WW II Cairn - West of Cochrane, Alberta
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member T0SHEA
N 51° 13.481 W 114° 37.808
11U E 665478 N 5677479
This WW II cairn overlooks the valley that claimed the lives of two Airmen. It is located on Hwy. 1A (Bow Valley Trail) and Range Road 53 about 11 km west of Cochrane.
Waymark Code: WMQB6Z
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 01/27/2016
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member 3l diesel
Views: 2

On our way home from a month in the Maritimes, we happened upon this cairn bearing two bronze plaques. Airmen Alfred Reginbal and Quentin Burl Chace were killed at this location on February 17, 1941. The cause of the crash appears to have been striking an aerial cable. Witnesses on a nearby farm heard an engine sputtering shortly before the crash.

The pyramidal cairn is built from local rocks from the area. It stands on the south side of Highway 1A about 12 kilometres west of the town of Cochrane. Text from the plaque on the cairn follows, then a Find A Grave entry, while further below is an account of the crash, from the Calgary Herald of February 18, 1941.

In This Valley
Two Members of the
Royal Canadian Air Force
Sergeant Pilot
Alfred Reginbal
Lafleche, Saskatchewan
And
His American Comrade
Leading Air Craftsman
Quentin Burl Chace
Wichita, Kansas

Were Stayed by the Hand
of Death
February 17, 1941

REGIMBAL, Alfred Emile - WWII

Alfred was born on June 15, 1918 in Lafleche, SK. He enlisted with the RCAF in 1940 and trained as a pilot at Trenton, ON. After his training he was stationed in Calgary, Alberta as an instructor. While flying on a training mission over Cochrane, AB with an American student Pilot, Leading Aircraftsman Quentin Burl Chase of Wichita, Kansas their plane struck an unmarked cable across the Bow River and crashed, killing both airmen. Alfred is buried in Lafleche. A cairn was erected in their memory on the old Banff HWY, 28 miles west of Calgary, adjacent to the site of the accident.
From the Find A Grave
Two Fliers Die As Plane Crashes Near Cochrane
Pair Instantly Killed, One Victim From U.S.

Crushed in the wreckage of their twin-engined Avro Anson bomber when it crashed into a cutbank on the Bow Valley ranch, nine miles southwest of Cochrane, late Monday afternoon, two pilots from the No. 3 Service Flying Training school at Currie Barracks were instantly killed.

They were: Sergeant Pilot Alfred Emile Reginbal, 22, of La Fleche, Sas-katchewan, whose wife resides at 719 Sixth avenue west.

Leading Aircraftsman Quentin Burl Chace, 21, of Wichita, Kansas.
Officials at the No. 3 Service Flying Training School are hoping to be able to arrange an air force funeral for the victims on Wednesday evening. Bodies of the two fliers were found at 6:30 o'clock Monday evening by Forbes Campbell, co-owner of the ranch, and his hired man, Earl Munro, who had gone to the scene to investigate a crash which they had heard an hour earlier.

STILL IN PLANE
They found Reginbal's body crushed under a motor a few yards from the principal wreckage. Chace was still strapped in his seat in the plane. Both men were dead when found, and the searchers presumed they had died immediately.

Wreckage of the plane was strewn along the river bank, with a wheel some 30 yards in front of the plane. Part of the wreckage was in the river. The plane was upside down and piled into the clay bank 20 yards from the water's edge.

Following location of the crash. Campbell and Munro hurried back to their ranch home and called Constable A. C. Kirkeberg, of the R.C.M.P., at Cochrane.

COMMANDER PRESENT
Kirkeberg immediately communicated with Calgary, then proceeded to the scene. Wing Commander A. D. Ross was notified, and he went to the scene personally. Kirkeberg, with Forbes and Jim Campbell, Earl Munro and Bill Sullivan, took flashlights and lanterns and climbed down the river bank to where the plane had crashed. Flares were placed on the highway at the gate leading to the ranch to guide the air force and ambulance crews.
From the Calgary Herald
Property Permission: Public

Access instructions: Cairn is in view on Hwy. 1A

Commemoration: Airmen Alfred Regimbal and Quentin Burl Chance and Pledge of Everlasting Friendship

Date of Dedication: Not listed

Access times: Not listed

Website for Waymark: Not listed

Location of waymark: Not listed

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