Stealth-y bomber in St. James

It’s February 17, 1957, a typical cold Sunday evening in Winnipeg. You’re relaxing in your cozy St. James home, awaiting the Ed Sullivan Show on CBC at 7 p.m. Tonight’s lineup includes the Harlem Globetrotters, a song-and-dance number, and opera performances. The show starts soon.

And then a 10-ton B-25 Mitchell bomber plows through your neighbourhood.

The B-25 bomber has a wingspan of 67'7" (20.6 m) and is 16'4" (4.98 m) tall. [Wikipedia]

News editors sprang into action, and newspapers printed detailed accounts the next day.

“This aerial photograph charts the path taken by the Mitchell bomber which crashed in St. James Sunday night. No. 1 is the Mair home with a portion of its roof sheared off. No. 2 is the McMunn garage, minus part of its roof. No. 3 is where the Lyons garage was demolished on Ferry road. The nose of the plane pushed into the Campbell home is pictured in No. 4. The vacant lot where the plane finally came to a stop is shown in No. 5. In No. 6 the landing directional light pole for aircraft is pictured.” [WFP photo and story below]

Needless to say, the story dominated the front pages of city newspapers.¹

The bomber’s long-distance training flight had originated in Vancouver and picked up two passengers on Vancouver Island before heading to Winnipeg. The six servicemen onboard included F/O J. S. Sargent, (pilot), Cpl. R. A. Lindberg, F/O D. Gibson (navigator), F/S R. F. Hawes, and LAC M. W. Crowson.

Coming in from the southwest with coughing engines, Sargent hoped he could just reach the Winnipeg runway. When the crash was imminent, he retracted the bomber’s landing gear to try to clear homes below. 

The two-story house at 422 College Street was too tall to miss. The bomber ripped a 12-foot strip from its roof, right above the room where Mrs. Mary Mair was standing. [WFP]

Mrs. Mair in her attic, showing where the roof was partially sheared off by the Mitchell bomber. [WFP]

Witnesses gave dramatic accounts to the Winnipeg Free Press. It was an experience Mary’s daughter Joan would never forget, saying, “If he had been two feet lower, the bomber would have crashed into three College street houses.”² 

She was brushing her teeth in the bathroom. At about one minute before 7 p.m., FO. Sargent’s plane ripped 12 feet off the roof of her house immediately above her head.

The bedroom ceiling caved in. Splinters and glass showered the room and clattered off a wall. Four inches beyond the other side of the wall, was Mrs. Mair.

“But,” says her daughter, Joan, 18, “think what could have happened. I saw him do it. I saw that plane come in. He actually dipped one wing so the other would clear the top of this house.

“Just over the top of the telephone wires and out front he went,” said Joan. “Then over us, under the wires in the back lane and finally down on the empty lot with the loudest explosion I have ever heard. It flattened a garage as it came down.” […]

“I was standing looking out the bedroom window,” Joan said. “Suddenly from over the Ellman’s house across the street, I saw these lights coming. There wasn’t a sound. His motors weren’t running. Just the lights, weird and big coming over the roof tops.

“These, said neighbours, were the landing lights.

“Then I could see it. It was a big one. It was headed right for the house. But as I said, he tipped his wings and slid right over the top of us.

“Then I heard this big explosion. I ran in the house. I shouted to mother there was a plane down. I ran out in the backyard.”³

With no engine power the plane’s fate was sealed when it descended too low and clipped properties on College Street and Ferry Road. 

The bomber wound up with its nose against the wall of Clarence Campbell’s house at 435 Ferry Road. [Allen Peden, WFP]

All six men aboard the downed plane survived with minor injuries, including one found 20 minutes after the crash under some wreckage. They were checked out in hospital and soon released. Remarkably, there was no fire, and no-one on the ground was injured. A few were shaken up, but were otherwise unhurt.

The bomber hit the ground in an empty lot atop the foundation of a house under construction. [WFP]

Questions were raised immediately, and an RCAF inquiry was promptly scheduled. St. James residents were understandably nervous. There had been two other RCAF crashes in recent weeks. A mere 13 days earlier two airmen were killed when their Expediter crashed and burned near Charleswood. In December the crash of another Mitchell bomber near Brookside cemetery, just north of the airport, took the lives of two others. Closer to home, “The crash brought back memories of a similar mishap in April, 1950, when a plane, coming in for a landing on the same Stevenson field runway, sliced into a garage at 391 College street, killing a man in the garage.”⁴

As everyone had suspected, the bomber crashed because it simply ran out of gas, and a thorough examination of the wreck by RCAF technicians confirmed it. The engines had not been under power when the aircraft hit the ground. The plane left Vancouver with full fuel tanks, but the extra run to Vancouver Island to pick up two passengers added flying time. Experts also determined that the engines were running rich, using more fuel than normal. Monitoring the Mitchell’s fuel gauges for four tanks could be tricky. The opportunity to refuel in Rivers, Manitoba was skipped. 

The view from the Mairs’ attic. A row of damaged buildings shows the bomber’s path. [WFP]

RCAF Inquiry

An RCAF inquiry was immediately scheduled days after the bomber crash. A trial, open to the public, would begin at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, February 28 at the RCAF base in Winnipeg.

