On Canadian Wings: A Century of Flight [First ed.] 9781550025491

Table of contents :
Front Cover
Full Title Page
ISBN 1-55002-549-X
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
Introduction
Bleriot Monoplane
Vought / Lillie
Burgess-Dunne
Bleriot Experimental 2
De Havilland 4
Bristol F2B
Nieuport 17
Felixstowe F-3 / F-5
HS-2L Flying Boat
Vickers Viking
Fairchild Super 71P
Fairchild 82
De Havilland 90 Dragonfly
Bellanca Aircruiser
Barkley-Grow T8P-1
Lockheed 12A Electra
Fairey Swordfish
Douglas Digby
Bell P-39 Airacobra
Fleet Fort
Vickers Wellington
Bristol Blenheim
Fairchild Cornell
Bristol Beaufort
Curtiss Helldiver
Fairey Firefly
Hawker Sea Fury
De Havilland 83 Fox Moth
Avro Lincoln
Vickers Viscount
De Havilland Chipmunk
Bristol Britannia
De Havilland Canada Otter
Boeing 707 / AWACS E-3A
De Havilland Canada Turbo Beaver
Cessna L-19 Bird Dog
CH-113 Labrador / CH-113A Voyageur
Boeing 727
Canada Argus CP-107
Avro 748
Bell CH-136 Kiowa
Beech Musketeer CT-134
Lockheed L-1011 Tristar
Bombardier Learjet
Airbus 319 / 320 /321
Bombardier Challenger
Raytheon CT-156 Harvard II
Bombardier Global Express
Canadian Regional Jet
Airbus 330
Back Cover

Citation preview

Peter Pigott

N CANADIAN WING A

CENTURY

OF

FLIG HT

A HOUNSLOW BOOK AMEMBER OFTHE DUNDURN GROUP TORONTO

Cop.)'1ight

Peter Pigott, 2005

©

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in

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electr nic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior perm1ss10n of Dundurn Press. Perm1ss10n to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright. Copy-Editor: Andrea Pruss Design: Andrew Roberts Printer: AGMV Marquis Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Pigott, Peter On Canadian wings : a century of flight I Peter Pigott. ISBN 1-55002-549-X 1. Airplanes-Canada-History. 2. Aeronautics-Canada-History. I. Title. 629.133'34'0971

TL523.P522 2005 C2005-900173-9 2

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09

Conseil des Arts du Canada

08

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Canada

Canada Council for the Arts

ONTAIUO AllTS COUNCtl

CONSf.ll OES A.Rn Q{ L'OHTARIO

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial s upport of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tux Credit program, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation's Ontario Book Initiative.

ship of copyright

Care has been taken to trace the o wne r

material used in this book. The author and th e publi she r welcome any information enabling them to

rectify any references or credit in subsequent editions. f. Kirk Howard, President Printed and bound in Canada . Printed on recycled paper. www.clundurn.com Dundurn Press

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Hightown, Lancaster, England

Tbnawanda NY

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U.S.A. 14150

For Brian and 1\!Iarilyn Kenny ... long overdue.

would like to record n1y thanks to many people fo r their n1ost generous hel p in connection with t h e preparation o f th is b o o k . Several assisted i n a great vari e ty o f ways, and t h e order i n which the i r nan1es appear i n n o way i n1plies any ranki ng. Janet Lacroix at the CF Photo Unit, O ttawa, \vas

as

pa t i e n t as

ever with n1y requ ests. D r. Camero n Pul sife r of the Canadian War Museu n1 confirn1ed that the pho to I had was o f Fl ight Lieutenant R.V. Manning. As he had previously with the Griffon hel icopter,

Captain Jonathan

Knaul, a test p il o t a t A ETE Cold Lake, d e mo nstrated tha t he \vas a n au thority o n the Kiowa . Philippa King o f B o mbardier Aerospace fo u n d fo r n1e the photos o f the Chipn1unk. Kathy F i t ton, Manager, Western Devel o p n1 e n t M useun1 , Moose Jaw, p u t n1e i n contact with the V i ntage Aircra ft Restore rs. In rebu ilding the Cornell , they h ave p reserved part o f our aviation heri tage and deserve to b e listed M acki n , Frank Bra ttan ,

Ji1n

-

Don

O'l l carnc, Roger

Morrison , Wal ter Rowa n , Ji n1 Maso n , J in1 Chart e rs, B i l l P rowse, Ha ro l d Jackso n ,

J i m Gushuiliak, Roy H iles, and Dale C l ine. My tha n ks to Jerry Vernon , presi d e n t of the Vancouver cha pter of the Canadian

Aviation 11 is tori( di

Society, who l ocat e d fo r n1e the i nfon11ation o n the Bell Airacobra test-flown i n the RCAF Kudos to

