Duncan Joseph McDonald was born in Mulgrave, Guysborough County, on June 14, 1918, the youngest of Osborn and Catherine Ann (Ryan) McDonald’s four sons. Duncan’s grandfather, Roderick McDonald, was born at Strait of Canso around 1844, the son of Donald and Nancy McDonald. On January 6, 1867, Roderick married Margaret Strahan, daughter of Berry and Margaret Strahan, in Port Mulgrave.
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| LAC Duncan Joseph McDonald's headstone, St. Lawrence Cemetery, Mulgrave, NS |
By 1891, the McDonald household included 45-year-old Roderick, a railroad section man, his 44-year-old wife Margaret, and five children—Duncan, age 18; Lizzie, age 17; John, age 14; “Ausbury” [later Osborn], age 10; and Daniel, age four. Also residing in the home was Roderick’s widowed mother Nancy, age 88. A decade later, 19-year-old “Ausberry” [DOB August 31, 1881] was still living in Mulgrave with his parents and brothers Duncan, John and Dan.
On August 15, 1904, “Osberry” McDonald married Catherine “Kate” Ryan in St. Lawrence Roman Catholic Church, Mulgrave. At the time of the 1911 census, 29-year-old “Oscar” [sic—Osborn], railroad “trackman,” was listed as head of a Mulgrave household that included his wife Kate A., age 25, and three children—Stella Louise (DOB December 1904); Beatrice (DOB November 1906); and John R. (DOB January 1909).
Over the ensuing decade, six more children joined the McDonald household—Annie (c. 1911); Daniel (c. 1913); Osborn Jr. (c. 1915); Hilda (DOB April 28, 1917, died in infancy); Duncan Joseph (DOB June 14, 1918); and Hilda Mary (c. 1919). At the time of the 1921 census, Osborn and Catherine’s Mulgrave home included Beatrice, age 14; Stella, age 6; John, age 12; Annie, age 10; Daniel, age eight; Osborn Jr., age six; Duncan, age three; and Hilda, age 18 months.
Before year’s end, tragedy struck the family when 38-year-old Osborn died on July 8, 1921, following a six-month battle with acute pulmonary tuberculosis. Pregnant at the time of her husband’s passing, Kate gave birth to a daughter, Mary Elizabeth, on November 14, 1921. Sadly, her youngest child died of pneumonia on August 8, 1924.
Duncan Joseph McDonald, Osborn and Kate’s youngest son, attended Loggie School, Mulgrave, from 1924 to 1930. He then moved on to McNair High School, Mulgrave, where he completed Grades 7 to 10. Upon leaving school in 1933, he worked as a labourer for Cook Construction, Mulgrave (1933-34) and as a “checker” with Standard Paving Co. (1934-36). For the remainder of the decade, Duncan held a variety of “odd jobs” before securing a position as a “brakeman” with Canadian National Railways, Stellarton.
On December 11, 1941, Duncan applied for admission to the Royal Canadian Air Force. To enhance his chance of acceptance, he enrolled in a WETP [War Emergency Training Program] course in Saint John, NB, from January to June 1942. Following its completion, Duncan enlisted with the RCAF at Moncton, NB, on June 22, 1942, commencing service with the rank of Aircraftman Class 2 (AC2).
On July 19, Duncan was transferred to No. 5 Military District, Lachine QC, where he commenced training at No. 1 Wireless School, Montreal. Three months later, he qualified as a “Wireless Operator/Gunner, Group C,” and was promoted to the rank of Aircraftman Class 1 (AC1). On October 11, 1942—the day after his promotion—Duncan was assigned to RCAF Station, Sydney, NS.
As a major source of coal and steel, the industrial Cape Breton area played a significant role in Canada’s war effort. Its harbour also provided shelter for vessels crossing the North Atlantic as part of Allied merchant convoys. While Canadian infantry and artillery units focused on defending the harbour and numerous strategic locations in the area, the RCAF’s role extended well beyond the island.
In addition to patrolling the harbour entrance and protecting convoys entering and leaving Canadian coastal waters, the RCAF conducted coastal reconnaissance operations from two separate bases—a seaplane base for 11 Delta aircraft in North Sydney and an airfield near Reserve, east of Sydney. While land for an airport had been acquired prior to the formal declaration of war, actual construction did not commence until the second year of the conflict.
Prior to the airport’s operational debut in February 1941, RCAF personnel transitioned to the Bristol Fairchild Bolingbroke. A maritime patrol aircraft and trainer manufactured by Fairchild Canada, the design was based on the Bristol Blenheim Mk IV bomber. Nicknamed the “Bolly,” the plane was equipped with engines designed to increase its range. Its nose was extended to create more space for the bombardier and the cockpit’s upper left surface was expanded to provide greater visibility during takeoff and landing. In acknowledgment of the circumstances in which the aircraft would operate, anti-icing boots and a dinghy were standard accessories.
No. 119 (Bombing & Reconnaissance) Squadron, Hamilton, ON, the unit based in Sydney, was on call for any emergencies that occurred in nearby waters. The most common incidents involved sightings of German U-boats. On March 23, 1942, for example, the merchant vessel SS Bayou Chico made radio contact with RCAF Sydney and reported its suspicions that a German U-boat was following in its wake. The base immediately dispatched three Bolingbroke aircraft to its location.
Upon reaching the vessel, the aircraft spotted German U-boat 754 and dropped two depth charges as the submarine executed a rapid dive. While no debris was spotted, there was no sign of the enemy vessel as the aircraft escorted the SS Bayou Chico for an hour. Unbeknownst to the pilots. the U-boat escaped without damage and safely travelled to its base in France. U-754 later returned to the east coast only to be targeted and sunk off the coast of Yarmouth, NS.
