Butler was a member of St. John’s senior hockey’s St. Bon’s club, and coach John Doyle had a trip arranged for the boys to play a couple or three games down in St-Pierre.
The owner of the local liquor store on the French island was once a St. Bon’s boarder, hence the connection with the BlueGolds. St. Bon’s would often visit to play soccer, too, and the local team on St-Pierre would give their guests a good game.
Hockey was different, however. For the St. Bon’s players, it was a chance to get away from town, have a few skates and maybe a drink or two.
So on this April 3 morning of 1965 — 50 years ago yesterday — the team in Blue and Gold — stalwarts Ray Murphy, Hubert Hutton, Tony Manning, Bern Myrick, Wally MacDonald, Joe Slaney among others — were with the 23 people on the plane, set to leave Torbay Airport and touch down in St-Pierre 30 or 45 minutes later.
By now, as you’ve probably figured out, the plane crashed. But everybody made it away in one piece, except for the aircraft, which was totalled.
As Butler — perhaps better known for throwing fastballs at St. Pat’s Ball Park than playing hockey — recalls, he was sitting in the first row, next to Murphy. Murphy also played for the Guards, for whom he captained. Legend has it the staunch St. Bon’s, St. Pat’s and Holy Cross supporters suggested the “C” stood for Catholic.
Anyway, Butler reports a smooth flight, and as the plane neared St-Pierre, the pilot opted to circle low over the runway, probably to check out the dirt surface.
“I’m looking out the window and see potholes in the runway,” said Butler, “and I say to Ray, ‘Ray, b’y, I don’t know about this runway.’”
Back in the day, EPA pilots were known for their expertise at landing in St. John’s. When Air Canada wouldn’t think about flying into Torbay, the EPA boys could drop her down, piece of cake.
The pilot on this particular St-Pierre flight lined up his plane and approached the runway. Butler said she hit hard, and bounced what he figures had to be 20 or 30 feet.
“I knew we were in trouble when she landed,” Hutton recalls. “There was a Quonset hut near the middle of the runway, and we were already well past that.
“You can’t count one-two-three and the engines revved and (the pilot) made a quick jerk to the left. You can feel her sliding and there are rocks and mud and water getting thrown up on the window.”
Butler was still peering out his porthole and, in the confusion, saw what he thought was a motorcycle speeding past the plane. It was the landing gear, which had ripped off.
“Then she came to this sudden stop. It was all over in 10 seconds,” Butler said.
In the aftermath, both engines were all but ripped from the wings, along with the landing gear. There was damage to the underbelly. Like Air Canada flight 624, which crash landed in Halifax recently, the EPA flight lodged itself on a large rock, about the size of a Volkswagen, Hutton says. Had she kept sliding, there was a ravine up ahead and the plane might have plowed down into it.
“I think Bobby Neville fell out of his seat and hurt his shoulder a bit,” Butler said.
A couple of ambulances arrived on the scene and took a few players away. Other than being shaken up, all were OK.
“I suppose it’s funny now, but when we got out of the plane, a bunch of locals were running towards us. They all had smokes in their hands, and there’s jet fuel coming from the engines,” Hutton said.
Speaking of Hutton, he had a brand new pair of skates — CCMs — he’d taken with him to St-Pierre. The Hall of Fame defenceman thought so much of the new blades he didn’t even pack them in his equipment bag. He carried them on the plane.
Undaunted, Hutton shrugged off the risk of explosion and raced back inside the stricken aircraft to fetch his skates.
“I wasn’t leaving those Tacks for one of the locals to get,” he said defiantly.
It was later reported that the airport at St-Pierre failed to advise the pilot of ice on the runway. Reports indicated the plane made a normal landing, but skidded out of control on the icy airstrip.
Four or five players refused to fly home and instead got the ferry to Fortune, where they got a lift to St. John’s.
Butler said he and MacDonald took tranquilizers and were all but knocked out for the flight home.
As for the games, the St. Bon’s players managed to retrieve their gear from the plane and they played that night.
“We won, too,” said Hutton.