The bomber pilot, Flying Officer J. S. Sargent, faced four serious charges. [Trib]

Flying Officer John Shearer Sargent’s court martial was formal and thorough. Lt. R. F. Barnes (RCN) Judge Advocate General Officer from Edmonton, led the prosecution. The pilot’s defending counsel was S/L J. F. Brennaugh, from the Judge Advocate General’s Office in Ottawa. The Judge Advocate of the Court was Lt. Col. M. J. P. Cloney, Assistant Judge Advocate General, Central Command, acting as legal advisor. Several experts were called as witnesses, as were Sargent’s crewmates, and the pilot took the stand to explain his actions.

The five-man court consists of G/C J. D. Sommerville, officer commanding, RCAF Station Macdonald; W/C W. B. M. Millar, Saskatoon; S/L A. L. Sinclair, RCAF Station Portage la Prairie; S/L C. E. Endersbe, of RCAF Station Portage la Prairie; F/L E. C. Gowsell, RCAF Station Saskatoon.⁵

Sargent is charged with failing to make a refueling stop on his flight from Vancouver to Winnipeg when he knew he should have made the stopover; that he failed to make appropriate emergency landing action on approach to Winnipeg when he knew or should have known the aircraft was short of fuel; that he deviated from the authorized flight path by making a flight to Vancouver Island prior to setting out for Winnipeg (he was authorized only to fly from Vancouver to Winnipeg); and that he made a false entry on his flight plan by listing two passengers on the flight when these two passengers were not aboard the aircraft.⁶

Sargent pleaded guilty to one of the charges, confessing to the court that he had deviated from the flight authorization when he flew to Vancouver Island, calling it “an error in judgement.” He also admitted that his decision not to refuel at Rivers was wrong, saying, “If I had to do it over again I would land at Rivers to refuel.”⁷

The bomber crew thought they would make it to Winnipeg’s airport, until the very end. Both engines quit before they hit the ground, and a meagre five gallons of fuel remained in the tanks.

Sargent testified on his own behalf, and was the sole defence witness. He pointed out that he had received no special long-range flying training when he started flying Mitchell bombers. When asked by Prosecuting Officer Barnes, “Do you feel that the air force is to blame for the trouble you are in?” Sargent replied, “Yes, I do.”⁸

The pilot recounted the flight in detail. The first hint of trouble, he said, was “a marked rough running and surge of power on the starboard engine accompanied by fluctuations of the starboard fuel pressure gauge.” About 15 to 20 miles (24–32 km) from Winnipeg he directed the crew to cross-feed the fuel tanks to reach both engines.

Co-pilot D. Gibson and passenger Leading Aircraftman M. W. Crowson [Trib]

The starboard engine started to cut out when total fuel measured about 60 gallons, about 25 miles (40 km) out of Winnipeg. The co-pilot, D. Gibson, called the Winnipeg tower controller and reported that they were short of fuel. He asked for landing instructions, but did not declare it an emergency—yet. Clearance from the tower was given. The bomber descended to 1500 feet (457 m) and the landing gear was lowered.

But then—the starboard engine began cutting out once again. Now intending to crash land at the airport, Sargent told his co-pilot to raise the wheels. Gibson did, and when the port engine also faulted moments later, he declared an emergency. Air traffic controller Joseph Forsland, a court witness, took the mayday call and immediately alerted emergency crews.

The bomber was now less than two miles (3.2 km) from the field. The Tribune quoted Sargent’s account:

“It appeared to me at that time my chances of making the edge of the runway were quite good.

“However shortly after the starboard engine cut out completely and after correcting a very severe yaw to starboard the port engine cut out. We were then at an altitude of 100 feet [30.5 m] and were definitely committed to a crash landing.

“I made every attempt to keep the aircraft from losing air speed but when the starboard wing tip hit the roof of a house I abandoned the controls to protect myself.”⁹

Close, but not close enough. The bomber was in line with Runway 31, barely outside the airport when it hit the ground. [Google maps]

Before the court adjourned to consider sentencing, two character witnesses spoke well of F/O Sargent. 

“I would be prepared to have FO. Sargent continue in the same capacity with his squadron,” FL. Bern Peterson, officer commanding, air interception squadron, Winnipeg, told the court.

FO. Sargent had been deputy squadron commander of the unit for the past eight months.

The second character witness, SL. A. W. Appleby, officer commanding flying wing, No. 2 air observers school, Winnipeg, also told the court he would have no hesitation in accepting FO. Sargent back to his post. SL. Appleby said he had known the accused for approximately three years.

The pilot, who was 26 at the time his bomber crashed in St. James, joined the service in May 1953. He has a permanent commission, is a qualified air pilot and has no decoration or award. There have been no previous entries on the accused’s conduct sheet, and his character is recorded as “good.”¹⁰

It took 43 minutes for the five-member court to arrive at its sentence. On April 26 news reporters announced it: a fine of $200 that was considered severe, because the black mark would always hinder an RCAF career.

A 27-year-old RCAF pilot Friday was severely reprimanded and fined $200 at his general court martial in Winnipeg.

But the immediate reaction of most laymen—that the flying officer got off lightly—was countered by military opinion that the punishment will continue to affect him throughout his air force career.

FO. John Shearer Sargent of Westwood, Ont., has been found guilty Thursday afternoon on three charges of neglectful flying procedure arising from the crash of his B-25 Mitchell bomber in St. James Feb. 17. He was found not guilty on a fourth charge. […]

The sentence is not considered light in military circles. The reprimand will be considered every time FO. Sargent is up for promotion or transfer or change in responsibility. The entry on his conduct sheet is never erased.

The punishment is described as a continuing one because it will continue to affect his career for many years and will tend to put him behind other officers with the same qualifications and experience.¹¹

Captain Sargent in his later years.

