GUELPH -- Friends of a 92-year-old Guelph man who died after a single-vehicle crash before Christmas remember him as an avid flyer, who took to the sky the same day of his collision.
“All he wanted to do was fly,” said Ronald Fleet, who knew Fernand Villeneuve for over 50 years. “That was his big passion: flying.”
Villeneuve was involved in a single-vehicle crash south of Elora around 4 p.m. on Sunday.
On Christmas Day, he succumbed to his injuries.
“I just think it’s so tragic that after flying 73 years that he would be killed in a car accident,” said friend Alan Fisher. “He was always so safe conscious.”
Friend Barry Tschirhart says Villeneuve was a no nonsense guy when it came to his plane.
“He was very meticulous and very procedurally-oriented when it came to doing that type of thing,” he said. “Fern would say [when he was instructing], ‘you’re making a mistake here, and if you don’t correct yourself I’m going to slap you in the head.’ So immediately you come to attention.”
Villeneuve served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a fighter pilot for 30 years and later became the first leader of the RCAF’s Golden Hawks Aerobatic Team.
In 1960, his plane engine failed during a training flight. He opted for a crash landing to avoid a more tragic event.
Villeneuve later became the head of the accident investigation branch where he would look into crash causes and find ways to prevent them.
In 1997, The Royal Canadian Mint recognized Villeneuve and minted a special 20 dollar coin with his likeness on it.
In 2006, he was inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame.
“He was an outstanding person,” said Fleet. “He’d never run anybody down and he’d always help you.”
He says Villeneuve flew his plane every chance he got, which included the day of his crash. Fleet adds that he was on his way Guelph to have dinner with some friends.
“We’ll miss him,” said Tschirhart. “We’ll definitely miss him.”
