IN DEPTH: AVIATION
Canada's Achievements
Alison Hancock and Owen Wood, CBC News Online | December 10, 2003
John D. McCurdy |
Feb. 23, 1909
Five years after the Wright Flyer's historic debut at Kitty Hawk, the first Canadian flight took off in Nova Scotia. The Silver Dart, built under the tutelage of Alexander Graham Bell and piloted by John D. McCurdy, lifted off from the frozen Bras d'Or Lakes at Baddeck on Cape Breton Island.
June 14, 1919
Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown, two British First Word War flying veterans, made aviation history with the first non-stop Atlantic crossing in a converted Vickers Bomber, the Vimy IV. They took off from Lester's Field in St. John's, Newfoundland.
John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown |
August 1919
Ernest Hoy, a former Royal Flying Corps pilot, became the first to fly over the Rockies. He flew from Vancouver to Calgary in a Curtiss JN-4 (Jenny) in 16 hours and 42 minutes.
April 1920
Roland Groome became the first commercial pilot in Canada.
October 1920
The first flight across Canada, from Halifax to the Pacific, was made and took 10 days.
April 1, 1924
The Royal Canadian Air Force was born. Before that, there had been three temporary organizations: The Canadian Aviation Corps, the Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Air Board.
1926
James A. Richardson established Western Canada Airways in Winnipeg. In 1930, Richardson transformed Western Canada Airways into Canadian Airways Limited, which would eventually give birth to Canadian Pacific Airlines (CP Air).
August 1927
An airstrip at Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, the first constructed for transatlantic flight, was completed. It was closer to Europe than any other in North America and operated until 1936.
June 17, 1928
Amelia Earhart took off from Harbour Grace and reached Wales the next day, becoming the first woman to fly the Atlantic, albeit as a passenger.
The R-100 airship |
Aug. 1, 1930
The British airship R-100 arrived in Montreal on its maiden transatlantic voyage from Cardington, England. It was moored to a tower at St. Hubert airport. An estimated one million people came out to see it. From Montreal, the R-100 made a 26-hour return flight, cruising over Ottawa and southern Ontario before going back to England.
June 23, 1931
The Winnie May, piloted by Wiley Post, flew into Harbour Grace from New York on the first leg of its round-the-world trip, which took a record-breaking eight days and 16 hours.
Amelia Earhart |
May 20, 1932
Amelia Earhart lifted off from Harbour Grace in a Lockheed Vega and flew to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic alone. Earhart remains the only woman to have flown the Atlantic solo.
1935
The governments of Britain, Ireland and Newfoundland agreed to establish a regular North Atlantic mail and passenger service using multi-engine flying boats. They chose Botwood, Newfoundland as a flying boat base. The same conference decided to build the Newfoundland Airport beside Gander Lake. Construction of the airport began in 1936 and was completed two years later.
Oct. 29, 1936
Jimmy Mollison flew direct from Harbour Grace to London, the first to do so. This was the last time Harbour Grace was used for a transatlantic crossing.
1937
The state-owned airline Trans-Canada Airlines (TCA) was born. In 1964, it was renamed Air Canada.
The Caledonia
Clipper |
July 5, 1937
Two experimental transatlantic commercial flights took off simultaneously. The Pan Am Clipper III flew from Botwood, Newfoundland to Foynes, Ireland, and a British Imperial Airways seaplane, the Caledonia, flew from Foynes to Botwood.
June 28, 1939
The Pan Am Yankee Clipper, the largest airplane of the day, left Botwood on the first scheduled transatlantic passenger flight. The New York-to-Southampton route was made with stops at Shediac, Botwood and Foynes.
Sept. 1939
The Second World War began. The RCAF took over the Newfoundland air bases at Botwood and Gander. They become crucial wartime bases.
Dec. 1939
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was inaugurated. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the British Government needed facilities for training aircrew outside the United Kingdom. Canada, with its large land areas and clear weather conditions, was the ideal location.
Avro Arrow
The launch of the satellite Alouette
Marc Garneau, the first Canadian in space
The SCISAT satellite (image courtesy of the Canadian Space Agency) |
1940-45
RAF Ferry Command flew Canadian- and American-made bombers from Gander to the European allies.
Oct. 4, 1957
The Avro Arrow was rolled out. (Coincidentally, this is the same day the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite.) The Avro Arrow was first flown on Mar. 25, 1958 by pilot Jan Zurakowski. The Avro Arrow project was cancelled on Feb. 20, 1959.
1960s
In Churchill, Man., Canadians and Americans launched rockets to study the weather and the northern lights.
1962
Canada became the third country to have an object in space with the launch of Alouette, a scientific satellite.
1962
Wardair's first charter passenger flights, domestic and international, commenced. The company was owned and run by Maxwell Ward, a former bush pilot and RCAF veteran from the Second World War.
1972
ANIK 1, a communication satellite, was launched.
1983
The Canadarm was used in space for the first time.
1984
Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space.
Aug. 12, 2003
The SCISAT satellite, designed and built in Winnipeg, was launched.
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