John (“Jack”) Shearer Sargent remained a pilot. In 1964 he accepted a job at United Airlines, and moved his young family to Chicago. He retired as an airline captain in 1990, and lived in Florida, passing away at age 91 on October 30, 2021.¹²

A Second Airfield

Alderman E. Bennett sat on the RCAF inquiry panel and also chaired the St. James–Winnipeg Airport Commission. Understandably alarmed by the aircraft accidents in the Winnipeg area, the commission quickly proposed measures to address the risk. 

The commission will ask Transport Minister George Marier to take the following measures:

• Extend the north-west runway to increase the angle of glide for aircraft approaching Stevenson Field.
• Establish a satellite field for smaller aircraft away from the built-up area.
• Require that all aircraft have radio equipment and be under radio control during take-off and landing.¹³

The Mayor of St. James, Thomas Findlay, said the federal government was seriously considering buying land south of Winnipeg for a new air field.

Private aircraft accounted for a large proportion of take-offs and landings at the field. Continual practice of these routines was a necessary part of pilot training. The job of meshing this traffic with airline and military operations was complicated by the absence of radio in many small private planes. […] 

“We’ve been concerned over the possibility of one of these small aircraft colliding with an airliner,” said Mayor Findlay. “As commercial planes get larger and faster the margin of error decreases.” […]

The satellite field project has received the support of Ald. A. E. Bennett, chairman of the airport commission. Mr. Bennett would also like to see the present airstrip extended to the northwest and further building prohibited in a “danger zone” around the airport.¹⁴

While a distant airfield would reduce the number of small and private plane crashes at Stevenson Field, the risk from military or airline incidents at the main airport remained.

In April of 1957 a full-width headline on page one of the Winnipeg Tribune announced, “$10 MILLION AIRPORT FOR CITY.” Designed to handle large airliners, a new passenger terminal (complete with large waiting rooms, a dining room, concessions, and shops) promised to be the most up-to-date in the country. A runway would be extended and a new taxi strip added. Improvements would include a power house, equipment garage, radio and radar facilities, as well as offices for airlines, air traffic control, telecommunications and weather services.¹⁵

A second airfield was established, but not until 1962, and not south of Winnipeg as originally anticipated. St. Andrews Airport opened “to alleviate increased flight training and air traffic pressures” by “allowing smaller aircraft operations to be diverted from the main international hub and supporting the growth of local aviation in the region.”¹⁶

St. Andrews Airport, 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Winnipeg.¹⁷

By 2022 the St. Andrews Airport was Canada’s eleventh busiest airport by aircraft movements. It is “primarily used for commercial operations, particularly flight training, air charters, scheduled passenger service, and air ambulances. Scheduled passenger service is primarily provided by Northway Aviation which operates routes to small communities in Northern Manitoba.”¹⁸

The Campbell House

The RCAF investigation into the crash and subsequent court martial followed in short order. Others had to deal with the aftermath and red tape for months yet. The bomber’s nose hit the Campbells’ house when it finally came to rest, pushing the home four feet (1.2 m) off its foundation.

The RCAF offered to pay restitution, and a news story two days after the crash gave the Campbell family hope that an insurance settlement would soon be processed.

A spokesman for the RCAF said Wednesday that a representative of the Underwriters’ Adjustment bureau, with an RCAF officer, Monday had contacted owners of homes and buildings damaged in the crash and advised them to assess their damages and put in their claims. The bureau meanwhile carried on its own investigation and will forward to government legal and administrative authorities their recommendations for damages to be paid the different individuals.

After the authorities compare the amounts of damage asked for with the assessors’ recommendations, attempts will be made to reach a satisfactory settlement.¹⁹

Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Campbell had occupied the house since 1939. At 435 Ferry Road, it was only 500 yards (457 m) from a runway. The couple was very glad they were not at home when the bomber hit. That evening they were watching a new TV at 1265 Alexander Avenue, the home of Clarence’s brother, Les. Saved by Ed Sullivan!

The Campbells stayed with relatives and in rentals after the crash. Their house was badly damaged and would need extensive work to make it habitable. [Allen Peden, WFP]

Every window in the home but one was splintered The walls lean at a dizzy angle. Pieces of furniture were shattered or ruined. Precious souvenirs of earlier days were smashed.

“Of course we can’t go on living here,” Mr. Campbell, a carpenter in Weston CPR Shops, told The Tribune. “After this we’d be nervous wrecks in six months listening to those planes going overhead and wondering which was coming in next.” […]

The Campbells’ plans to add new rooms to the old home can be forgotten for some time to come—along with the couple’s peace of mind in the path of incoming planes.

“Let’s face it,” Clarence Campbell said wearily Tuesday, “when that plane struck, 18 years went straight down the drain. We can’t stay here.”²⁰

Six properties—four on College Street and two on Ferry Road—were damaged in the crash. Five had minor damage and their claims were met in short order. The Campbells claimed $10,000 damages, but the Department of National Defence insurance adjusters offered less than half of that. 

The amount offered could not possibly replace their former home and wrecked furniture, much less pay for temporary accommodations elsewhere. In the spring, still waiting an acceptable insurance payout, the couple moved into their garage.

A St. James couple whose home was damaged in the Feb. 17 crash of an RCAF plane got permission Tuesday from city council to live in a garage until their house is repaired.

Mayor T. B. Findlay, however, told Mr. and Mrs. Campbell that if HIS family had been left homeless by the crash, he would have lived in the Royal Alexandra hotel, and charged the bill to the federal government.

