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They made the Ultimate Sacrifice
BELANGER, Joseph Pierre Armand, Naval Cadet, died - 02 Jun 1943, Canadian Joint Training Centre, Rivers, MB - Son of Roger and Yvette Bélanger of Cornwall, Ontario. Brother of Denyse, Hélène, Raymond and Gisèle. He is buried in the Nativity Cemetery, Cornwall, Ontario.
Pierre was from Cornwall ON and joined the RCN as part of the first entry class of Short Service Officer Training Plan (SSOTP) introduced in 1962 to replace the Venture Plan begun in 1954. As an Naval Air Pilot, he had successfully completed Primary Flying School at RCAF Centralia and had moved to No. 1 Advance Flying School at the Canadian Joint Air Training Centre at River MB.
Pierre, along with his instructor, F/L Chatt, RCAF, was killed in an air field accident during training. F/L Chatt initiated a loss engine exercise on take off by retarding the throttle on one of the engines below 500 feet. The proper procedure at the time was to abort the take off and, assuming sufficient runway was available, touch down. Pierre apparently tried to continue the take off, the aircraft lost lift and stalled out, ploughing into the ground and catching fire. The second student pilot on board at the time, A/SLT J.M. Symonds, was able to escape and was uninjured.
Article from the Brandon Sun, 13 May 1964 Courtesy of Ray Paquette
In Service of Canada - RCN Peacetime Casualty Index
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