until October 1952, when Wilf Gibbard, the man who used pack horses to haul supplies up to the Met Men of Old Glory, randomly came upon the site after spotting something shiny in the bush while hunting for grouse. There weren’t any remains left – just the odd piece of plane debris – an explosion is assumed to have erased much of the evidence. A burial marker was erected originally with a wooden cross, which has since been replaced with a metal cross.

Rating: ♦♦♦♦◊
Location: 15 km north of Rossland below Mt Plewman
Difficulty: A1 easy
Elevation Gain:
Distance:
Time: 3 hours 
Season: May to October 
Access: 2WD low clearance 
Map: 82F/

Drive: From Rossland, drive north on Hwy 3B about 15 km and look on the left for a large tree with some weathered orange flagging tape wrapped around it, located a few meters from the highway. This is the lower trail, but is almost unusable as you near the clearcut, due to a tangle of large trees that have blown down.
Finding the upper part of the trail is difficult, even for those who have been there before, but that’s the best way to go. The description is not simple: Just before the highway cam tower/logging road on the right (Murphy Ck FSR), there’s a logging road on the left (no name). Hike or drive up this second logging road. The wreck is about 2 km from the highway.

Trail/Route: The logging road swings around, heads south towards the long east ridge of Mt. Plewman (sometimes called Cut Block) and takes a sharp right turn away from the tree line. Look for double flagging tape and a hunter’s blind in the forest. The upper TH coordinates are 47.167285°N 117.87704°W – 5,726′ just past the blind heading left. It doesn’t look like a trail, but it is, heads directly into the forest, and follows the edge of the clearcut through a creek bed.
Once on the trail, it’s not hard to follow the “Crash Site” – coordinates: 49.167474°N 117.882076°W – 6,032′.
To get to the Igloo cabin, some pinkish flagging tape marks the trail starting just before the crash site. This trail is overgrown in many areas but has a few pink flags. The Igloo cabin coordinates are 49.164907°N 118.888348°W – 6,271′. 

The following are the lyrics to “The Ghost Cat of Plewman Basin” from the CD – “Stories From Rossland”:
The winter wind blew on the ridge north of Plewman ’til rime grew so heavy; the first snow that year.
The 18th of October, 1947; the Red Mountain ski lift was almost complete.
Chick Jones and Jim Douglas cutting the first ski run, still at the top, all alone in the fog.
The old Mitchel Bomber circled three times and came roaring right overhead, lost in the fog.