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George Medal

MACLEAN, Angus Kenneth, Able Seaman, 37499-H, RCN

Issued: 26-Mar-1960, Canada Gazette

"On the afternoon of the 20th August, 1959, a CS2F Tracker (1519) aircraft of Anti-Submarine Squadron 880 crashed on take-off while carrying out Field Carrier Landing Practice at the Naval Air Station Shearwater, Nova Scotia. The aircraft stalled at about 150 feet from the ground and went into an uncontrolled slow roll before landing, right side up, in a revetment adjacent to the tower at Shearwater. The co-pilot Lt (P) Roger D. Nantel, RCN, managed to escape from the plane but the pilot, Lt (P) G.A. Caldwell, RCN, who was unconscious, remained in the aircraft which was on fire. Able Seaman Jacques P.G. Bouchard, and Able Seaman MacLean, who had been witnesses to the accident and among the first to reach the scene of the crash, without any regard for their personal safety, entered the aircraft through the after hatch and attempted to remove the harness from the unconscious pilot. Being unable to unlock the overhead hatch, both AS held Lt Caldwell clear of the port side window while it was being smashed by the crash crew and, at the same time, succeeded in removing the harness and other entangled gear from Lt Caldwell. While they were still assisting the pilot, the flames spread aft, a sudden burst of fire engulfing the after fuselage section, and one of the officers (Lt Davis) assisting in the rescue ordered the two Able Seamen out of the aircraft. By this time, however, the port side window had been cleared and it was possible to remove the pilot safely from the burning aircraft. Throughout the rescue operation which was executed under the immediate threat of an explosion from ruptured gasoline tanks, AS Bouchard and AS MacLean displayed consider- able courage, coolness and initiative. Shortly after the pilot was rescued the aircraft became a mass of flames and was totally destroyed."