The Campbells’ home at 435 Ferry road was damaged when a Mitchell bomber crashed into it while attempting to land at Stevenson field. Mr. and Mrs. Campbell were compelled to move out and have been living with relatives.

Tuesday, however, they applied to council for permission to use a garage as a temporary home. Council agreed, providing the couple doesn’t live in the garage for more than six months.

Council extended another helping hand to the Campbells. Expressing the home that a satisfactory settlement could be reached, it instructed its solicitor to write the government department concerned and press for action.

Mayor Findlay said that the couple should be repaid for any inconvenience and expense they have faced because of the crash. An alderman suggested writing to the constituency’s candidates in the June 10 federal election.²¹

“Neighbours donated much equipment to the Campbells, but they must carry their water from a block away, and light the garage with a kerosene lamp until they get electricity. Heat is supplied by a Quebec heater.” [WFP]

The Campbells settled in to their garage, and made the best of it. On May 7 they advised the St. James Council that they had received net compensation of $6,970. An additional $1,001 went to furniture storage and legal fees. 

“We can’t stay here.” Of all the buildings the bomber hit, the tiny Campbell home had the most damage. [Allen Peden, WFP]

The balance of $6,970 was not enough to meet the St. James town planning commission’s regulation that a home had to be at least 750 square feet. Councillors were sympathetic but said the cheque should not have been accepted if the amount was insufficient. Mr. Campbell asked for permission to rebuild the house at its smaller, existing size. The request was referred to the Planning Commission for consideration. Their decision is unknown, but a 2018 Google map photo of 435 Ferry Road shows a small bungalow that replaced the original 1939 house.

435 Ferry Road in October 2018 [Google maps]

The B-25 Mitchell Bomber 

The North American Mitchell II was the most-produced American medium bomber. Introduced in 1941, nearly 10,000, in several variants, were built, and served in every WWII theatre. It was considered an easy airplane to fly, suitable for pilot training programs as a safe and forgiving aircraft to fly. The warplane was very sturdy and could withstand tremendous punishment. The RCAF used the bomber for training during the war, and continued to use their 162 Mitchells post-war in other roles, including high-altitude aerial photography and transport until the early 1960s.²²

The North American B-25 Mitchell owned by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum.

The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario will pair its B-25 with its Lancaster bomber (one of only two airworthy Lancs in the world) in Remembrance Day flights. A 20-minute flight in the Mitchell is available for $900, for those with museum annual memberships of $125.  

If you book a flight, try not to plow through St. James.

City News, “B-25 Bomber to join Lancaster for Remembrance Day flight” 2025 [2:59]

____________________________

Sources (retrieved March 13, 2026)

1. “ ‘Miracle’ As Bomber Smashes In Empty Lot,” Winnipeg Free Press, February 18, 1957, p. 1, 5 (re-typed for clarity)
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. “Bomber Pilot Faces Court,” Winnipeg Tribune, April 24, 1957, p. 13
6. Ibid.
7. “Pilot Confesses He Made Error,” Winnipeg Tribune, April 25, 1957, p. 1
8. “Pilot Blames RCAF For Bomber’s Crash,” Winnipeg Free Press, April 25, 1957 p. 3
9. “Pilot Confesses He Made Error,” Winnipeg Tribune, April 25, 1957, p. 11
10. “Severe Reprimand $200 Fine For Pilot: ‘Not Light Sentence’,” Winnipeg Free Press, April 26, 1957 p. 4
11. “Severe Reprimand $200 Fine For Pilot: ‘Not Light Sentence’,” Winnipeg Free Press, April 26, 1957 p. 1
12. John Sargent Obituary, The Venice Gondolier Sun, https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/venice/name/john-sargent-obituary?id=31316005 
13. “3-Step Action Sought,” Winnipeg Tribune, February 18, 1957, p. 1
14. “Satellite Field Planned to Ease Aircraft Traffic,” Winnipeg Tribune, February 2, 1957, p. 1
15. “$10 Million Airport For City,” Winnipeg Tribune, April 18, 1957, p. 1
16. “Winnipeg/St. Andrews Airport,” Grokipedia, https://grokipedia.com/page/winnipegst_andrews_airport>  
17. St. Andrews Airport photo, https://www.standrewsairport.ca/gallery/nggallery/page/1 
18. “Winnipeg/St. Andrews Airport,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg/St._Andrews_Airport 
19. “No Gas? Probe To Tell,” Winnipeg Free Press, February 20, 1957, p. 4
20. Jack Hutton, “Why They Weren’t Home When B-29 [sic] Came Calling,” Winnipeg Tribune, February 19, 1957, p. 13
21. “They’ll Live In Garage Till House Is Repaired,” Winnipeg Free Press, April 17, p. 3
22. “North American B-25 Mitchell,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_B-25_Mitchell

⇧ BACK TO TOP 

St. James Vampire

A 1946 City of Winnipeg transportation study noted that “Stevenson Field is exceptionally well located, with relationship to the central business district and the railway and bus terminal, being less than four miles away.”¹ Anticipating “remarkable growth in private and commercial flying,” planners urged further expansion and development of Stevenson Field. The impact on adjacent residential neighbourhoods, however, garnered little attention, aside from a shrugged admission that living under a flight path lowers land values. 

