November 27, 2025: A year later on December 15, 1969, about 4:45pm, Ernie was working on some machines in his yard when he was approached by a young man who was interested in buying a car, so Ernie took him to the south of the house where the old cars were kept. Doing so, he noticed new tracks in the fresh snow and knew he was in trouble. Before he could defend himself, a masked man stepped out from behind some old trucks and a third masked person, appeared.
The stories vary from here… was he shot outside or inside?
The first masked man fired a revolver several times and Ernie fell. The men kicking him, demanded money. Ernie having none on him. insisted they take him to the house, or they’d get nothing. One man grabbed him by the arm, another by the hair, and they dragged him into the house.
The other version was there were six men who accosted Ernie, took him to the house for the cash and there he found the men had tied his senile mother up. Roughing Ernie further did not get him to tell where his stash was. He was then shot seven times: in the nape of the neck, upper arms, chest and groin. Ernie told them where the money was hidden. They found $175, cut the phone line and ran, leaving him for dead. Ernie crawled to the window and saw the getaway car was a ’55 or ’56 Chevrolet, possibly two-tone. He then crawled over to the phone and spliced the wires together and called the police. A halfhour later the police and ambulance arrived to take both he and Grace to the hospital.
The mother, traumatised but not injured, was transferred to a senior home as there was no family to care for her on the farm. Ernie, although badly injured, was worried about the farm as no one was there to protect his collection. After only three weeks, he checked himself out of the Tillsonburg Hospital and went home. A neighbour, after not seeing any signs of Ernie in January, found him alone and dead in his house from pneumonia. Ernie’s mother, Grace, never really recovered from the shock she experienced. She died a few months later in Norfolk General Hospital.
Having no living family or will, the Public Trustees of Ontario handled the task of disposing of Simmons’ assets. The grand Mammoth Auction took place in September 1970.
Fifty years later, Skies Magazine, published Eric Dumigan’s article on Sep. 8th, 2020, about a ‘North American Aviation NA-64 Yale, built in 1940 that circled on Sep 5th, 2020, over a remote farm in Norfolk County, south of Tillsonburg. Shane Clayton, part owner of the RCAF 3372, worked for 19 months to return it to flying status” for just this occasion. To honour Ernest Van Simmons? No, it was to ‘Commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the ‘historic world-famous auction sale’ that had Ernie Simmons name on it. Only fitting that the plane used was Yale 3372. one of Ernie’s Yales, once rotting in his fields, now brought back to life “slipping the surly bonds of earth.” [High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.]
Ernie’s legacy lives on here in Tillsonburg with RCAF 3399. 3399 was made by North American Aviation, in Inglewood, Calf., Sep 16, 1940. It was a star in 1942 Warner Brothers movie, “Captains of the Clouds” with James Cagney! RCAF 3399 was disposed of Sep 25, 1946, as scrap in Hamilton but saved with many other Yales by Ernest V. Simmons. 3399 was then purchased at the 1970 Mammoth Auction by Mr. Don Goddard and obtained in 1987 by the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association [CHAA], whose restoration team was to restored it to airworthy condition.
This was accomplished under the direction of ex-RCAF Wing Commander, Lou J. Hill, to whom the 3399 is dedicated to. She flew again on May 20, 2010 and the plane’s home is at the Tillsonburg Airport, just as I believe, Ernie had hoped all his planes would one day.
Click here to read the Original article on page 8 of the PDF.
Article courtesy of Laurel A. Beechey, Tillsonburg Post Contributor.