Members of the 50:1 Vintage Snowmobile Club and members of the Fisher Family: daughter Barb, cousin Gordon Wilson and son John at the monument, June. 18. (Julia Lovett-Squires/meadowlakeNOW Staff)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

Bomber pilot

Family of downed bomber pilot visits crash site 70 years later

Jun 20, 2025 | 2:09 PM

They saw the plane first.

The North American B-25 Mitchell Bomber was a smoking, flaming mass of aluminum, and it was circling above the hay fields where a man and his two sons had been harvesting near the Beaver River on that summer day in 1955.

Three air cadets escaped the burning aircraft via parachutes with time bought by their pilot through his efforts to keep the flames from reaching the cockpit. Eventually, all the ranchers could see was a plume of smoke from the crash site within the thick boreal forest a few kilometres away.

The crash killed 25-year-old Royal Canadian Air Force Flight Lieutenant Howard Allan Keating Fisher.

Howard Allan Keating Fisher. (Fisher family archives)

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Seventy years after the doomed RCAF training exercise near Goodsoil, the son, daughter and 91-year-old cousin of Fisher stood near the crash site for the first time. It’s now marked by a monument established by local residents. The threesome took the time to phone Fisher’s 96-year-old sister to share in the experience – a final chapter of what had been a life-long family story.

“It’s very special, very deeply felt that the community would go to this effort to erect a monument like this,” said John Fisher, the pilot’s son, who made the trip from Edmonton, AB.

“It’s very moving.”

John and Barb Fisher place RCAF decals on the monument. (Julia Lovett-Squires/meadowlakeNOW)

A number of years ago, a group of friends who belong to the 50:1 Vintage Snowmobile Club listened to a story from their President Barry Getzinger. He shared a tale about what had always been a part of his life. The outdoorsman, who grew up on the property where the plane and its pilot came to rest, was the son of one of the men who witnessed the crash on that fateful day.

“My whole life, riding past that plane, trapping past it and my dad told me the story, but he just said the plane went down in the mid-50’s,” said Getzinger, referring to the basic facts his father knew.

Flight Lieutenant Howard Fisher’s logbook. (Fisher family archives)

“Every time I went by, I knew the pilot lost his life there and…most of the plane is there. I thought there should be something there, how come there’s not a marker or something?”

As the last generation to be on the ranch, Getzinger didn’t want that history buried with him and after telling the group about what he hoped to achieve, the hunt to find more details began – starting with the Cold Lake Air Base.

He reached out to a friend’s wife who happened to work at the base to see if she could track down any information. What it led to was unexpected.

“Two weeks later, she did. She found the pilot’s name, where he was from, the exact date that the plane went down,” he said.

In June of 2020, the group took it upon themselves to erect the monument created by GPR Signs. It was fashioned out of scrap metal and hammered into the shape of a plane.

Wreckage of the B-25 Mitchell III Bomber. (Julia Lovett-Squires/meadowlakeNOW)

Wreckage of the B-25 Mitchell III Bomber. (Julia Lovett-Squires/meadowlakeNOW)

Wreckage of the B-25 Mitchell III Bomber. (Julia Lovett-Squires/meadowlakeNOW)

Wreckage of the Mitchell III B-25 Bomber. (Julia Lovett-Squires/meadowlakeNOW)

After discovering Fisher came from Indian Head, another member reached out to the Royal Canadian Legion and found the airman’s younger cousin, Gordon Wilson.

“We knew that at the time of the pilot’s passing that he had a 16-month-old daughter and a three-month old son,” said Getzinger.

Having no idea how to connect with the Fisher children, the group went to the media and after a story was published about their efforts in a local paper, John happened to come across the article and his sister Barb phoned Getzinger from her home in Cranbrook, B.C.

Phil Rogers hands Barb Fisher a piece of her father’s downed plane as Gordon Wilson looks on. (Julia Lovett-Squires/meadowlakeNOW)

Then COVID hit and it prolonged a planned visit out to the site an extra five years.

“For some it’s kind of closure I guess, and time isn’t waiting for any of us – it’s kind of special.”