Predictions for growth were not exaggerated. Stevenson Field (now Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport) developed as a major hub. In 2025 the airport in St. James was the “seventh busiest airport in Canada by passenger traffic, serving 4,412,013 passengers in 2025, and the 11th busiest airport in Canada by aircraft movements in the previous year.”²

The airport also accommodates military operations with Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg. As homeowners south of the airport learned, military flights don’t just add to air traffic, they sometimes present unique dangers.

The risk of living near a runway hit home when a jet hit a home.

In 1950 Winnipeg was bracing for an historic spring flood. But on April 17 newspaper headlines were dominated by the story of a disabled Vampire jet that crash landed on College (since renamed Collegiate) Street in St. James:

A Vampire Jet crash killed one man and injured two others at 11:23 a.m. Sunday as it swung in for a landing at Stevenson field.

Dead is Lorimer Fairhall, 41, of 391 College street.

Seriously injured is FO. Vic Barber, pilot of the R.C.A.F. craft.

A third man—Gilbert Hughes, of 405 College street, St. James—received slight head injuries.

The R.C.A.F. auxiliary fighter aircraft was coming in for a landing when it swerved from its glide-path, smashed through a garage and came to rest against a house in St. James.

Mr. Fairhall was killed instantly as the wing of the speedy jet fighter sliced through the roof of the garage where he was working on the family car.

The pilot of the aircraft, a reserve officer with the City of Winnipeg 402 fighter bomber reserve squadron, was thrown clear of the plane and taken to Deer Lodge hospital.

Hughes, against whose house the plane came to rest, suffered slight injuries to his head.³

An RCAF investigator examines the garage where Lorimer Fairhall was killed by a falling timber. The path of the Vampire is evident.⁴

At age 27, Flying Officer Victor Barber may have been new to Vampires, but was not a rookie. The Battle of Britain veteran and Spitfire pilot had 1,500 hours in the air, and had been a prisoner of war. 

“FO. Vic Barber, Jet pilot who was critically injured in the crash.”⁵

Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, FO. Barber was raised and educated in Carberry, Man., where he attended the Carberry collegiate.

He joined the R.C.A.F. in 1942 and served overseas as a Spitfire fighter pilot with the City of Winnipeg squadron. On a combat strafing mission April 20, 1945, his plane was struck by heavy flak. With the starboard wing shot away and the engine on fire, he bailed out over enemy territory. 

FO. Barber evaded capture for nine days before being taken prisoner. He was released by allied forces May 2, returned to his squadron and continued flying until the war ended.

Retiring from the air force after the war, he joined the reserve squadron in April, 1949.⁶

When his jet’s engine quit, Barber radioed air traffic control, lowered his flaps and wheels, and tried to pancake land in an empty space. He tried his best, he later said, but hit the ground eight seconds from the runway, a quarter of a mile (.4 km) from the airport boundary. 

Missed by that much. Google map showing how close 391 Collegiate Street is to Runway 31.

The disabled Vampire knifed through a garage behind 391 College Street at 100 miles per hour. 

The Vampire tore a chunk out of the south wall of the garage, took away the north wall and roof, ploughed through the back yards of homes for 60 yards until it came to a stop.

The jet either made a complete somersault or ground-looped as it stopped at the rear of 405 College St. There the wrecked plane was facing the south.⁷

RCAF officers and technicians examining the crash site. Vampire 17023 came to rest after shearing off the back shed at 405 College Street. Gilbert Hughes was slightly injured when he hit his head on the wall phone in the kitchen. He was treated in hospital and returned home.

There was no fire. The nose of the jet was sheared off to behind the cockpit, and Barber was thrown from the jet, landing face down in mud. 

The first people at the wreckage could not find the pilot for a short time. Suddenly someone called “Here he is!” FO Barber was found near a fence, 30 feet from the plane, covered in mud.

He was still conscious. An air force officer who had arrived from the airport cut off his parachute harness. Part of his foot was found nearby.⁸

Still conscious and in shock, the injured pilot immediately asked Verna La Roche, a registered nurse on the scene, “Did I kill anybody?” Unaware of Mr. Fairhall, she said no, and the pilot was very relieved to hear it. La Roche later explained that she would not have told Barber yes in any case. She washed his face, as it was “so filled with mud it was impossible to see his features.” When the pilot asked about his right leg, severed just above the ankle, La Roche told him it was broken. 

An RCAF ambulance rushed Barber to Deer Lodge Hospital. On April 18, doctors reported Barber’s condition as “fair to good.”

“GAVE FIRST AID TO PILOT: Mrs. Verna La Roche, 30, registered nurse, of 398 College St., heard the sound of a jet crash Sunday and rushed from her home. She was directed to where Pilot Victor Barber had been thrown, and gave him first aid. His first concern, she said, was whether ‘anyone had been killed.’ He didn't appear concerned about himself, she said, although he was severely injured.”⁹

Don McLardy, who lived across the street from the crash, was the first to find Lorimer Fairhall. Working on his car in his father’s garage at 391 College Street, Fairhall did not hear the silent jet approaching. When the jet banked and its wing slashed through the garage, he was immediately killed when struck on the head by a falling timber. 

“LORIMER FAIRHALL of 391 College street, St. James, who was killed when the jet crashed into a garage where he was working.”¹⁰

There were plenty of questions. The provincial coroner, Dr. I. O. Fryer, announced an inquest into Fairhall’s death. The RCAF also launched an immediate investigation, and assembled a board of inquiry. 

The Municipality of St. James wanted jets banned from the airport and restricted to a military airfield outside of Winnipeg. City Alderman A. E. Brotman agreed, and requested a report to study the situation. He admitted he was influenced by the recent Vampire crash and an airliner crash in Minneapolis. 

