Submitted photo
Lisa Daly at the 1944 Cape St. George crash site.
Lisa Daly is an aviation archaeologist currently completing her doctorate degree at Memorial University.
She has been working on historic aviation sites around Newfoundland and Labrador since 2007, with most of her work focused on Second World War aviation sites around Gander and Goose Bay.
She has included other areas of historic aviation, such as assisting her supervisor in collecting photographs and memories of the Hindenburg over Newfoundland.
Last summer she had the opportunity to work in the Bay St. George area and said she enjoyed it immensely. She and a small team of researchers, guided by Don Cormier, rediscovered the wreck of the 1946 American Overseas Airlines crash.
This aircraft crashed on Oct. 3, 1946, into Hare Hill (now known as Crash Hill) moments after departing Harmon Airfield, and with 39 fatalities – making it became the worst commercial air disaster in the world at the time.
On that first visit, archaeologists did a preliminary survey of the site and had it classed as a provincial archaeology site.
A visit was paid to the site of the 1944 C-54 crash at Cape St. George. The site was recorded, and steps are being undertaken to have it established as a provincial archaeology site.
Ms. Daly will be giving a public talk about the two crash sites at the Regional Museum of Art and History in Stephenville, starting at 7 p.m., tonight, Aug. 8.
This talk will feature some of the history and archaeology of the sites, allowing for many the first glimpse of a historically important, but tragic, moments in aviation history.
To see some of Ms. Daly’s academic papers, go to http://mun.academia.edu/LisaMDaly. People can follow her Twitter, @planecrashgirl, for updates on historic aviation work being done in the province.
Story and Photo: http://www.thegeorgian.ca
