A new memorial to the 23 victims of the 1951 Queen Charlotte Airlines crash on Mt. Benson has been installed at Bowen Cemetery, right next to the original headstone. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

honouring those lost

New plaque unveiled to honour Mt. Benson plane crash victims

Aug 16, 2025 | 5:53 AM

NANAIMO — In place at the Bowen Rd. cemetery for several months, a new memorial dedicated to one of the country’s worst air disasters is being officially unveiled on Saturday.

The new plaque, in the northeastern corner of the cemetery, is the result of a partnership between the BC Labour Heritage Centre’s plaques program, the B.C. Building Trades Council and the Nanaimo Historical Society.

Heritage Centre executive director Donna Sacuta told NanaimoNewsNOW the new marker adds to an existing one, which was put in place not long after the tragedy, which killed 23 people.

“When the event occurred, there was not much done at the cemetery. There was a small cement stone placed that said ‘Mount Benson victims’, but over the years, a couple of the families of people put their own headstones there.”

A new plaque honours those lost in the disaster. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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A formal ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. with speeches and an official unveiling of the plaque.

Sacuta is hopeful family of one of the victims will attend and share their perspective.

During a dark and stormy night on Oct. 17, 1951, a Queen Charlotte Airlines Canso Flying Boat carrying workers from a work site near Kitimat to their homes near Vancouver crashed into Mt. Benson, west of Nanaimo.

There were no survivors.

At the time of the incident, it was the worst aviation disaster in B.C. history, and the second worst nationwide.

Wreckage from the plane remains on Mt. Benson, over 70 years after the crash. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Investigations after the crash determined the pilot did not have the proper experience to fly the aircraft at night, and poor weather made the situation worse.

It’s likely the pilot was lost, as they reported their position around 20 miles off course shortly before the crash.

Sacuta said it’s important to keep events like this fresh in people’s minds, to help honour those lost.

“Our interest, of course, is more than the aviation history, which is also very important. But, the fact that the plane was carrying workers from the Kemano project in Kitimat, and we felt that that aspect of the story deserved to be told.”

The new memorial sits immediately next to the one installed at the cemetery in the 1950s.

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