How a well-known bush pilot came to die and spring back to life – all within a few days.
By Randy Freeman
It was like a scene out of the Twilight Zone. Arthur Massey, better known as Matt Berry, was going about his usual business in Yellowknife, while alarmed townsfolk pointed at him and whispered: “I thought he was dead.”
On September 26, 1949, early morning editions of the Edmonton Journal and the Edmonton Bulletin featured front-page articles claiming that famous Northern bush pilot Matt Berry was missing and presumed dead.
They even went as far as to print obituary-style biographies detailing Berry’s distinguished Northern flying career, pointing out his impressive First World War flying record and his lead role in the construction of many Northern airports during the Second World War.
But what people remembered most about Berry was his uncanny ability to find downed and missing airplanes. His hunches, which some called his sixth sense, saved the lives of countless pilots and passengers. And now, according to newspapers, Berry himself had crashed and was thought dead. People were shocked and saddened by the news, but none more than Matt Berry.
When Berry found out about the media’s erroneous reports, he immediately sent a telegram to his lawyer, R.H. Driscoll of the Edmonton law firm Sydie, Sutherland and Driscoll. Driscoll informed the newspapers of their error and the results were clearly evident in their early morning editions the next day.
While falling short of outright apologies, each paper featured front-page clarifications. Perhaps not wanting to draw too much attention to its previous day’s error, the Edmonton Bulletin printed two brief stories, one under the heading: “Famed Bush Pilot Is Reported Safe,” and the other “North Crash Drowns Two.” Editors, yet to figure out the actual events, made no link between the stories.
The Edmonton Journal went much further, and quite effectively diverted attention from its mistake by proclaiming “2 Dead, 3 Saved In Northern Crash: Matt Berry Reports After Search Launched.” The article stated: “Confusion caused by difficulties in communication led to fear that the famed pilot had been lost.” But true clarification was days away.
It took several more daily editions before the true sequence of events were to emerge.
That Saturday a Fairchild 71C, owned by Territories Air Service and piloted by A.O. Finsand, left Yellowknife Bay en route to a small lake near the East Arm of Great Slave Lake, where Finsand was to pick up four passengers from a nearby exploration camp. With the passengers safely collected and on board, the Fairchild’s engine stalled while taking off, sending the plane nose-first into the lake and causing it to flip. One passenger went down with the aircraft, while Finsand and the three remaining passengers paddled to shore on one of the Fairchild’s floats. Finsand drowned before reaching shore.
A brief radio message from the exploration camp stated only that the pilot and one passenger had died. No names were given, but it was a well-known fact that Matt Berry, as owner of Territories Air Service, frequently piloted this particular aircraft. This information, along with some sketchy details about the crash, were relayed to Edmonton. These vague details alone were enough to arouse suspicion, but another incident that weekend made the rumour all the more plausible.
While the Territories Air Service Fairchild was picking up its passengers at camp, Berry was in Norman Wells. He had flown there on Saturday in a Territories Air Service Fox Moth and stayed overnight with friends. Unaware that his company’s Fairchild had crashed the day before, he got up early Sunday morning and flew north towards Fort Good Hope.
Apparently Berry failed to file a flight plan and simply told associates at Norman Wells that he was headed for Good Hope. Hours later when he didn’t arrive, he was officially reported as missing. A Canadian Pacific Air Line airplane, based in Norman Wells, searched the route to Good Hope but didn’t spot the missing Fox Moth. The Edmonton-based search and rescue squadron of the North West Air Command was put on standby and was prepared to send several airplanes north to begin the search for Berry.
Imagine the confusion this information must have caused in Edmonton newsrooms. On Saturday reporters received word that an airplane owned and frequently flown by Matt Berry had crashed and the pilot had died. On Sunday there was news that the North West Air Command was preparing a search for Berry and his missing plane. It wasn’t preposterous to conclude that the two incidents were linked, and that Matt Berry had died in a plane crash.
So what actually happened to Berry? On that particular Sunday, in no great rush to get to Fort Good Hope, Berry made a few stops along the way, “to check out a few properties,” he was later quoted. Berry also claimed that he had in fact reported in during this flight and had stopped and talked to a number of people along the Mackenzie River communities, people who were later quoted in the Journal and Bulletin as being alarmed that he was missing.
Understandably, Berry was annoyed with the Edmonton media. But he would be relieved to know that his actual death in 1970 was unlike his reported death in 1949. It was quietly, and most importantly, correctly observed in Edmonton newspapers.
