Dionne, Ernest Bernard
Killed in Action 1942-06-08
Birth Date: 1920
Born:
A Robert Dionne & Veronique Dionne
Home: South Durham, Drummond Cty., Quebec (parents)
Enlistment:
Enlistment Date: Unknown
Service
RCAF
Unit
130 SFTS- Service Flying Training School
Base
RCAF Stn. Mont Jolie, QC
Rank
Sergeant
Position
Sergeant
Service Numbers
R/96741
South Durham, Drummond Cty., Quebec (parents)13 Service Flying Training School, St Hubert, Quebec. Sergeant Dionne was flying Harvard aircraft 3285, was engaged in instrument-flying training, and was killed when the Harvard crashed in the woods two miles south-east of St Octave, Quebec.
His instructor was was severely injured, but survived. He was KIA as a Flying Officer in 1944-05-04, over Germany.
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
www.findagrave.comThis incident involved multiple aircraft:
- Harvard Mk.IIB Serial: 3285
All the above aircraft in the above list are referenced in this report.
North American Harvard NA-26 NA-44 NA-61 NA-66 NA75 NA-76 NA-81
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
The North American Harvard appeared in 1937, in response to a US Air Corps proposal for an advanced trainer. The first of 50 Harvard Mk. Is ordered by the Canadian Government were delivered to RCAF Sea Island, BC in July 1939. By early 1940, the Mk. II was being assembled in California with an all metal fuselage replacing the original tube and fabric structure. 1200 Mk. IIs were supplied from US sources, until Canadian built Harvards started being produced in 1941.
In August 1938, Noorduyn Aviation of Montreal farsightedly signed an agreement with North American, to build the Harvard under licence. When the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) came into being in December 1939, Noorduyn received its first orders and went on to produce nearly 2800 Harvard Mk. IIBs for the RCAF and the RAF, between 1940 and 1945. In Canada, Harvard Mk. IIBs were used as advanced trainers with the BCATP at fifteen Service Flying Training Schools across the nation. They helped pilots make to the transition from low powered primary trainers, like Fleet Finch or the de Havilland Tiger Moth, to high performance front line fighters such as the Spitfire.
At the end of WW II, although the RCAF retained the Harvard as a trainer, a large number of them were sold off to civilian operators. The RCAF soon regretted this, for by 1949 the Cold War with the Soviet Union was in full swing and the RCAF urgently needed trainers again. 100 T-6J Texans were leased temporarily from the USAF and a further 270 Harvards, the Mk. IV version, were ordered from Canadian Car & Foundry, Thunder Bay. The RCAF used the Harvard Mk. IV for a further fifteen years, before finally retiring it in 1966.
A total of 20,110 Harvards were built between 1938 and 1954, 3,370 of them in Canada. Countless numbers of privately owned Harvards are still flying today.
Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Harvard Mk. IV was built by Canadian Car & Foundry, Thunder Bay, Ontario in late 1951. The aircraft saw service at four RCAF flying schools across the nation until it was sold to a civilian owner in 1965. It was the third aircraft to join the Museum after Dennis Bradley, Alan Ness and John Weir donated it in 1973.Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
Harvard Advanced Trainer
Wikipedia Harvard Advanced Trainer 
Harold A Skaarup Web Page Harvard 3285
Harvard Mk.IIB 3285
Category A damage on 8 June 1942 while with No. 130 (F) Squadron at Mont-Joli, Quebec. Flew into a tree covered ridge near Saint-Octave-de-Metis, Quebec while practicing instrument flying. Safety pilot Sgt. E.B. Dionne killed, pilot under the hood Sgt. W.D. Peacock seriously injured.1942-02-12 Taken on Strength 2019-08-20
1942-June-08 Accident: 130 Squadron Loc: St Octave Quebec Names: Dionne | Peacock
1942-08-17 Struck off Strength 2019-08-20