PBY-5A and HNS-1 USCG at Gander Lake 1946

A U.S. Coast Guard Sikorsky HNS-1 helicopter (BuNo 39501) hovers over a Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina (either BuNo 34008 or 48314) on Gander Lake. The helicopter was bringing in the injured passengers from the crash site of a Belgian SABENA Douglas DC-4, which had crashed circa 35 km south-west of Gander International Airport, Newfoundland, on 18 September 1946. The injured were then put on life rafts (visible below the wing of the PBY), put on the PBYs and flown to Gander.

The DC-4 OO-CBG crashed due to a pilot error on the approach to Gander on the flight from Brussels (Belgium) to New York (USA) on 18 September 1946, killing 27 of 44 people on board. Rescue teams, mainly from the U.S. Coast Guard, made the first helicopter rescue and saved the remaining passengers, most of whom were injured.