Calgary’s Hangar Flight Museum will celebrate National Aviation Day on Feb. 23, marking the anniversary of the first powered flight in Canada in 1909.
The historic flight took place in Baddeck Bay, N.S., in an aircraft called the ‘Silver Dart.’ The Hangar Flight Museum has a full-size replica of the historic aircraft hanging from the rafters.
“The original was designed by J.A.D. McCurdy with the support of Alexander Graham Bell,” said Brian Desjardins, executive director of the museum.
“It (was) made of wood, wire and fabric, bamboo and bicycle tires, rubberized balloon cloth, so (the replica) definitely attracts a lot of attention when people come into the hangar flight museum.”
The museum has 36 civilian and military aircraft on display, many with a connection to Calgary and southern Alberta.
Desjardins says one of his favourites is a replica of a Curtiss JN-4, known as a Curtiss Jenny. The original aircraft was flown by First World War ace Fred McCall in 1919, performing aviation stunts over the Calgary Exhibition, now Stampede, when the engine failed.
“So, he had to crash land on a carousel or merry-go-round that was part of the midway of the Calgary Exhibition,” said Desjardins.
“No one was hurt, but it’s certainly a story that some people know about, but many don’t, and it’s a pretty cool story.”
Bob Wade, retired Royal Canadian Air Force Major, started flying in 1969 and spent 23 years in the RCAF.
“We were Cold War boys, you know,” he said. “I never had to hurt anybody, but you flew every day like you’re going to go to war the next day.”
Wade says it was an interesting time to be a pilot because aircraft technology was changing extremely fast, making the fighter jets more capable of achieving great things.
“It was kind of a significant time in aviation because we went from the end of World War II flying T-33 aircraft up to the Starfighter 104 and then up to the F-18,” he said. “You know, it was a remarkable time in aviation. I’m so lucky to have served in that era.”
Wade says the Canadian Air Force got its start in 1924 and took a long time to build into a significant force just before the Second World War.
“Canada had the fourth largest air force in the world at the end of World War II,” he said. “And so when NATO started up in 1949, Canadian commitment was very significant; we had 300 F-86 Sabres in Europe in 12 squadrons from 1952 to 62.”
Because of the geographical size of Canada, Wade says civil aviation developed quicker and bush pilots provided a service to remote regions of the country. Those bush pilots eventually became instructors under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
Wade says people living in southern Alberta have the opportunity to see a variety of aircraft that are not only important in Canadian aviation history but also have ties to the local area.
“Between all three museums—the Hangar Flight Museum, the Military Museums on Crowchild Trail and Nanton’s Bomber Command Museum – Albertans have an opportunity to see a piece of aviation history that’s not really available to most Canadians,” he said.
National Aviation Weekend takes place Saturday, Feb. 22, and Sunday, Feb. 23.
For more information about the event, contact The Hangar Flight Museum at 403-250-3752 or visit thehangarmuseum.ca.