He maintained that where aircraft had the choice of routes in approaching an airport they should use the route over the less populated areas of the city. “As a city we should take cognisance of the risk to our civilian population from planes,” he added.

He claimed Trans-Canada Airline planes bound for Eastern Canada always left Stevenson Airport and flew over heavily populated areas of South Winnipeg.¹¹

Vampire restored and flown by the Waterloo Warbirds, Breslau, Ontario¹²

The Coroner’s jury confirmed Fairhall’s death from “a fractured skull and lacerations to the brain.” The inquest also “recommended special tribute for the pilot of the jet plane, FO. V. E. Barber, for his efforts to keep the loss of human life to a minimum.”¹³ The jury did not address technical aspects of the jet, leaving that inquiry to the RCAF.

The pilot was certainly not faultless, however, and the commendation from the Coroner’s jury was premature. The Aviation Safety Network summarized the case, based on the RCAF Accident Investigation Branch story in the Saskatoon Star–Phoenix:

Pilot Vic Barber with 402 Sqn RCAF, was briefed to carry out two complete circuits and landings at Stevenson Field in Vampire 17023. This was to be his second hour flying the Vampire. He was instructed to be on the ground one hour after takeoff. One hour after engine start the pilot had completed some local flying and the two circuits as ordered.

However, contrary to orders, the pilot took off for a third time. He climbed to seven thousand feet and carried out some additional local flying exercises. When the pilot returned to the airfield, he was advised of a runway change. He proceeded to complete a dummy circuit to ascertain the amount of drift.

The Vampire had now been airborne for one hour and twenty-eight minutes. As the pilot made his final approach, the engine failed due to lack of fuel. The aircraft crashed into the backyard of a home on Collegiate Street, approximately one mile southeast of today’s runway 31, killing the owner and seriously injuring the pilot. The accident could have been avoided had the pilot followed orders.¹⁴

In 2025 Brent Gair shed more light on the Vampire case:

The training regimen was sketchy with no two seat Vampires then available. Training usually consisted of the transitioning pilot sitting in the cockpit while an experienced pilot explained how everything worked. […] On final approach for Runway 31, the Vampire ran out of fuel.

There was nothing to do. Vampires did not have ejection seats. The complicated bail-out procedure needed a lot more altitude than Barber had on final approach. He had to ride this one to the ground.¹⁵ 

Michael Kaye, commenting on the above, added, “About half of the Vampires in RCAF service crashed […] training was minimal but the aircraft also suffered from engine failures, hydraulic failures and canopies falling off, many of the issues related to cold weather.”

Vampire Mk. III, serial no. 17023 (left foreground), served two years with the RCAF in Winnipeg. It was Struck Off Strength (SOS) on May 4, 1950.¹⁶

Waterloo Warbirds, “RCAF Dehavilland Vampire DH-115 start up and Low Pass!” [4:03]

Vampires were retired in the late 1950s, replaced in RCAF service by the Canadair Sabre.¹⁷ 

The Vampire crash of 1950 would not be the last time an airplane crashed near the airport. It wasn't even the last bomber that crashed in St. James.

Sources (retrieved February 24, 2026)

1. Metropolitan Planning Committee, Winnipeg Town Planning Commission, Preliminary Report on Transportation: Part of Metropolitan Plan for Greater Winnipeg, 1946. p. 25
2. Wikipedia, Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg_James_Armstrong_Richardson_International_Airport 
3. “St. James Man Dies In Jet Plane Crash: Pilot Badly Hurt As Aircraft Hits Garage And Overturns,” Winnipeg Free Press, April 17, 1950, p. 1
4. University of Winnipeg, Western Canada Pictorial Index, #70752, Hugh Allan collection, from the Winnipeg Tribune 
5. “ ‘Did I Kill Anyone?’ Pilot’s First Question,” Winnipeg Free Press, April 17, 1950, p. 1
6. “St. James Man Dies In Jet Plane Crash: Pilot Badly Hurt As Aircraft Hits Garage And Overturns,” Winnipeg Free Press, April 17, 1950, p. 9
7. “Jet Pilot Gains in Fight for Life: St. James Man Dies In Crash,” Winnipeg Tribune, April 17, 1950, p. 10
8. “St. James Man Dies In Jet Plane Crash: Pilot Badly Hurt As Aircraft Hits Garage And Overturns,” Winnipeg Free Press, April 17, 1950, p. 9
9. “Jet Pilot Gains in Fight for Life: St. James Man Dies In Crash,” Winnipeg Tribune, April 17, 1950, p. 10
10. “St. James Man Dies In Jet Plane Crash: Pilot Badly Hurt As Aircraft Hits Garage And Overturns,” Winnipeg Free Press, April 17, 1950, p. 1
11. “New Airlane Urged To Cut Civil Risk,” Winnipeg Tribune, April 21, 1950, p. 2
12. “de Havilland Vampire Jet,” Waterloo Warbirds, https://waterloowarbirds.com/collections/previous-aircraft/products/de-havilland-vampire-jet-flight
13. “Coroner’s Jury Probes Jet Plane Crash Death,” Winnipeg Free Press, April 25, 1950, p. 6
14. “De Havilland D.H.100 Vampire F Mk 3,” Aviation Safety Network, July 3, 2024, https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/204717
15. Brent Gair, “When Winnipeg was introduced to jets … and it did not go well.” Winnipeg and Manitoba history (ed. Darryl Resch), Facebook, December 23, 2025. https://www.facebook.com/groups/971227750235526/posts/1761918361166457/  
16. Ibid. 
17. “de Havilland Vampire,” Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, https://caspir.warplane.com/aircraft/serial-search/aircraft-no/200001713 

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Making the news

In past years St. Charles was a sleepy little village. It rarely made the news, and most clips were brief. 

