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George Medal

MUNCASTER, Douglas A., Lieutenant, RCN

Issued: 31-Dec-1955, Canada Gazette

"Lt Muncaster, with complete disregard for his own safety, was instrumental in saving the life of a pilot who was trapped inside his flaming aircraft after it had crashed. On the afternoon of 9 March 1955, Lt Muncaster was the co-pilot of a Bell Helicopter which had arrived at the site of an aircraft crash, about one mile south of the Royal Canadian Naval Air Station, Shearwater, Nova Scotia. The aircraft--a Sea Fury, piloted by Sub-Lieutenant(P) John Victor Searle, R.C.N., 0-65687--had crashed about three minutes earlier, in a heavily wooded area, and it was noted that it had broken in two, the forward section, including the cockpit, being inverted, with the engine on fire. The Helicopter could not land owing to the density of the trees and undergrowth. The pilot, therefore, hovered about fifty yards from the aircraft, where the wood were more sparse while Lieutenant Muncaster jumped to the ground from a height of about eight feet. As Lieutenant Muncaster ran towards the wreckage, one of the fuel tanks exploded. On nearing the forward section of the aircraft, from sound inside the cockpit, he realized that the pilot was alive. The perspex canopy of the cockpit was resting on the ground and pilot was pinned inside. Being unable to open the canopy or break the perspex with his hands or feet, Lieutenant Muncaster found a rock and smashed a hole in it. By this time the flames had reached the cockpit and there was imminent danger of the remaining fuel tanks exploding. The pilot was able to push his head and shoulders through the hole made in the canopy by Lieutenant Muncaster who, after considerable pulling, extricated Sub-Lieutenant Searle from the flaming cockpit and assisted him from the immediate vicinity of the aircraft. The remaining fuel tanks exploded a few minutes later."