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magazine / so00
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September/October 2000 issue |
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FEATURE
Canadians in flight
In the September/October 2000 issue
of Canadian Geographic, Mary Vincent explores the history
of Canadian aviation. Find out facts about our first aircrafts,
meet the hero’s who flew them and discover the country’s firsts
of flight.
 WE ALL REMEMBER
THE FIRST time we flew, whether it
was on a Vickers Viscount, holding on for
dear life, or aboard a sleek modern airliner,
holding on for dear life. Whether it excites
or petrifies us, flying is often a must in
a country boasting so much geography. For
more than 90 years, aircraft have been moving
Canadians and their goods across the country
and around the world. Magnificent men and
women in flying machines opened up the country,
developed sturdy all-purpose aircraft and
supersonic jets, swooshed across the sky as
dashing bush pilots and aerial acrobats and
protected and patrolled through war and peace.
As passengers in the early years of aviation,
we were enticed by the glamour of air travel:
in 1955, we bought almost three million plane
tickets and the number of commerical flights
has increased steadily almost every year since.
Aviation helped shrink the distances that
separate us. Now, we buy some 45 million tickets
a year, and air travel has become routine
if not a little turbulent. Still, more Canadians
own or fly aircraft than any other people
in the world. Planes have taken us from then
to now and carried us from here to there.
There’s no doubt about it: we are an aerial
nation. On the following pages, we offer a
words-and-pictures tour of the highs and lows
of Canadian aviation history.
Heights of flight
What’s the most notable Canadian aircraft ever made? It’s
hard to choose, but the following are among the best of the best:
they’ve faced the German Luftwaffe, battled forest fires and
airlifted the sick.
The Silver Dart we salute because it completed the
first flight in Canada in 1909, soaring less than a kilometre,
and bringing the nation into the dazzling new world of aviation.
The Curtiss JN-4 Canuck recorded more firsts than any
aircraft in Canada: first to be mass-produced, exported in large
quantities, and used for military, airmail and survey flying.
Bush planes are among the country’s greatest aviation achievements.
The first bush flight in 1919 was in a Curtiss HS-2L.
An aerial workhorse, the Noorduyn Norseman could land
and take off in tight spots on floats, skis or wheels. The all-metal
de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver had excellent short-takeoff-and-landing
abilities, even with heavy loads, and is the most-manufactured
Canadian plane.
The Avro Lancaster, the most successful heavy night
bomber of the Second World War, was relatively fast, could take
incredible punishment and carried the heaviest bomb loads.
The first aircraft in the world built specifically to fight
forest fires, the Canadair CL-215 can scoop up 5,445 litres
of water in 10 seconds and jettison it over a fire in less than
a second.
Sky heroes
Who were the pilots, innovators and engineers that launched
Canada’s aviation heritage?
J. A. D. McCurdy: Canada’s first pilot, he helped design
the Silver Dart.
Wallace R. Turnbull: He was our first aeronautical
engineer; his variable-pitch propeller adjusted the angle at
which propeller blades cut the air.
Clennell H. "Punch" Dickins: Legendary among
bush pilots, he piloted the first prairie airmail trip, flew
prospectors and survey expeditions in the North and West and
was the first to soar across the Barrens in 1928.
Elizabeth G. "Elsie" MacGill: The first woman
in North America to hold an aeronautical engineering degree and
the first woman in the world to design a plane. She headed production
of one of the Second World War’s most important fighter aircraft,
the Hawker Hurricane, used in the Battle of Britain.
Phillip C. Garratt: He started as a fighter pilot in
the First World War and went on to direct the development of
Canadian-designed aircraft for Canadian needs.
Grant McConachie: He pioneered routes from Edmonton
to Whitehorse and CP Air flights to Australia and Asia.
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Flying frontiersman
On a bitterly cold January day
in 1929, Wilfrid "Wop" May took off from Edmonton to
deliver a life-saving cargo, risking his own life in the process.
Heading to the northern reaches of Alberta in an open-cockpit
Avro Avian, he was carrying a cargo of vaccine destined to fight
a diphtheria outbreak. May was a classic bush flyer, an ingenious,
fearless pilot who was one of Canada’s flying frontiersmen. After
the First World War, battle-trained pilots snapped up war-surplus
planes and flew into remote communities, uniting the nation as
the railway had done 40 years before. The planes, such as Fokkers
and Fairchilds, had to be sturdy, easy to maintain and equipped
with floats to land on water and skis for snow. They were the
Swiss Army knives of aviation, used for timber surveys, forest-fire
spotting, aerial photography and mapping. They transported everything
from food and mining equipment to geologists and injured miners.
By the mid-1930s, more freight was moving by air in Canada than
in the rest of the world combined. Literally flying into uncharted
territory, with compass accuracy varying wildly above the 65th
parallel, pilots had to fly by the seat of their pants, following
railway tracks, power lines, dog trails and waterways. Bush flying
was instrumental in opening up vast regions of Canada. Even today,
Northern residents depend on planes to keep them connected.
