413 Squadron plans 20th anniversary service for Tusker 914 peers
Warrant Officer Mike Cox leans behind his desk to a counter and picks up one of the only photos of Tusker 914: an enlarged placard of the distinct Royal Canadian Air Force CH149 Cormorant yellow helicopter, with a search-and-rescue technician dangling by a cable below. He thinks it might be him.
“The time-stamp tells the story: September 30, 2005…,” Cox says. “I wonder if I was on that flight?”
He checked his log book, and his own records seem to match up: a set of hoist training flights, with fellow 413 (Transport and Rescue) Squadron crew. In April, members of the squadron went on a dive training in Cozumel. In July, 2006, Cox posted from 14 Wing Greenwood to 19 Wing Comox.
July 13, 2006, around 12:30 a.m., 413’s Tusker 914 crashed into Chedabucto Bay, off Canso, Nova Scotia. The seven crew aboard were practicing with local Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary members, including hovering over the fishing boat Four Sisters. Sergeant Duane Brazil, 39; Master Corporal Kirk Noel, 33; and Corporal Trevor McDavid, 31; were unable to escape the submerged helicopter and died. Four others aboard were injured: Sergeant Martin Molony, Sergeant Ronald Busch, Captain Gabriel Ringuette and Major Gordon Clements. Crew from the Four Sisters were the first to offer assistance, helping rescue the survivors.
Cox hadn’t been in Comox three days; still unpacking household goods, he was back on a plane, “milk running” across the country as it picked up military SAR-Techs and flight crew from base to base to base: all returning to 14 Wing Greenwood.
“We do have a support network, and we do rely on each other,” Cox says of the tight-knit search-and-rescue community. “It’s nice to think I might have been flying with them that September 30 day, and I have a picture with Kirk from that DIVEX in Cozumel.
“Time flies.”
In 2023, Cox had a hand in the organization of another difficult anniversary for 413 Squadron: a 14 Wing Greenwood service marking 25 years since the 1998 crash of Labrador 305 in Marsoui, Quebec, which killed six squadron members. He’s now helping organize a July 13 20th anniversary commemoration for Tusker 914.
“We have the squadron involved, and I’m looking forward to seeing our younger squadron members helping and attending, making sure that the message gets passed on about the importance of remembering these guys,” says Cox. “But the next-of-kin are our VIPs for this: we’re looking forward to seeing them; names I haven’t seen in years are planning to come.”
The commemorative service will be held Monday, July 13, at 2 p.m. on the 14 Wing Greenwood parade square. Attendees are encouraged to visit the Tusker 914 memorial in the Greenwood Military Aviation Museum’s garden between noon and 1:30 p.m.
