Reader Charles MacDonald; “It’s now 30 years since the Syrians shot down flight 51 with the loss of all aboard:”
On Aug. 9, 1974, UN Flight 51 was flying from Beirut to Damascus on a routine supply run for Canadian peacekeepers manning the Golan Heights. The outcome was anything but routine.
Aboard the Buffalo aircraft were five crew and four passengers: Mirau, a native of Swift Current, Sask.; Capt. George Foster, 44, of Calgary; Master Cpl. Ronald Spencer, 29, of Quebec; Cpl. Bruce Stringer, 23, of Kitchener, Ont.; Capt. Robert Wicks, 39, of London, Ont.; Cpl. Morris Kennington, 30, of Britain; Cpl. Michael Simpson, 26; Master Warrant Officer Gaston Landry, 35, of St-Francois d’Assise, Que., and Warrant Officer Cyril Korejwo, 47.
The flight was cleared by air traffic control in Damascus to descend for landing.
“Just as they were letting down, the Syrian surface-to-air missile battery along the highway opened up with one missile,” said Roger Landry. “The pilot managed to avoid that first missile.”
But the pilot — it’s unclear whether Mirau or Foster was actually flying the plane — couldn’t avoid a second missile. It took out the left engine.
A third went through the fuselage. Everyone on board was killed — the largest single-day loss of life in Canada’s peacekeeping history. The time was 11:50 a.m.
Landry was allowed into the crash site a day later. The Syrian army had cleaned up most of the evidence, but he did find electrical wiring with Russian writing on it — from the missiles’ firing systems.
Today is the 30th Anniversary of the loss. And Charles is right – don’t look for our UN Peacekeeper lovin’ media to notice.
Thanks, Kate. The tip came to me from within the civil service in Ottawa. Sometimes light shines from the very heart of darkness.
The Vietnam War novel “No Bugles, No Drums” by Charles Durden gives a very effective portrayal of the Pepsi Generation as “disposable people”, relating it in part to the then-ubiquitous term “wasted.” The American troops deserved better; ours surely do, even when all we can offer is gratitude and remembrance.
Rest in peace, guys.
Wow. I was 10 years old then and I don’t remember this at all.
Good job for reminding us all of this anniversary.
To the crew and passengers of Flight 51.
I salute you.
Credit where it is due: CFCN, the CTV station in Calgary, actually is covering the unveiling of the Peacekeeper Memorial and the link to Flight 51. Good on them.
Flightlines A publication of the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum has an excellent article on the last mission of U N flight 51 including a drawingof the events leading to the loss from the 1974 Canadian Board of Inquiry final report.spike
what was that US navy ship the israelis shot the crap out of during the 1968 war again? seems like quite a few brave americans died that day despite repeated please to the israelis that they were making a mistake. as i recall, the crew to this day says the israelis knew it was a US ship. oh yeah…the USS liberty. we don’t talk about that either.
Actually, Bill, some of us do talk about the U.S.S. Liberty. Jerusalem Post has carried a number of excellent articles examining those events. There is no Conspiracy of Silence to hide Israeli misconduct, if any.
Cool, Spike. I’ll have to look up that issue.