Sister lives with memory of plane crash

Fifty years later, Denise Beernaerts’ remains still atop lonely BC mountain

Angela Huyghe tears up when asked what she remembers most about her sister.

“She was a very responsible person...I remember going to church and coming back and she would have dinner all ready for us, ready for the family.”

Denise Beernaerts was only 19 years old when she lost her life in what was at the time the worst aviation crash in Canadian history.

The young Winnipeg woman had recently moved to Vancouver and was travelling back home for her father’s unexpected funeral.

On the evening of Dec. 9, 1956, Beernaerts walked onto the North Star plane along with 61 others.

“She walked up the ramp three times,” said Huyghe. “She didn’t want to get on the plane. It was her friend who told her she had to go, and she finally went.”

Huyghe, who lives in Windsor Park, went to the Winnipeg Airport to wait for her.

“She never showed up. We were there quite late.”

The next morning, a representative of North Star Airlines knocked on her door and told Huyghe the plane was missing.

It would be five months before the plane was located near the peak of Mount Slesse, one of the tallest mountains in Canada.

All 62 people aboard died in the crash, including pilot Allan Clarke, another Winnipegger, and five CFL players, including Blue Bomber Calvin Jones and four Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The weather that day was apparently calm but cold, and investigators believe the wings of the plane may have been icing up.

Then the number three engine cut out.

“Allan Clarke was a cautious pilot,” said Huyghe. “He radioed that he would be turning around...and then they didn’t hear anything else.”

Rien van Tilborg is a retired schoolteacher and aviation researcher.

The Alberta man is currently researching the event in the hopes of publishing a book about the crash and subsequent five-month search and investigation.

He said nobody knows for sure why the plane crashed.

“That’s really the $64,000 question. He turned around and was facing a pretty strong headwind.”

After the wreckage was discovered, authorities decided to leave the plane and the remains where they were.

“The terrain is rough around there,” said van Tilborg, who was 11 and living in the area when the plane went down.

“You can’t really get up there,” said Huyghe. “It’s pretty much undisturbed, although in springtime sometimes a piece of the wreckage will wash down the mountain.”

A memorial has since been erected on Mount Slesse with the names of all 62 who perished on the flight.

“(Denise) is still there,” said Huyghe. “But I still remember her here.”

There were a total of nine people from Winnipeg who died in the crash.

Relatives of victims of the crash can contact van Tilborg at tcanorthstar@shaw.ca.