According to Barb, her father was training three cadets (Flight Officers Ted Tomanhauser, Keith Graham, and Joseph Ernest Sicard) in navigation around mid-morning when the engine caught fire – a particular reputation of the bomber. Her brother added that their aunt had told them there were defective components.

Clem Lavoie looks at a small piece. (Julia Lovett-Squires/meadowlakeNOW)

“He tried to open the door to get his parachute and to bail out and the door latch – because of funding and stuff – they didn’t fix it, and it wouldn’t open,” said John.

“They also said that he could’ve very easily been overcome with smoke from the fire,” added Barb of the officials.

The parachuters, who ultimately all survived, landed around meadows and on a hill.

Gordon Wilson examines the mangled remains of the pilot’s seat. (Julia Lovett-Squires/meadowlakeNOW)

“I would imagine his plan was to let everybody out and he was gonna bail, but he just run out of air space, run out of time and then he went down,” John said.

Following the accident, the military reached out to Getzinger’s grandfather who then took him to the site where they could recover Fisher and conduct an investigation. They left the wreckage where it lay scattered among the trees and foliage.

Seven decades on, Barb said it was “a long time coming” as she and her family members walked around the monument and the remains of the World War II-era plane.

“For sure, wow.”

John Fisher inspects a piece as Clem Lavoie and Barry Getzinger look on. (Julia Lovett-Squires/meadowlakeNOW)

Speaking during a small ceremony conducted at the site, Murray Rausch, one of the 50:1 members, spoke of the ranchers’ efforts to alert the air base. In an age where there was little communication technology, he said it must have been a scramble in organizing access to the remote stand of forest.

“So, it is with a profound sense of respect that we are here today with you, the family, daughter Barb, son John and first cousin Gordon to lose ourselves for a few minutes in this historically significant special place.”

John Fisher holds up a piece of the wreckage. (Julia Lovett-Squires/meadowlakeNOW)

Getzinger followed.

“I often quadded by here, I would take my hat off ‘cause I knew a hero died here,” said the rancher.

“It’s so awesome for my whole life…sixty–some years, I would never imagine to have you two standing here and Gord because it was so many unknowns for 65 years.”

As the group took time to reflect on the significance of where they were, their thoughts turned philosophical. Wilson was three years behind his older cousin in school, and in conversation with Barb, they spoke about the mortality rates of pilots during the wartime.

Barry Getzinger shows Barb Fisher the lights on a section. The wires are still visible. (Julia Lovett-Squires/meadowlakeNOW)

“Makes you wonder what sense there was in the whole darn idea of the war,” said Wilson.

“Only politicians know that.”

Upon returning to Getzinger’s ranch, the family reflected on the day spent exploring the wreckage and holding sections of the long-lost aircraft.

“I’ve tried to take pieces over my life to try and connect with my father,” said Barb, referring to her efforts that also included taking a ride in a B-25.

It was an accident that shaped their lives and left them looking to connect with the young man whose presence was always felt but forever out of reach.

“Did Johnny and I ever have the opportunity to grieve his loss because we weren’t there when it happened,” she asked, after noting how she often wondered.

John too felt the loss in his own way. He explained that their father’s death profoundly affected their mother. The couple had only been married for about two years before he passed and as such, they were never able to fully reconcile with their past.

“It seemed like such a taboo thing,” said John, who still remembers the year he turned 25.

“I just started balling and stuff thinking about him.”

The North American B-25 Mitchell III Bomber. (Julia Lovett-Squires/meadowlakeNOW)

Wilson was grateful to witness some closure.

“It’s just something that I’m glad that it worked out this way and together with some of the other members of the family,” he said.

Looking ahead, Barb said she would love to return to add pictures of his family to the monument.

“Life goes on and yes, he didn’t join us, but I’d love to take some of the metal pieces and make a frame and put pictures of Johnny and I and my children and grandchildren you know, to show that people do go on.”

John agreed.

“The human spirit is so strong to overcome all these things.”

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

On BlueSky: juleslovett.bsky.social