Page 37 - William B. Lake

Aircrew Training Fatal Accident at Mossbank
13 March 1944
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In reviewing Bill’s period in Canada under training and also his instructor role at Mossbank it was
evident that there were a number of training related fatal incidents involving the loss of lives of
both trainee aircrew and their instructors. Clearly there were inherent risks associated with
wartime training. Bill was the senior Australian officer at the Mossbank site and he also had a role
as the contact (Liaison Officer) for the Australian servicemen at the site. Along with others at the
sites he would have been gutted by any loss of life of those with whom he was training and also
those colleagues he was working alongside.

The tragedy of these losses was the often-unrecognised burden that they all carried prior to their
involvement in active operations service. It would be expected that these traumatic events
remained with them even after their return from wartime service.

A training incident occurred on 13 March ’44 at Mossbank resulted in 5 fatalities: 3 RCAF and 2
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RAAF. The 2 RAAF trainee aircrew were buried in the Mossbank town cemetery. In their war
records there is a photo of the mother of one of them visiting her son’s grave in 1987. At that stage
she was elderly - approaching 90 years. It was a poignant reminder of the hazards of wartime
training accidents. Lest we forget!

The funeral procession next to the parade ground marching from the Site Chapel

The BCATP had a very good safety record considering that overall, 131,553 aircrew were
trained. Most of the accidents that occurred were minor, but some were serious, and tragically
some were fatal. In the BCATP 856 trainee airmen were either seriously injured or killed. But it is
worth our awareness of the fact that in Saskatchewan alone there are the graves of 171 young
men from other Commonwealth countries who died in training incidents.