Cciptc1111

A C E N T U RY

ON CANADIAN WINGS

O F

FLIGHT

Gare th "Leste r" Carter, Unit I n forn1ation O fficer, CC-NAEWF Geil enkirchen, who wrote o f, flew i n , and photograp hed the E-3A. Rachel Julia Andrews of Air Transat sent n1e the photos o f the L- 1 0 1 1 and A-3 3 0 . A fortunate n1eeting with O ttawa archivist Rick Wallace gave n1e the backgrou n d o n W il1ian1 C . Robinson's flight fron1 Montreal to Slattery's Field. An MG sports car and 1 950s bus restore1� Dick Gilbe rt of H eathfield, East Sussex, is also an agent for charter airlines. Son1ehow, Dick found ti111e to research for n1e the fate o f the former Air Canada Viscou nts. In writing this book, I discovered that the authority on the De H avilland Otter is Irish solicitor Karl H ayes, and he and bush pilot Ken Webster provided the text and photos of the Turbo Otter. The British Antarctic Survey in Camb ridge described for n1e the use of the Turbo Beaver in the polar regions. I harassed Evelyne B essette of Bombardier PR & Con1111unications for the photos of the Learjet, Challenger, and Global Express. First Air's Tracy Bee111an,

D irecto1� Marketing Communications, pern1itted the u se of her company's B 727 and HS 1 28 photos. Captain J . S . M e dves, 1 Wing H eadquarters, Kingston, O ntario, (on the Lab rador) and B ob Fassol d (on the Chipn1unk) gave so will ingly of their tin1e, talent, and expe rtise that I w ish that space limitations would have allowed their con1plete texts to be published. For all who contributed to this book, truly, aviat i o n i s n o t a passion b u t a disease from which there i s n o reprieve.

8

INTRODUCTION

13

BLERIOT MONOPLANE

17

VOUGHT/LILLIE

21

BURGESS-DUNNE

27

BLERIOT EXPERIMENTAL 2

31

DE HAVILLAND 4

35

BRISTOL F2B

39

NIEUPORT 17

41

FELIXSTOWE F-3/F-5

45

HS-2 L FLYING BOAT

49

VICKERS VIKING

53

FAIRCHILD SUPER 71 P

57

FAIRCHILD 82

59

DE HAVILLAND 90 DRAGONFLY

63

BELLANCA AIRCRUISER

67

BARKLEY-GROW T8P- l

69

LOCKHEED l 2A ELECTRA

73

FAIREY SWORDFISH

77

DOUGLAS DIGBY

81

BELL P-39 AIRACOBRA

85

FLEET FORT

89

VICKERS WELLINGTON

93

BRISTOL BLENHEIM

97

FAIRCHILD CORNELL

101

BRISTOL BEAUFORT

105

CURTISS HELLDIVER

109

FAIRE Y FIREFLY

113

HAWKER SEA FURY

117

DE HAVILLAND 83 Fox MOTH

119

AVRO LINCOLN

123

VICKERS VISCOUNT

125

DE HAVILLAND CHIPMUNK

131

BRISTOL BRITANNIA

137

DE HAVILLAND CANADA OT TER

141

BOEING 707/AWACS E-3A

145

DE HAVILLAND CANADA TURBO BEAVER

151

CESSNA L-19 BIR D Doc

153

CH-113 LABRADOR/CH- 113A VOYAGEUR

157

BOEING 727

163

CANADAIR ARGUS C P -107

167

AVRO 74 8

171

BELL CH-136 KIOWA

173

BEECH MUSKETEER CT-134

177

LOCKHEED L-1011 TRISTAR

179

BOMBARDIER LEARJET

1 81

AIRBUS 319/320/321

1 85

BOMBARDIER CHALLENGER

1 89

RAYTHEON CT-156 HARVARD II

193

BOMBARDIER GLOBAL EXPRESS

195

CANADAIR REGIONAL JET

199

AIRBUS 330

203

he use o f air power can be traced back to the B attle of Fleurus in June

1794,

when, in the Duke of

Wel l i ngton's words, b alloons were used to "see around the o ther side o f the hill . " Frmn this hmnble b eginning, air power (or air sup ren1acy) has com e to don1i nate n1odern warfare. Tuday, little of the actual fighting o r support to the front line can take place without the air con1ponent. As Viscount Montgo mery of Alan1ein observed , " I f we lose the war in the ai1� we lose the war and we lose it very q u ickly

."