Anti-submarine warfare remained RCAF Sydney’s primary focus during the early and middle war years. While there were numerous sightings along Canada’s Atlantic coast, there were only approximately a dozen confirmed sinkings. The statistics, however, do not reveal the effectiveness of the patrols. German U-boat logs accessed following the war clearly describe their captains’ considerable fear of operating in or near the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The RCAF strategy forced U-boats to remain submerged while passing through the area or avoid the convoy corridors altogether, thus significantly reducing Allied losses.
After 16 months’ service in the Sydney area, Duncan was transferred to 121 Composite Squadron, Dartmouth, NS, on February 15, 1944. The squadron operated out of an airfield located in Eastern Passage. Established by the United States Navy as an anti-submarine patrol base in August 1918, the facility was transferred to the Canadian government after the First World War. In October 1923, the location officially became RCAF Station Dartmouth.
During the inter-war years, the station’s aircraft conducted photographic surveys of the Maritimes. In November 1934, the facility became the headquarters of No. 5 (Flying Boat) Squadron, which conducted patrols along Canada’s eastern coastline. Three years later, Dartmouth was one of four locations selected for construction of a land aerodrome. On April 1, 1938, the facility once again became RCAF Station Dartmouth, hosting No. 5 Squadron and No. 4 Repair Depot.
During the Second World War, RCAF Station Dartmouth was the base for bomber reconnaissance aircraft that played a crucial role during the Battle of the Atlantic. It was also home to 121 (Composite) Squadron, RCAF. Formed on January 10, 1942, the unit conducted communication and rescue operations along the Atlantic coast. Its aircraft also participated in “target towing” exercises in co-operation with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN).
Target towing involved an aircraft “towing” an unmanned drone or large “fabric drogue”—an open-ended conical or funnel-shaped cloth structure—attached to a lengthy metal cable. The drogue was stored aboard the plane prior to take-off. Once the aircraft was over the training area, a crew member used a winch powered by a small wind turbine located on the outside of the aircraft to release it. A clutch mechanism allowed the operator to “engage” the winch and deploy the target at a distance of several thousand meters behind the plane. Once the exercise was completed, the drogue was usually jettisoned at a location convenient for retrieval and the cable retracted into the plane.
The exercise involved a considerable amount of risk. Inexperienced gunners—aerial and naval—fired live ammunition at the target during training, creating the possibility of an errant shell striking the aircraft. The drogue also created considerable drag. If a twin-engine aircraft like the Bolingbroke experienced failure in one engine, the drag could be sufficient to reduce airspeed below its “stall speed”—the minimum forward thrust required for an aircraft’s wings to produce lift and remain airborne.
Duncan’s initial duties at RCAF Dartmouth were somewhat mundane. On March 16, he was posted to the “Devil’s Battery Observation Post,” located at Hartlen Point, Eastern Passage. Erected on Halifax Harbour’s easternmost point, the battery’s personnel kept a watchful eye on the harbour entrance. One week later, Duncan was assigned to the Chebucto Head Battery, located at the easternmost point of Halifax harbour’s southern shoreline. On March 27, he returned to duty at the Eastern Passage aerodrome, having completed brief assignments at both batteries.
At 1200 hours April 19, 1944, Bolingbroke 9180 departed from RCAF Base Dartmouth on a target-towing exercise over Cow Bay, a short distance east of the harbour entrance. Three RCAF airmen were aboard the aircraft—Pilot Officer Harold Alwin Swinden, Toronto, ON, pilot; LAC Duncan Joseph McDonald, Mulgrave, NS, wireless operator; and LAC Joseph Émile Gautreau, Shediac, NB, “general duties.”
After completing the exercise, the crew was returning to base when the “aircraft [was] seen to plunge into the sea” around 1300 hours (1:00 pm). According to a news item published in the Halifax Herald the following day, local residents reported seeing the plane struck the water near Egg Island, southwest of Lawrencetown Beach, around 1:30 pm. One witness stated that “an explosion occurred on the plane while it was still in the air.”
A note in Duncan’s service file reported that he was “missing believed killed 19 April 44 as a result of a flying accident (target towing Navy shoot).” A second news item in the Halifax Herald reported that the bodies of P/O Swinden and LAC Gautreau were “brought to the surface” of Cow Bay on May 13. The wording suggests that the plane’s wreckage had been located and that Navy divers had removed the two deceased crewmen from the sunken aircraft.
The whereabouts of the third “missing” RCAF airman remained a mystery until June 23, when a “body washed up” along the Cow Bay shoreline. Using identification discs and a card in a wallet, RCAF officials identified the body as LAC Duncan Joseph McDonald. Duncan’s remains were transported to Mulgrave, where he was laid to rest in St. Lawrence Parish Cemetery.
At the time of his death, Duncan was survived by seven siblings—brothers John R., Daniel and Osborn, Mulgrave; sisters Mrs. Leo [Stella Louise] Mc Kinnon and Beatrice McDonald, Mulgrave; Mrs. Miles R. [Annie] Ryan, Stellarton; and Mrs. William H. [Hilda Mary] McNeil, Antigonish. Duncan’s mother Catherine passed away in Halifax, NS, in April 1979.
Information on RCAF Station, Sydney, NS, obtained from Paul Ozorak’s self-published book, Abandoned Military Installations of Canada, Volume 3: Atlantic (2001). Special thanks to Major (Retired) Gerry Madigan, Stewiacke, NS, for his assistance in locating background information for Duncan’s story. Gerry has researched long-forgotten aspects of Nova Scotia’s Second World War coastal defences and authored a number of interesting stories that are available online at his Nova Scotia Military History blog.