Robin Short is The Telegram’s Sports Editor. He can be reached by email [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TelyRobinShort
Butler was a member of St. John’s senior hockey’s St. Bon’s club, and coach John Doyle had a trip arranged for the boys to play a couple or three games down in St-Pierre.
The owner of the local liquor store on the French island was once a St. Bon’s boarder, hence the connection with the BlueGolds. St. Bon’s would often visit to play soccer, too, and the local team on St-Pierre would give their guests a good game.
Hockey was different, however. For the St. Bon’s players, it was a chance to get away from town, have a few skates and maybe a drink or two.
So on this April 3 morning of 1965 — 50 years ago yesterday — the team in Blue and Gold — stalwarts Ray Murphy, Hubert Hutton, Tony Manning, Bern Myrick, Wally MacDonald, Joe Slaney among others — were with the 23 people on the plane, set to leave Torbay Airport and touch down in St-Pierre 30 or 45 minutes later.
By now, as you’ve probably figured out, the plane crashed. But everybody made it away in one piece, except for the aircraft, which was totalled.
As Butler — perhaps better known for throwing fastballs at St. Pat’s Ball Park than playing hockey — recalls, he was sitting in the first row, next to Murphy. Murphy also played for the Guards, for whom he captained. Legend has it the staunch St. Bon’s, St. Pat’s and Holy Cross supporters suggested the “C” stood for Catholic.
Anyway, Butler reports a smooth flight, and as the plane neared St-Pierre, the pilot opted to circle low over the runway, probably to check out the dirt surface.
“I’m looking out the window and see potholes in the runway,” said Butler, “and I say to Ray, ‘Ray, b’y, I don’t know about this runway.’”
Back in the day, EPA pilots were known for their expertise at landing in St. John’s. When Air Canada wouldn’t think about flying into Torbay, the EPA boys could drop her down, piece of cake.
The pilot on this particular St-Pierre flight lined up his plane and approached the runway. Butler said she hit hard, and bounced what he figures had to be 20 or 30 feet.
“I knew we were in trouble when she landed,” Hutton recalls. “There was a Quonset hut near the middle of the runway, and we were already well past that.
“You can’t count one-two-three and the engines revved and (the pilot) made a quick jerk to the left. You can feel her sliding and there are rocks and mud and water getting thrown up on the window.”
Butler was still peering out his porthole and, in the confusion, saw what he thought was a motorcycle speeding past the plane. It was the landing gear, which had ripped off.
“Then she came to this sudden stop. It was all over in 10 seconds,” Butler said.
In the aftermath, both engines were all but ripped from the wings, along with the landing gear. There was damage to the underbelly. Like Air Canada flight 624, which crash landed in Halifax recently, the EPA flight lodged itself on a large rock, about the size of a Volkswagen, Hutton says. Had she kept sliding, there was a ravine up ahead and the plane might have plowed down into it.
“I think Bobby Neville fell out of his seat and hurt his shoulder a bit,” Butler said.
A couple of ambulances arrived on the scene and took a few players away. Other than being shaken up, all were OK.
“I suppose it’s funny now, but when we got out of the plane, a bunch of locals were running towards us. They all had smokes in their hands, and there’s jet fuel coming from the engines,” Hutton said.
Speaking of Hutton, he had a brand new pair of skates — CCMs — he’d taken with him to St-Pierre. The Hall of Fame defenceman thought so much of the new blades he didn’t even pack them in his equipment bag. He carried them on the plane.
Undaunted, Hutton shrugged off the risk of explosion and raced back inside the stricken aircraft to fetch his skates.
“I wasn’t leaving those Tacks for one of the locals to get,” he said defiantly.
It was later reported that the airport at St-Pierre failed to advise the pilot of ice on the runway. Reports indicated the plane made a normal landing, but skidded out of control on the icy airstrip.
Four or five players refused to fly home and instead got the ferry to Fortune, where they got a lift to St. John’s.
Butler said he and MacDonald took tranquilizers and were all but knocked out for the flight home.
As for the games, the St. Bon’s players managed to retrieve their gear from the plane and they played that night.
“We won, too,” said Hutton.
Robin Short is The Telegram’s Sports Editor. He can be reached by email [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TelyRobinShort
