Date:	Saturday 8 May 1971
Time:
Type:	Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck Mk 5D
Owner/operator:	Canadian Armed Forces (CAF)
Registration:	100789
MSN:	C-100/5/689
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Beaufort, South Carolina, USA -   United States of America
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	MacDill AFB, Florida
Destination airport:	CFB Uplands, Ontario
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Two 414(EW) Squadron CF-100s departed MacDill AFB, South Carolina for return to CFB Uplands Ontario. ATC Centre had been directing the aircraft around increasing severe weather. The second CF-100 was able to successfully land at another USAF Base, but 100789 became embroiled in the center of a massive CB. Captain G. Benson had great difficulty in controlling the aircraft in the severe turbulence. He advised the EWO, Captain R. McKendry, to prepare for an ejection. At 31,000, the EWO ejected. The pilot followed soon after. At 15,000 feet, the EWO’s seat separated and the chute opened, in the middle of a vicious electrical storm. For some 25 minutes, Captain McKendry rode up drafts, some of several G, and experienced hail, ice fog and electrical charges. Finally he reached the ground and was picked up by two local men who brought him to the hospital in Beaufort, SC. The pilot, Captain Benson was somewhat luckier, but still experienced hail, snow and buffeting. After ten minutes, he landed in a shopping centre parking lot. He was taken to a US Navy Hospital. The aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

Some sources have indicated the cause of the accident was due to both engines quitting as a result of rapid cooling, thereby shrinking the engine casing causing the turbine blades to cut into it. However, the actual cause determined by the Accident Investigation Board was loss of control due to severe turbulence associated with a thunderstorm. However, a subsequent investigation determined that supercooled water turned to ice after it entered the pitot system. The pitot tube heat was not capable of coping with these very low temperatures and as such, the airspeed indication was reading low. The pilot had been increasing power to prevent the aircraft from stalling, but was in fact exceeding the critical mach of the aircraft. This, along with the severe turbulence, rendered the aircraft uncontrollable.

Canadian Forces DFS Flight Comment SEP-OCT 1971-5, Pages 4/5.
Night Fighters, Stories from the Flyers of Canada’s All-Weathert Fighting Force; Pages 61-64
NORAD and the Soviet Nuclear Threat: Canada’s Secret Electronic War Fare: Gordon A.A. Wilson: Page 203

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
01-Dec-2016 09:55	yukonjack	Added