PO Allan Moore Killed on HMCS Bonaventure, 1959.

The Outlook,
January, 2004, Pg. 2.

Often when preparing articles for Armistice Day celebrations, we overlook those service personnel who become casualties during peace time. Often it's enlisted men and women in our armed forces who fall victims during their roles as peace-keepers, and overlooked when paying respect to those who have paid the supreme sacrifice, as is the case each Armistice Day. One such person, was the late PO Allan Moore, the son of the late Frank Moore and his wife, Edithe Brandon.

Allen's siblings are Sandra Moore-Rollins and Gilles of Magog; Ralph and deceased brother Philip.

The account of Allen's death is another of the numerous NATO incidents seldom told, yet a reminder that our men and women in the services run many of the same risks they could be expected to encounter during a war.

The account of Allen's death told of the submarine tracker aeroplane he was aboard, which crashed into the sea 200 miles off Bermuda while attempting to land on the aircraft carrier Bona­venture during NATO exercises. Apparently the twin-engine plane made a faulty approach to the flight deck. The pilot receiving a last minute warning not to land was unable to regain altitude when one engine stalled, causing the plane to crash into the sea. Allen age 20, and three other men lost their lives in that incident. Allen had became the youngest Petty Officer serving in the navy until that time, and had a promising career ahead of him. The incident was explained in detail in The Sherbrooke Record, The Gazette and on Canadian TV at the time.

Realizing how Allen Moore gave his life during peace­time service, makes us mindful of others who like him, deserve recognition when battle casualties are remembered each year.

The Outlook,
February, 2004, Pg. 12.

In the January edition of this newspaper we published an account of Pilot-Officer Allan Moore's accidental death in 1959. As the saying goes, "it takes one good story that can lead to others". This was the case which brought a prominent local gentleman into focus. René Audet of the Magog-Sherbrooke district reads The Outlet, and like many bandsmen with Harmonie de l'Estrie and the Knowlton Harmony Band, receives a copy of this newspaper each month. To Mr Audet's great surprise, was the account of Allan Moore's tragic death, and it so happened that he was there in the Carribean on April 2nd, in 1959, when the tracker aeroplane with four crewmen, including Allan Moore, crashed into the sea.

René Audet was only 17 when he enlisted in the RCN, and trained as a navy cook. He was in the Bonaventure aircraft carrier's galley at the time of the April 2nd/59 mishap, and tells how he and others were startled by an incredibly loud explosion. It was the tracker aeroplane crashing into the sea. Mr. Audet tells how he and others rushed to the ship's deck, where all they could see was a swell in the water off the ship's side, some 500 feet away with debris scattered all around. With some 1,300 naval personal aboard, and little contact with the fleet air-arm, it's no wonder that Mr. Audet didn't know Allan Moore.

It has been said, that once a sailor, always a sailor, and although René Audet left the navy after six years service, recollections of his days with the RCN seem as fresh as if it were yesterday. After returning to civilian life Mr. Audet became a professional fireman with the City of Sherbrooke, and attained some notoriety as a trumpeter with Several harmony bands, and for performances at church services. It is as a member of two bands that he routinely receives The Outlet, which led to him reading about Allen Moore's death in our January issue.