Four Degrees Celsius (16 page)

The front page of
The Manitoba Free Press
, December 4, 1929, ran this story:

Out of a grey sky a yellow and blue Fokker today brought the first part of the MacAlpine party to The Pas, the first large centre since they left civilization several months past.

The plane landed on Halcrow Lake here, and immediately a rush of taxis carried leading citizens and close friends of a number of the passengers on the plane to the spot where they landed. All of the party, consisting of Andy Cruikshank [
sic
], Roy Brown, Dr D.L. Bruce, A. Walker, Richard Pearce, got out except for Donald Goodwin, mechanic, whose feet were frozen. The party carried Goodwin to the taxis, and asked him if he should be taken to the hospital, but he declared, “I am going to have some fun before they operate on me.”

It is not recorded how Goodwin spent that evening but it is likely that a hot bath, drinks with friends, and a good night's sleep on a fresh mattress figured into his plans. After his “evening of fun,” Goodwin was driven to St Anthony's Hospital in downtown The Pas for surgery. Astounding as it may seem, despite crashes into barely frozen lakes, sustaining extensive aircraft damage, collapsing shelters, near-starvation, and many miles of trekking over barely frozen ice, dodging open leads, and climbing ice hummocks, the most serious injury was Goodwin's two frostbitten toes.

At the press rally later that day, Roy Brown, always the popular commercial aviator, was asked by dozens of his friends to tell them the story of the great search, but Brown declared it was all over and he wanted to forget it as much as possible. This was a common statement from all the men involved, but the media wouldn't let up and clamoured for details. Cruickshank felt that since he was in charge, he should give a report to the press. He began by assuring the rabid newshounds that, “We were never really starving, but at one time we only had 12 bad herrings amongst the entire crowd.”

The group travelled by taxi to another group of reporters at another hotel. By this time the “heroes” thought it best to give in to the journalists' demands, and, once all had gathered, the men demonstrated an “Eskimo song” taught to them at Fort Reliance for the newspapermen. The lively interview continued and more details emerged. If the men came out of their experience in the Barrens with a bit of cultural knowledge, they also left something behind, or, as Richard Pearce jokingly commented, “We have left planes scattered over the North. One we lost in the tide at Churchill. Two are pulled up on the shore near Dease Point in Queen Maud Gulf, in the Arctic sea. One lies wrecked on Muskox Lake: another on Aylmer Lake, with a wing gone. One machine remains at Baker Lake, housed for the winter … We have travelled far and seen much, but nothing as pleasing as the railway tracks at Cranberry Portage.” This story was relayed to Pearce's own newspaper,
The Northern Miner
, on December 5, 1929. Perhaps because he had had enough of planes, he decided to board the train and head on to Winnipeg by rail.

Back at Stony Rapids, on December 3, Hollick-Kenyon advanced on the throttle and 'SL climbed with its passengers into the frosty air. They had had to wait for the mist that was rising from nearby rapids to blow away, but once the sky was clear they had no problem in following the predetermined route. Pilots Dewar and Sutton were right behind them.

'SL flew over Reindeer Lake and crossed over the Churchill River near Island Falls, the site of Flin Flon's power plant. Then Cranberry Portage came into sight, and Hollick-Kenyon landed to refuel. The press met them, and again there was a rush of photos taken and stories told, but the pilot was keen to get back into the air and fly onward, so he scooped up his passengers and spirited them away again to the next stop. Darkness had fallen by then. In the distance the pilot and his air engineer saw the lights of The Pas. Beyond the lights was the frozen lake, and 'SL circled above the landing area, gradually losing altitude. Within minutes of Hollick-Kenyon's landing, taxis pulled up alongside the plane and whisked the passengers into the lights and crowd of a hotel where they would spend the night.
[8]
Colonel MacAlpine was left behind at Cranberry Portage with Captain Sutton, Bill Spence, Alex Milne, Robert Baker, and J.C. Rogers, (a passenger from Stony Rapids), awaiting the arrival of pilot Ken Dewar the following day.

