P/O Hewson almost made it, and except for his fixed undercarriage, he would have. The prop was found on the beach. For more info on GW Hewson click on the photo.

 Photo source:  courtesy of G.W. Hewson Copyright © 2005. All rights reserved.

Intentionally left blank

 On the 20th P/O G.W. Hewson was nearing the and of a triangular navigation night when the engine of his Lysander suddenly stopped.  Hewson was flying at 3000 feet over Northumberland Strait ( between the provinces of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island) and glided towards a small beach on Doctors Island, just off the coast near Pictou, Nova Scotia. He overshot slightly on his approach to force-land, the aircraft went into shallow water  where it flipped over on its back. Hewson found himself hanging upside down with his head immersed in two feet of salt water,  Fortunately he was able to extricate himself from this "unenviable position" with nothing worse than a rather cold dunking. For some anxious hours, however, the Squadron feared the worst. Shortly after Debert received word that the Lysander was making a forced-landing, a report came in that the ferry to P.E.I. had picked up "a body".  The captain's failure to mention that the body was alive and well caused much depression until Hewson himself was able to get on the phone and confirm that he was "not dead or anywhere near it."

This incident was virtually the swan song of 123's Lysanders. On 14 July three of the remaining Lizzies were transferred to the Repair Depot at Scoudouc (near Moncton, New Brunswick)  and at the end of that month the last one was handed over to the Naval Air Gunners School at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia The Squadron commented: "And thus, after many years, Army Co-Operation has shaken the cloak of obsolescence and will no longer use Lysanders.  It has certainly been a slow uphill grind to achieve this result, but it has been mostly a case of so many demands on such a small supply of aircraft and Army Co-Op never has had much priority rating in Canada .... Now we are waiting for our long promised new Hurricanes."

Three American volunteers  serving with the RCAF and 439 Sqn: P/O AL Henderson, F/O JW Ross and F/O AE "Cody" Monson

 Photo source: 439 Sqn archives