This book, the l ast of the trilogy that began with Wings Across Canada: An Illustrated J-Iistory of Ccmadiw1 Aviation and continued with Taming the Skies: A Celebration of Canadian Flight, a rrives just a fter the coun try celebrated the eightieth anniversary of the birth of its air power elen1ent , and i ndeed, the Burgess-Dunne, its first n1i1itary " platform , " is part of it. There had been atten1pts to create a national air force before

1924,

incl uding the

Canadian Aircraft Corps (CAC), the Royal Canadian Naval Air Service (RCNAS), and the Canadian Air force (CAF) . What gave the Don1inion o f Canada a pern1anent air ann \Vere three factors: the return o f former Royal Flying Corps (RFC) personnel , the In1perial Gift o f aircraft, and, n1ost critical of a l l , the necessity for some sort o f governn1ent air o rganization that cou l d defend the En1pire when called upon and serve civil fu nctions l ike

ON CANADIAN WINGS

A C E N T U RY

O F

FLIGHT

forestry protection when not . A fter the First World War, several countries had become fired with the idea of aerial warfare - reconnaissance sorties, air policing, and transport. The creation of the Royal Air Force on April 1 , 1 91 8, as a distinct branch of the lTiilitary was followed by a slew of others, and when on August 1 3 ,

1921,

H is

Majesty bestowed the prefL-x " Royal" on the Australian Air Force, it gave encouragement to those i n the CAF who sought the san1e. On January 5, 1 923, an application was made to the Governor General through the Department of External Affairs. His Majesty approved it, and to keep with the Royal Air Force tra ditio n , the l ight blue

....

.

..

- ....

- -

...

14

I n t r od u c t i on u ni forn1 and mot to "Per ardua ad astm" ("Through adversity to the stars" ) were also adopted.

The officrnl birth

date o f the Roya} Canadian Air Force (RCAF) is the day that the regulations were annou nced: April I t was while researching Wings Across Ca nada that I ca1ne across this photograph.

There

1, 1924.

was n o ide n ti fi­

cation as to who the RCA F bon1ber crew were or where and when the photo was taken. I have often wonde red ab out their fat e : did they retur n hon1e 1 do they 1ie in a European ce1netery , or have they no known grave? All I can b e certain o f is that at the precise inoment th e can1 era clicked, those young n1en, the hu1nan face o f air powe1� were s0111 e o ne 1 s sons, b rothers, husb ands, and sweethearts. Each year, as the Second World War slips deeper into a sepia-tinted past, those who fought or endu red it are carried o ff by dementia or death. More and i11ore 1 what occurred on the vvorld s tage betv,reen 1 939 and 1 94 5 is l e ft for p ro fessional historians to interpret. This is as it shou1d be, but son1ething wi1l forever be l ost, as the personal experiences, conversations, and thoughts of those who v.rit nessed the con fl i c t wil1 soon be no inore, leaving ina ny stories u ntold . I t was very differen t whe n I was a chi1 d . Alt ho ugh I grew up in post-war Bon1bay, I ndia, far away from the b attlefields, a1 n1ost every adult I knew had been personal1y touched by the war. My father had fought i n B u n11a with the Chindits, his brothers had b e e n with the Roya} E1ectrica1 & M ech ani cal Engineers i n North A frica , two o f n1y aunts wore the u n i forn1 o f the Won1en 1 s Aux il iary Corp s - and n1y m o ther ou t­ ranked them a11 as a n o ffi cer i n the Women 1 s Royal Naval Service. I f this was the fi rst \var to be extensively docun1 e n t e d for the n ewsre els, it was also the first for the personal can1 era. Wha t was pasted into our family photograph a1bun1 s might not have con1peted with Alfred Eisenstaedt, but h ere was n1y parent's war: young n1e n and won1en i n khaki, "civvies, 11 or bathing suits, sporting trin1 figures and fu11 heads of h ai r, sel f­ consciou sly posing b eside Austin Tens o r the pyran1ids 1 s1noking cigarettes i n m anning depots o r crowded onto b l a nkets at picnics. As a child, I though t that the whole war had taken p1ace in b1ack and white and b right sunsh i n e w ith everyone grinning to the can1 era . The ta1k at o u r fan1ily gathe rings was never about the great battles, heroism , o r grand military strate­ gy but o f the n1i nutiae o f war - life on board the crowded troopships, the inevitable lin ing up for every thi ng, the pleasures to be had in Port Said, in ENSA, and watching Vera Lynn . I n deed, n1u ch of my fen1al e rela tives' w a r seen1ed to consist of being squired a ro u nd by young inen w i th J o ts o f back pay who we re far fro m dreary, blacke d-out E ngl a n d . What stru ck n1e later was that there was no ta1 k o f b1 oocl , d ra m a , o r t ri u m ph - at least n o t i n n1y h e a 1 �ing. Perhaps because they had a "good" war, the adults in n1y family rcmen1bcred it with a ffe ctio n .