First thing the following morning, Hollick-Kenyon, Blanchet, Nadin, Longley, Davis, MacMillan, and Boadway boarded the 'SL and flew directly to Winnipeg.
The Manitoba Free Press
on December 6, 1929, recapped the story:

Just as dusk began to fall today plane GCXL [
sic
G-CASL], piloted by Captain Hollick-Kenyon, the second contingent of the MacAlpine Party, and its rescuers, slid to a standstill at the Western Canada Airways' dock on the Athabaskow [Cranberry Portage] to be followed fifteen minutes later by a second machine piloted by Captain Sutton. Carrying the third contingent still another plane remains to come and as it was apparently taking off at Stony Rapids when the first two took the air at noon today, it was presumed to be close behind.

As the minutes went by, however, pilots of the first two machines came to the conclusion that as Dewar, piloting the third machine, would know he could scarcely make a landing at Cranberry before dark, he probably is spending the night at Southend, 250 miles northwest of this point, and will likely arrive quite early Friday morning.

Cruickshank, Walker, and Brown had already left The Pas and on December 5 after the safe delivery of Goodwin and Dr. Bruce, the Fokker Super Universal landed at Western Canada Airways Brandon Avenue Airdrome, Winnipeg, shortly before 3:00 p.m.

The Airdrome situated at the end of Brandon Avenue along the Red River, was a bustling hub of aviation activity. It was an air harbour, equipped with seaplane anchorage, and had a small field for takeoff and landing on wheels. It was also Western Canada Airways' major overhaul and repair centre. The Airdrome consisted of separate buildings, housing offices, stores, a wing and fuselage repair shop, and test stands for running the engines. Planes could take off and land on floats during open water season and on skis during the months when the river was frozen. Cruickshank had made the flight to Brandon Avenue in a record time of three hours, flying through fine weather conditions and landing on the frozen Red River. After receiving a warm welcome from the staff at WCA, Cruickshank, Walker, and Brown headed to the Fort Garry Hotel where they were once again interviewed by the press.

Roy Brown tried to slough off the words “epic” and “heroic.” He said that if anyone was heroic, it was the mechanics. Both Brown and Cruickshank expounded on the feats of the air engineers, who were by then known as “The Royal and Disorderly Order of the Black Gang.” The pilots said that these men had taken the hard knocks of the venture, and described them as “superhuman.” They named each air engineer individually: Tommy Siers, in charge of the mechanics, Paul Davis, Graham Longley, Bill Nadin, Pat Semple, and Alf Walker. Brown put it simply: “The fact the airplanes came back is due to them.”
[9]
Cruickshank agreed, commenting laconically to the reporter from the
The
Manitoba Free Press
on December 6, 1929, that he just could not say enough about them. Both pilots gave details of their northern search and rescue to yet another group of reporters from the newspaper that same day:

Flying without many of the necessary instruments and with shortened propeller blades for 1,500 miles in 4 long hops, was one of the feats of Andy Cruickshank, WCA pilot who was in charge of the air squadron searching for the missing MacAlpine party and responsible for seeing them safely brought out from Canada's Arctic wastes. This was disclosed during the course of a brief interview with the intrepid airman at the Fort Garry Hotel last night, when he appeared willing to discuss anything but what he had done himself in the North.

True to form, Cruickshank kept his own counsel on his participation. As an ex-RCMP he was more than willing to tell the facts, but he did so without embellishment. His goal was to return to his little house in Prince George and his family as quickly as possible. Once he finished with the interviews he was driven to WCA head office at Brandon Avenue to fill out a pilot report. He did this with the thoroughness that he was known for, even though he was keen to take to the skies and head home. He had not seen his family for eighty-two days.

