1949 Sault-au-Cochon air tragedy

1949 CE.

Shown on the map at 47.200°, -70.633°.

Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108, known as the Sault-au-Cochon Tragedy, was a Douglas DC-3 operated by Canadian Pacific Air Lines (registry CF-CUA S/N: 4518) that was blown up by a dynamite time bomb on 9 September 1949. The plane was flying from Montreal to Baie-Comeau, Quebec, with a stopover at Quebec City, when it was destroyed. All 19 passengers and 4 crew members were killed in the explosion and crash. The bombing was the first instance of an airliner bombing being conclusively solved. A five-minute delay resulted in the plane crashing on land instead of water, allowing vital evidence to be uncovered. Investigators discovered that three people, Joseph-Albert Guay (22 September 1917 – 12 January 1951), Généreux Ruest (1898 – 25 July 1952), and Marguerite Pitre (5 September 1908 – 9 January 1953), had conspired to destroy the plane to obtain life insurance money. Guay had wanted to kill his wife, who was a passenger, so he could marry his mistress. The case was solved after Pitre confessed, implicating Guay but not herself or her brother Généreux Ruest.

Text from the Wikipedia article Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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