CHAA Dive Recovery Team

Dedicated to the recovery of aircraft at the bottom of Canada’s waters

In addition to operating our fleet of Harvard aircraft, the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association has a Dive Recovery Team.

This group of experienced, skilled divers donates their time to researching, searching for, and recovering downed military aircraft at the bottom of Canada’s lakes. Their focus is on aircraft associated with the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), a joint program between the Royal Canadian Air Force and Allied countries during the Second World War.

Since its formation in 2001, the Dive Team and individual members have located several civilian and military aircraft, mostly underwater, yet sometimes on land.

The team is composed of individuals with various areas of expertise: Researchers who spend hours reviewing governmental records for crash reports, surveyors, scuba divers, engineers and inventors. The team is skilled in remote sensing surveys, side scan sonar, ROV operations, underwater recovery and archival research.

CHAA’s Dive Recovery Team is always reviewing potential projects and welcomes any information that aids in research related to these or other missing aircraft.

Salvaging Canadian aviation history is a large part of what drives this team. Yet even more, their opportunity to offer closure to the families of those who were lost, is an even greater driving force.

Anyone with an interest is always invited to assist the Dive Recovery Team by contributing their time to research, providing support, or providing in-kind equipment and materials to their projects.

Send an email to info@harvards.com if you would like to learn more about the Dive Recovery Team, get involved or make a contribution.

Footnotes:

All surveys and searches are undertaken with a permit from the Government of Ontario, and kept aboard the boat during searches.
Every diver has completed a Nautical Archeological Society Course. (NAS 1)
The CHAA Dive Recovery Team works closely with provincial and federal governments, keeping them fully informed of its activities.

Current Project

The search for Flight Officer Barry Allen Newman

The Dive Team’s most recent project is the search for, and successful identification of, the debris field of the wreck of Mustang 9555, at the bottom of Lake Ontario near Picton, where Flight Officer Barry Allen Newman, flying a P51D Mustang Aircraft, lost his life at the 23 years old, in June 1952.

Current Project

The search for Flight Officer Barry Allen Newman

Dive Team Photo Gallery

Contact Info

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Hours of Operation