Plane Crash Landed at Rabbit Lake

F.O. K. Christiansen Pilot

Aerobatics Widely Reported

From the Kenora Keewatin Daily Miner and News

Feb. 29^th 1952

An unauthorized flight in an Air Force Harvard aircraft from Gimli, Manitoba early this morning ended up in a crash landing at Kenora about 10am, after its pilot Flying Officer Keith Christiansen, formerly of Keewatin had done a low level shoot-up of Kenora and Keewatin including a loop under the Keewatin Channel Bridge on the TransCanada Highway between the two towns.

Out of gas, Flying Officer Christiansen crash landed his plane on the ice at Rabbit Lake about one mile north of Kenora and was taken into custody by Ontario Provincial Police. He is being held here pending arrival of Air Force officials from Gimli, reported due to arrive here this afternoon.

The forced landing was executed with skill on the south shore of Rabbit Lake, opposite Scotty’s store, the aircraft touching down with wheels up, and skidding across the snow for over a hundred yards before coming to rest. Only apparent damage was to the propeller, with possible damage to the bottom of the fuselage and centre section of the wing.

Reports received from various residents of Kenora, Norman and Keewatin indicate that the aircraft narrowly missed many buildings in both communities as the pilot ‘beat-up’ the two towns at low level. Most spectacular maneuver reported was the loop around the centre span of the 150 foot high Keewatin bridge.

A quick pull out over Kenora sent the plane dangerously near the Bank of Nova Scotia and the Notre Dame Church spire, and at another point the pilot is alleged to have been below the height of industrial chimneys in the northern section of the town. Other reports reaching here from Redditt and small Manitoba towns along the route state that the plane was also flown dangerously close to the ground over their communities.