• In 1935 Patrick Hedges shot a snowy owl that was hunting his chickens on Isbister Street. 
• Two teenagers escaped seriously injury when they crashed and rolled their car on Saskatchewan Avenue near Isbister Street in 1936. 
• A well was erected on St. Charles Street one block north of 400 St. Charles in 1912. It cost $350.
• Streetcars served St. Charles between 1904 and 1941, when buses took over. 
• In 1959 Andrew Hamel, Joseph Bernier and Edward Barron were each fined $50 for breaking a $5 window and lying about it. 
• Bruno Magne picked a carrot in 1959 that had “no less than five carrots on one stalk, shaped something like a monster’s hand.”
• In 1960 several streets in the village got concrete sidewalks. 
• Keith Watson was handed a $50 fine and licence suspension in 1961 for impaired driving. 

But sometimes news from St. Charles was worthy of mention, like a house flipping upside down.

The Jacksons were lucky to survive. The wind storm that swept across Manitoba on June 23, 1922 killed three and caused millions of dollars of damage.¹

Severe weather is not unusual. Sadly, neither is fire, and it is certainly news-worthy.

🔥🔥🔥   ST. CHARLES ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH FIRE, 1928–29

St. Charles mission was established in 1855, when the Hudson Bay Company granted land to the Catholic Church. Originally, a small log chapel was built on the riverbank, followed by a frame church in 1866 that was destroyed in a wind storm 18 years later. A rectory (1897) and school (opened in 1906) followed, further defining this French enclave.

In 1905, the Winnipeg Free Press announced plans for a sturdy, more ornate church.

The new edifice will have a width of 45 feet and a depth of 108 feet, with a sacristy at the rear 20x45 feet. The architectural design is gothic throughout, the interior columns having ornamental caps and bases. It will be a brick veneer structure, with metal lath and plaster ceilings. There will be a high easement which is intended to be used for school purposes and church entertainments. The furnace room is also located in the basement. The steeple will be 105 feet high. The cost of the church, including furnishings, is estimated at about $15,000.²

The beautiful Gothic church lived up to the promise that “the residents of St. Charles will be able to point to the structure with pride.”³

Designed by Hooper and Walker, the St. Charles Roman Catholic church of 1905 was built on the same site as the simpler frame one destroyed in 1884.⁴

The new brick church was built to last, but didn’t. Disaster struck on New Year’s Eve, 1928.

The fire started on New Year's Eve, 1928.⁵

Rumors claim that the basement was full of coal, and an argument over whose jurisdiction it was delayed firefighting efforts. The church was a total loss, and the coal continued to burn for days and days.

The ruins of the 1928 church.6

A more modest church was soon erected in its place.

The church was re-built in 1929 on the old foundation.⁷

The St. Charles Roman Catholic Church today. [Google maps] An addition designed by Giovanni Geremia of GW Architecture in 1988 doubled its size and received a preservation award from Heritage Winnipeg.⁸

🔥🔥🔥   BARRON FIRE, 1947

Winnipeg winters can be cruel. It takes a roaring furnace to counter bitter cold, but over-heated stove pipes can create chaos.

The large Barron family dealt with a lot of misfortune. The fire on Tuesday, March 18, 1947 that left them homeless would not be the end of it.⁹

Neighbours, the local councillor, and the Red Cross responded to the family’s sorry predicament.

The Barron family made homeless when fire destroyed their two-storey dwelling on Isbister street Tuesday, is split up and living with various friends and neighbors.

An Assiniboine welfare committee, under the chairmanship of Mrs. Elizabeth Good, 3100 Portage avenue, assisted by Mrs. J. B. Johnson, 183 Greenacre street, is making every effort to supply clothing, furniture, bedding and financial aid.

Efforts are being made by the committee to obtain another home on Isbister street and contributions are being collected to furnish a home.

Clothing for the children has been collected and also two bed frames with springs and one mattress. An oil stove has been offered. Leonard McMillan, 3100 Portage avenue, has been donated his time and car to picking up contributions.

Only financial received up until Thursday noon was a promise of a $50 cheque. Mrs. Good explained that money would be kept to pay rent for a home when found.

Bedding will be supplied by the Red Cross.¹⁰

Fate would deal the struggling family an even worse hand in 1955.

🔥🔥🔥   BLOOMFIELD FIRE, 1950

An even bigger fire struck homes and businesses on the same street three years after the Barron fire.

On Sunday, January 15, 1950 the Bloomfield family had to flee their home on Isbister Street at Portage Avenue in a hurry. They owed their escape to Timmy, their Chesapeake Bay retriever, a breed of intelligent watch dogs. Those protective traits were valuable when Timmy alerted the Bloomfields to the fire that broke out in their store at about 8 a.m.

The roaring fire completely destroyed the Bloomfields’ building that contained the family’s second-floor residence above their store and post office. A local bucket brigade could not save a thing.

The Morris Bakery, five feet away, also burned to the ground. Three people living in that building were lucky to get out, but some of the bakery’s contents were saved.

