Date:	Sunday 19 December 1943
Time:	15:20
Type:	Lockheed Ventura I
Owner/operator:	34 OTU RAF
Registration:	FD697
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	McAdam, New Brunswick -   Canada
Phase:	Unknown
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Pennfield Ridge NB
Destination airport:	RAF Pennfield Ridge NB

Narrative:
A No. 34 (OTU) Operational Training Unit, crew had completed a cross country navigation exercise in a day light training flight in Ventura II, FD697. Upon completion of the navigation exercise, three aircraft, including FD697 continued to McAdam to carry out practice bombing of the Canadian Pacific rail yards. During a formation practice bomb run, the aircraft collided with a 30-foot water level indicator on top of an 80-foot water tank in the rail yard. The aircraft burst into flames and crashed on a knoll, then sideswiped a house occupied by two adults and seven children. No one in the house was injured, but the four crew of the Ventura were killed.

Investigation determined that the instructor pilot in the lead aircraft, Ventura FN972, was flying below the approved height of 250 feet at the time of impact. The pilot of FD697 was maintaining formation with his leader and he in all probability did not see the obstruction.

P/O (P) Carlyle George Christensen
Sgt (N) Roy Joseph Barts
Sgt (WAG) Herbert Lawrence Anderson
Sgt (AG) George Christopher Cull

1. The Saint Croix Courier (St. Stephen, NB) - December 23, 1943
2. Daily Diary, 34 (OTU) Operational Training Unit, Pennfield Ridge, NB
3. Pennfield Ridge Air Station, Accident and/or Mishap Reports, No.34 Operational Training Unit (OTU). Research by G. Christian Larsen
4. https://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=10560

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
12-Nov-2021 07:05	Cosmo	Added
20-Mar-2022 20:03	Anon.	Updated [Time, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source]