Memories shared on 70th anniversary of 1954 plane crash

A plane crash between a TCA passenger plane and Harvard aircraft that happened just after 10 a.m. on April 8, 1954, marked a significant moment in Moose Jaw’s history. 

A total of 37 people died due to the crash, including the pilot of the Harvard, Thomas Andrew Thorrat, all 35 occupants of the passenger plane, and one woman, Martha Hadwen, who was cleaning the Hume residence on Third Avenue NE when it was hit by fuselage from the passenger plane.  

Many people still remember the accident or remember family members telling them what happened in the aftermath of that day.  

Moose Jaw’s mayor, Clive Tolley, said he recalled the event that happened 70 years ago despite being a toddler at the time, playing outside with Donald Dickinson. “We heard a very very loud sound of part of the passenger airplane coming down, and we looked up, and we saw this plane strike the Hume residence,” said Tolley. 

He said he remembers his mother, Marian, telling him that victims were taken to the Moose Jaw Armoury to be identified and to notify families.  

Gordon Shabbits said he was about three years old, too. “I ran out of the house, and my mom told me, ‘don’t leave the block,’ like any mother.” 

He remembers following a crowd of people up Main Street, where the Town N Country Mall is now, but used to be the Exhibition Grounds. "I was trying to peek through a knot in the fence, and I couldn’t see anything, so a man put me on his shoulders to see over the fence.” 

He said he was told after that they were lining the deceased along the racetrack. “I could see things; I didn’t know what they were.” 

Edna Dickinson was 23 at the time of the crash. Her sons were playing with Clive Tolley at her house on the corner of Third Avenue NE and Oak Street. 

She initially thought it was a car crash. “There was no car going by, but I could hear something above my head. I looked up, and I could see all this stuff flying down.” 

“Everybody that had small children was running to pull their kids in. I pulled my boys in.” 

Dickinson said that people converged on their neighbourhood shortly after the crash as people came to see what had happened. “They followed where the traffic was going, and of course it led to my house.” 

“Cars were coming from all over – our yard was full of cars, and I think everybody’s driveways were full of cars and people chasing where they could see the plane coming down.” 

She remembered curious strangers coming into her house. “They were walking through my house – I didn’t know who they were. The police or somebody was chasing the people and their cars off the street, so people would just come in your home, so that the police didn’t chase them off.” 

“I only had a two-bedroom then, and it was full of people looking out the window, and my living room was full of people – just so they wouldn’t be chased off the area. We had no control over the crowd.” 

Dickinson said that it took time before people felt secure again after the incident. “It took a long time to get over that crash sound. If we heard a plane flying very low over the city, or over our area, especially, it scared us – we ran outside.” 

Mayor Clive Tolley spoke about the incident's aftermath for the City of Moose Jaw. “I think it was a significant thing in Moose Jaw’s history. Not something to celebrate, but something to learn from in terms of aircraft safety. It’s not a fond memory for me, but it is a memory, and it’s something each year when April 8 comes around, I think about it a little bit, and I think about the effect it may have had on our community,” said Tolley. 

The Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery has had an exhibition for the 1954 plane crash since 2004, and there is also a memorial site behind the Moose Jaw Armoury.