“When fire threatened Bloomfield’s general store at Isbister St. and Portage Ave. family dog, Timmy, aroused Mr. and Mrs. Bloomfield and five-year-old Tommy by barking and pulling on bed clothes with his teeth. Family fled the fire in night clothes. Young Tommy poses above with canine hero.”¹¹

The fire destroyed Bloomfield’s general store and post office, the Morris bakery, and living quarters in the two buildings.¹²

“Only a desolate, ash-covered space remains where the Bloomfield store once stood. Damage to the building and its contents, described as a total loss, is estimated at $25,000.”¹³

Florence Bloomfield was the St. Charles postmistress between November 20, 1947 and May 10, 1950. After the St. Charles fire, she and her husband Edward (Ted) purchased and ran a general store in St. James between 1951 and 1955. 

Civic-minded entrepreneurs Ted and Florence Bloomfield in the 1950s.¹⁴

Ted retired as a postal supervisor in 1955. That year the family moved to Dauphin, where they operated the Elna Sewing Centre and Fabric Shop and two more locations in Flin Flon and Brandon. In 1966 Florence ran a furniture store and apartment complex in The Pas, returning to Dauphin in 1975 where she began an antiques and collectibles business. The couple owned a retirement property in Phoenix, Arizona, where Florence became an ordained minister and hosted a gospel radio show. She passed away in 2001 and was predeceased by her husband in 1999.¹⁵ Their only child, son Tommy, born in 1944, passed away in 2006.

The Bloomfield fire also destroyed the Morris Bakery & Lunch (shown here c1943), about five feet away.¹⁶

Widowed in 1939, Mary Morris was the proprietor of the bakery and lunch counter next door to the Bloomfield store. Her reaction to the fire went unreported. The two people living with her (Cecil Sweet and eight-year-old Albert Gihon) in the building also escaped unscathed. Their building was totally destroyed, but Mary remained in the neighbourhood and later lived at 628 St. Charles Street.

Mary must have been quite a character. In 1940 she cared for a lost bear cub that showed up at her door.

“When Mrs. Mary Morris, of the Morris Bakery, St. Charles, heard a scratching noise at her back door Saturday at 7 a.m., she opened the door and got a shock. It was a bear cub doing the scratching. She slammed the door and ran out of the front door to her brother’s house nearby for aid. Her brother, Joe Pelletier, slipped a dog collar over the bear’s head and chained him in the yard. The little refugee from the wide open spaces soon made friends with Mrs. Morris and is now thriving on a diet of milk, berries, lettuce and bread. Picture shows Mrs. Morris giving her pet its daily bath.”¹⁷

Tribune readers were left wondering where the bear came from and what became of it. Charleswood, south of the Assiniboine River, was often confused with St. Charles, but how was a bear cub roaming in either neighbourhood? Hopefully it was safely handed over to the Assiniboine Park zoo.

Born on December 23 in 1885, Mary Pelletier married Peter Morris (1871-1939) in 1923. Mary was the eldest child of St. Charles pioneers William Pelletier and Sarah (née Caplette) Isbister, (later Pelletier after a second marriage). Mary had seven siblings: Marie, John, Sarah, Joseph, Charles, Josephine, and John. She died at age 83 on February 10, 1969.¹⁸

🔥🔥🔥

Sources (retrieved January 21, 2026)

1. “Death and Desolation in Wake of Storm on Portage Plains,” Winnipeg Free Press, June 24, 1922, pp.1, 6 
2. “Church Progress in St. Charles,” Winnipeg Free Press, April 29, 1905, p. 17
3. “Will Rush New Club House,” Winnipeg Tribune, March 21, 1905, p. 1
4. “Église de St. Charles, Man.” The Rob McInnes Postcard Collection, Past Forward: Winnipeg’s Digital Public History, https://pastforward.winnipeg.ca/digital/collection/robmcinnes/id/4834/rec/1 
5. “St. Charles Parish Church Destroyed,” Winnipeg Free Press, January 1, 1929, p. 1 [re-typeset from original news clip]
6. “The History of St. Charles Parish,” https://www.saintcharleswpg.com/church-historical-roots 
7. Ibid. 
8. “St. Charles Church at 320 St. Charles Street,” Heritage Winnipeg’s Annual Preservation Awards: A Retrospective [blog], February 24, 2021, https://heritagewinnipeg.com/blogs/heritage-winnipegs-annual-preservation-awards-a-retrospective/ 
9. “Family Of 10 Left Homeless As Fire Razes St. Charles House,” Winnipeg Free Press, March 19, 1947, p. 1
10. “Barrons Staying With Neighbors,” Winnipeg Free Press, March 20, 1947, p. 3
11. “Dog Alerts Family to Flames,” Winnipeg Tribune, January 16, 1950, p. 1
12. “Dog Warns Mother of Blaze; $30,000 Buildings Destroyed,” Winnipeg Tribune, January 16, 1950, p. 13
13. “Dog Saves 3 As Fire Razes Home,” Winnipeg Free Press, January 16, 1950, p. 1
14. Husqvarna Sweden advertisement, Dauphin Herald and Press, December 4, 1958, p. 27
15. “Florence May Bloomfield March 3, 1913–July 17, 2001,” obituary, Dauphin Herald and Press, July 7, 2001, p. 21
16. Morris Bakery & Lunch, circa 1943 photo, Jerry Olenko, Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/9513047@N05/with/53278709191
17. “Bear Cub Strays But Finds Home In Charleswood,” Winnipeg Tribune, July 16, 1940.
18. Mary Christine Peltier/Pelletier Morris, Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/148332758/mary-christine-morris 

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