‘Ghost’ plane to be unveiled at museum

 An aircraft that left Winnipeg destined for northern Manitoba but never returned finally has made its way home, though its arrival is nearly 76 years later than originally expected.
    Nicknamed the Ghost of Charron Lake, some of the wreckage of a 1928 Fokker Standard Universal will be unveiled today at the Western Canada Aviation Museum.
    Earlier this week, a team working for the museum successfully recovered the historic plane’s skeletal remains from Charron Lake and transported them back to the city.
    “We came with a very professional team of volunteers and experts, and completed the job,” said Patrick Madden, who led the team of experts with his wife, Annette Spaulding.
    “We’re thrilled that we’ve finally accomplished what we set out to do and what we promised to do.”
    In December, 1931, the Fokker was forced to make an emergency landing on Charron Lake, 310 km northeast of Winnipeg.
    Bush pilot Stuart McRorie and mechanic Neville (Slim) Forrest, who were travelling with mining tools destined for Island Lake, safely escaped the downed aircraft.
    The plane, however, became frozen into the remote, ice-covered lake and was lost during the spring melt in 1932 before salvage attempts could be made.
    After decades of eluding search teams, the wreckage finally was located in July, 2005 about 35 metres below the lake surface using sophisticated sonar equipment.
    A crew of deep-water divers from the Canadian Amphibious Search Team and the Chippewa Adventurers Club returned about 10 days ago to the site and were able to recover the skeletal frame of the fuselage.
    “It’s in very delicate condition and we’re happy to have gotten it out now because it likely would not have lasted many more years underwater,” said Madden, who began searching for the plane in 1991.
    One of the first airplanes owned by prominent Winnipeg businessman James A. Richardson, founder of the country’s first commercial airline, Western Canada Airways, the aircraft is thought to be the only salvageable Fokker Standard in the world.