Northern Ontario aviation pioneer Stan Deluce died in London, Ont., Jan. 27.

Published reports said 86-year-old Deluce underwent hip surgery a month ago at Victoria Hospital in London and quickly deteriorated soon afterward.

After service as a fighter pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War, he started a bush plane charter service in his hometown of Chapleau in 1951. It grew into White River Air Services and expanded into a regional airline with the purchase of Austin Airways and Great Lakes Airlines to become Air Ontario, which was later sold to Air Canada. He was also a pioneer in the air ambulance service.

He was inducted into Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 2007.

One of his sons, Robert, is the president and CEO of Porter Airlines.