For Immediate Release

November 28, 1996

Aircraft Wreckage Found In Burmese Jungle

Ottawa - On November 26-27, officials of the Government of the Union of Myanmar (Burma) reported that wreckage of an aircraft, marked KN 563, had been found in the jungle of northwestern Myanmar. As early as this weekend, Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) expects to lead a team comprised of VAC and National Defence personnel on a reconnaissance/recovery mission to the site in an effort to find the remains of the crew of KN 563, an RCAF plane that was declared missing over Burma on June 21, 1945.

The aircraft wreckage was discovered in the general area where the RCAF plane was reported missing. The VAC recovery team expects to be transported to the discovery site in aircraft provided by the Myanmar military, who are currently clearing a helicopter landing zone nearby. Once on site, the team will determine if the wreckage is of the missing Canadian plane and, if so, endeavour to identify and recover the remains of its six crew members.

Journalists who would like to accompany the burial delegation should notify the Department by January 21, 1997. Interested journalists should note the following:

"This is very encouraging news," said Lawrence MacAulay, the Secretary of State (Veterans). "Obviously, we are anxious to reach the site to obtain more information."

In 1990, a local hunter reported finding aircraft wreckage in the northwest section of Myanmar and retrieved a watch inscribed with the name of William Kyle, a crew member of an RCAF C-47 Dakota that had departed from Tulihal, India on the morning of June 21, 1945 to drop supplies to the British 14th Army at Myitkyina in Burma approximately 250 miles away. The plane never returned. The Canadian reconnaissance/recovery team arrived in Rangoon last week and has been working with officials of the Government of Myanmar to find the remains of the missing crew members.

The crew members of KN 563 were William Rogers of Halifax, Nova Scotia; William Kyle of Perth, Ontario; David Cameron of Oshawa, Ontario; Charles McLaren of Campbellville, Ontario; Stanley Cox of Beresford, Manitoba; and Cornelius Kopp of Duchess, Alberta.

For further information contact:

Alec Connelly
Senior Communications Officer
(613) 992-7468