As Cruickshank filled out his reports, the events of the past few months flooded back quickly. He referred to his diary constantly and was amazed when he added up his mileage. He had flown over 7,000 miles on the search. This mileage would ultimately be determined to be the most miles flown by any of the search pilots, and many of those miles had been flown without the assistance of his instrument panel. He had fulfilled the order from Leigh Brintnell, and all the men and planes in his charge were safely back “Outside.” It was unfortunate that Jim Vance and B.C. Blasdale had to take a dog team from Baker Lake to Churchill, but Cruickshank had done everything within his power to bring assistance back to Vance. Ever the businessman, Brintnell had made the decision that the Western Canada Airways planes must come out, and the Dominion Explorers headquarters had said the same about their own planes, which then left Vance and Blasdale from Northern Aerial Mineral Exploration to find their own way home. Of all the events that had occurred, this was one that Cruickshank wished he could have changed.

The dramatic air hunt comes to a close with the last of the Dominion Explorers being welcomed in Winnipeg by a group of well wishers and reporters. During the search, newspapers carried almost daily stories of the search for the eight missing men.
Courtesy of Western Canada Aviation Museum.

By December 7, 'SL, 'AAN, and 'AAM had returned safely to Winnipeg. Cruickshank was not there to greet them since he had returned to Esmé and Dawn. Waiting for the arrival of 'AAN was Roderick MacAlpine, the colonel's twenty-year-old son. As his father climbed out of the plane, Roderick, who had travelled from Toronto, was there to welcome him with open arms. It had been months of waiting, months of worry and strain. MacAlpine's mother had been interviewed by
The Manitoba Free Press
on November 5, 1929. She was reported as saying, “I just can't talk, I just can't. It's been such a terrible strain and I'm sorry. I'm not very strong just now. Oh, I'm so thankful that my son and all of his brave companions have been found alive and well.… I don't know why, for there was certainly little enough encouragement but I had believed most of the time that they would be found again all right … It's wonderful. It's tremendous.”
[10]

It was not such a happy homecoming for Alex Milne. Just a few days prior to Milne's arrival home, his widowed mother had passed away.
The Manitoba Free Press
on December 3, 1929, gave details that Milne's mother, Helen, had died after a very short illness, and although she was not present to welcome her son home, she did know that Milne was safe, and was in the process of returning to Winnipeg.

Cupid, however, did bring happiness for two other air engineers. The nuptials that were postponed during the search were once again being planned. Graham Longley, with his bride-to-be Irene Kensington, was due to set sail for England on their honeymoon the day Longley arrived back in Winnipeg. In a stroke of good fortune,
The Manitoba Free Press
, in its December 7, 1929, edition printed that the SS
Duchess of Richmond
would depart on December 14, and there was space for the happy soon-to-be newlyweds. Bill Nadin and his fiancée would be married as soon as their plans could be put back in place.
[11]

The wife of Stanley MacMillan summed it up best when she commented on the notion of the brave women behind the adventurous men. A reporter from
The Manitoba Free Press
on December 7, 1929, remarked that now her troubles were over, and she calmly replied, “Yes, for this time at any rate…. for men must work and women must weep.” But for now, this was journey's end.

Eighty-two days earlier, Lieutenant Colonel Cyril MacAlpine had flown out in search of mineral resources that would, he thought, propel Canada into the status of a civilized and great nation. He found no gold, silver, or diamonds on this journey but something else instead, something of far greater value, in fact a means to this end. Throughout the months he was stranded high above the Arctic Circle, his life took on a different perspective. As the men struggled to stay alive, the greatest search in Canadian Aviation history was launched. The manpower called upon to save the lives of the eight men was astounding.

MacAlpine witnessed the resourcefulness of those around him, and his vision of what would make Canada into a great nation changed. The resources that he discovered were not precious metals but a disparate group of men and women — the Inuit, the RCMP, the Dominion Explorers, the Hudson's Bay Company, Northern Aerial Mineral Exploration, Consolidated Mining and Smelting, and Western Canada Airways — all of whom had joined forces to achieve the common goal of the safe return of the eight men from the clutches of the vast Arctic wilderness.