Winged couriers
As aviation grew out of its wild-and-crazy experimental stage,
the idea developed that planes might be an efficient way to move
goods from point A to point B. Hence the emergence of airmail.
In June 1918, Capt. Brian Peck few the first postal flight, from
Montréal to Toronto, in just over six hours. After that
inaugural delivery, the system emerged piecemeal. By 1927, an
experimental air service began meeting ocean liners at Rimouski,
Que., and flying the mail to Québec, Montréal and
Ottawa. Airmail soon spread across the country, throughout the
East, across the Prairies, along the West Coast and, finally,
to the North, where it had the most impact. If you lived in Yellowknife
and needed a set of false teeth from Edmonton, airmail was the
only way to get them. Pilots became winged messengers, delivering
perfumed love letters, Christmas cards and news of the hockey
team back home. Airmail also brought junk mail: as early as 1935,
a Manitoba postal official complained about a half tonne of catalogues
to be delivered without delay. Airmail helped develop national
and international air routes, and by 1939, Canada had daily cross-country
airmail service. Today, 750 domestic and more than 200 international
daily flights help deliver Canada’s eight billion pieces of mail
annually.
A Canadian Air Force
Canadian aviators were called into military service even before
the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was formed in 1924. During
the First World War, some 22,000 served (mostly in the Royal
Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service), bombing enemy
submarines, shooting down Zeppelin airships and patrolling the
seas. Despite a small population, Canada boasted 152 war aces,
including Billy Bishop, Raymond Collishaw, William Barker and
Donald MacLaren.
During the Second World War, Canadians served with Britain
and in 48 separate RCAF squadrons overseas. They thwarted enemy
plans by attacking railways, airfields and industrial installations
in Nazi-occupied France, Belgium and Germany. Bomber squadrons
flying Mosquitoes, Halifaxes and Lancasters flew 271,981 hours
and dropped 114,393 tonnes of bombs and mines. In the Battle
of Britain, Canadians distinguished themselves flying Spitfires
and Hurricanes. In all, 249,664 RCAF men and women served in
Europe, Africa, Asia and at home. Nearly 18,000 perished.
Our flying soldiers went on to peacekeeping duties in Korea,
the Suez, the Gulf War and Kosovo.
Today, funding cuts and outdated aircraft raise questions about
the air force’s ability to operate effectively.
Mass transit
Canadians have always had a love-hate relationship with flying.
From the 1940s to the 1960s, it was almost all love. Air travel
took us over the oceans and across the continents. Stewardesses
were glamorous jet- setters, strong enough to lug luggage and
seal the plane door shut while clamly assuaging their passengers’
fear of flying. The famous and fabulous added to the glitz of
flying, their preferred method of travel, and photos of movie
stars on the tarmac were always being snapped. Still, flying
in those early years was often a bumpy ride: cabins were cramped,
unpressurized and drafty.
Today, flights are crowded, delays are frequent and fares
keep rising. Gone are Wardair, Nordair and CP Air. Air Canada
is the master of the airways, despite WestJet, Royal, Canada
3000 and now even Roots. A return to the glamour of flying would
be nice, but most passengers would likely settle for more legroom
and flights that are on schedule.
Snowbird ballet
With their loop-the-loops, steep dives, formation aerobatics,
splits and low-level precision manoeuvres, the Snowbirds have
thrilled and chilled millions of flight fans with aerial ballets
in their Canadian-designed-and-built Canadair CT-114 Tutor jet
trainers. The flying team based at CFB Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan
is the only nine-plane fiight-demonstration team outside
Europe. Now into their 30th season, the Snowbirds have flown
over 1,600 demonstrations before more than 88 million people.
But what makes them so exciting to watch is also what makes it
risky: four Snowbird pilots have been killed on duty.
Formed in 1971, the Snowbirds are the successor to the Royal
Canadian Air Force’s aerobatic teams of the 1950s and 1960s,
the Golden Hawks and the Golden Centennaires. But like its predecessors,
the team has faced a continuing struggle for existence. For the
first seven years, the Snowbirds operated on a shoestring before
attaining full squadron status in 1978 as the 431 Air Demonstration
Squadron.
Once again, it is facing the threat of disbandment because
of expense. Still, as long as the Snowbirds are cleared for takeoff,
their precision formations will continue to electrify audiences.
Photo credits: Maritime Central Airways logo, Canadian Museum of
Civilization/S99-12090; Silver Dart, J. Matthews/CAM; Curtiss
HS-2L, J. Matthews/CAM; Noorduyn Norseman II, Robert W. Bradford/CAM;
airmail, CAM/25910; Avro Arrow, R. Beausart/CAM; Air Canada plane,
Air Canada; Golden Hawk, DND/ISC86-534.
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