The Story of Mission’s Heritage Park Plane Crash
Along a trail called Corrie’s Corners in what is now Heritage Park in Mission, BC, lies the remnants of an airplane, scattered amongst the ferns and trees. For decades it has been an open secret amongst Mission’s residents that there was wreckage of a small plane in the park, but its origins have been lost to time, and few these days know whose misfortune had placed it there.
There were rumours that it was a training flight from Matsqui, that it was someone’s homemade airplane, that there was just one pilot and he’d walked away safely. For surely if it was a serious aviation accident, the plane’s wreckage would have been taken away. But the wreckage remained, and became a fun and mysterious hiking destination, a mystery that few people knew the story behind. So when and how did a plane crash in Heritage Park?
On the evening of January 21st, 1971, a pilot and his three passengers were returning to Bellingham from a Masonic Hall meeting in Friday Harbour, Washington, when their plane got lost in poor weather and lost radio contact. At around 12:15 am, residents on the east side of Mission heard the plane flying low overhead, while others heard the crash but dismissed it as a tree falling.
By 12:30 am, a search and rescue team from CFB Comox was already conducting a search for the Cessna 172, concentrating on the shores of the Fraser River after a resident in the area had reported a small plane flying low at around midnight. It wasn’t until morning, however, that children on their way to St. Mary’s Residential School heard a man crying for help in the bushes. They alerted two staff members, who found a hypothermic and injured man in a ravine. He’d tried to crawl for help but had gotten stuck in the night. To mark his path, he’d tied pieces of his white shirt to branches, which allowed the staff members and RCMP to locate the crash site farther up the hill. The two other male passengers were injured and the pilot was deceased. One of the men was trapped in the wreckage with the deceased pilot.
A rescue helicopter from CFB Comox arrived and airlifted one of the injured men to Mission Memorial Hospital, while rescuers worked to free the other from the wreckage. An hour later, he was freed and taken to hospital, while the pilot’s body was taken up the hill to Westminster Abbey, a nearby Benedictine Monastery. Having heard about the crash, one of the Fathers had made his way down to the crash site to offer the survivors tea.
The three surviving men returned home to their families and recovered from their injuries. After an autopsy was conducted, the pilot was also returned to his family, and was laid to rest in Ferndale, Washington.
Meanwhile, remnants of the plane lay scattered in the forest, scratched with graffiti by visitors. Over time, the leaves fell, pieces of the plane disappeared, and the tragic story of the Heritage Park plane crash faded to mystery.
Cory is an outdoor writer and adventurer from British Columbia. She has worked as a kayak guide and wildlife rehabber, experiences that deepened her love for wild places and the creatures that call them home. Whether she’s hiking remote trails, paddling along the coast, or setting out on her next backcountry trip, she finds inspiration in nature’s untamed beauty. Through her writing, she shares stories of adventure, resilience, and the deep connection between people and the wilderness.
