Tomorrow marks the 35th anniversary of the worst air disaster ever experienced on Canadian soil.

A chartered Arrow Air DC-8 en route from Cairo, Egypt to Fort Campbell, Kentucky with 248 US soldiers and eight crew on board, crashed shortly after takeoff from Gander on the morning of December 12, 1985.

There were no survivors.

The cause of the crash was officially determined to be icing on the wings and pilot error.

Bob Smith was among the first responders on that fateful day. He is a decorated veteran who was a member of the Canadian Forces Military Police.

Smith says that morning he was called in on his day off, never knowing what he was about to encounter. He was expecting it to be a small commuter plane, only to learn that it was actually a DC-8. He was hoping for survivors, but it immediately became clear there were none when he got to the scene a short time later.

Smith is involved in a documentary that saw the participation of dozens of people including families of the victims, first responders and both US and Canadian military personnel.

The crash scene, on the shores of Gander Lake, is now the site of the Silent Witness Memorial.