15

A C E N T U RY

ON CANADIAN WINGS In unive rsity, during the anti-Vietna1n war years,

I

O F

FLIG H T

came to despise e verything that my parents' ge neration

held abou t wa1� and those stirring n1ovies and waving of flags all seen1ed like so inu ch jingoisn1 . In hindsight, perhaps 1945

I

was not a little e nvious of the e n1otions that they had experienced. What occurred between

1939

and

had given then1 a pern1anent "high" and an e ndless source of stories for any occasion. Perhaps it was

because I was now conscious of its terrible carnage (the cen1eteries, atrocities, can1ps, and casualty lists) and of the fact that n1y parents' war had never really ended, that we were still living in i ts shadow through Korea, the Sinai, Vietnan1, Beirut, and Baghdad. H istorians write that the Second World War was the ful cru111 o f our tin1e and that the n1e n and women who lived through the confli ct hel p e d shape the post-war worl d o f my g e ne ratio n . I f many of those who volunteered did so because it was a job that offered an escape or exciten1ent, i t was also b ecause they sincer e l y h e l d that they were fighting t o 111ake a b etter worl d . I t was the l ast, clear-cut, black a n d white crusade, a n d a s the obi tuary colu111ns attest, those that fought i t will soon b e no 111ore. I t is far e a s i e r to see t h e m as the nan1eless bon1be r crew i n the ph oto . When posted to the e mbassy in The H ague I visited the Canadian War Cen1 etery at Groesb e e k . O n the n1en1orial were inscribed the following words: "Pro amicis mortui amicis vivimus" ("We l iv e in the hearts of friends for whom we died") . 1 ple as that. Perhaps it's as si11

16

aily , contrails fil l the sky over Mon treal an d Toronto as airliners clin1b out or descend. H o w many C anadians know that the first aircraft t o overfly both cities was French a n d tha t its pilot was a dashing French n ob l e n1an? His family manufactured aut0111obile headl ights, a growth industry i n 1 90 9 , which allowed Louis I3leriot the luxury of experimenting with flying inachines. While his conten1poraries built pusher bipl a n es , he opu�d for the u nusual - a tractor monoplane i n the now familiar crucifix layout.

He

e ngine to power it - an air-cooled three-cylinder device that sustained about

22

used Al essandro 1\ nzani's horsepower at a maxin1u m

1 , 400 rotations per ininute. I f it was prone to overheat i n sustained use ( his Channel fl ight of th i rty-seven n1i nutes was the longest that the A nzani had ever been run) , it was also the best available. I 1alfway across the Channel it did overheat, and what saved Bli:;riot from a n igno n1inious ditch ing was an opport u ne rain shower that cooled the Anzani. After the Channel flight, Bleriots were turned out by the hun dreds, and some were cx po rtt�d to Ca nacfa. I n 1 91 0 , Edward C . Peterson of Fort Willian11 Ontario, and Achille Hanssen of Montreal , Qu rhcc, built copies .

A C E N T U RY

ON CANADIAN WINGS Because

it

O F

F L I G HT

was so siinple to operate, early i n the First Worl d War the Royal Flying C orps, the Royal N aval Air

Service ( RNAS) , and all the French flying schools adopted the B1eriot as a tethered trainer (called a "clippedwi nged penguin" ) . ,,. r

E

�

The seco n d p erso n t o successfully fly the E nglish Channel is less well known . The son of

I

J

'o

,_

0

the celebrated engineer that built b oth the Suez

"'

�

0

and

Pana n1a

Count

C anals,

J acqu e s

de

Lesseps learned to fly a t Bleriot's

scho ol

and

received French Pilot's L icence

No.

relying

on

27.

Not

p ro vi d e n t

rai n showers, for h i s Channel flight i n M a rch 1 91 0 he used a 50-horsepower

Gnome

n1o t o r

instead of t h e Anzani to

Jacques de Lesseps with his Bleriot at Weston.

p o we r h i s B l e ri o t X I .

Five weeks l ater, he arrived i n Canada to take part i n the first Canadian aviation n1eet and brought with hin1 the san1e aircraft , now christened Le Scarabee, but with both the G n o n1e and Anzani engine s . Sponsored b y the Auton1obile & Aero Club, t h e n1eet took place fro n1 J u n e 25 t o J uly 4 o n the cle ared , levelled fields at Lakeside ( now Pointe Claire ) i n Montreal's West I sland. E v e n the n , t h e n1eet was u n de rstood to be a watershed battle between various n1odes of air t ra nsport. Every E dwardian aviator and balloonist, it seemed, c01npeted. There were balloons, dirigibles, Wright biplanes, and Bleriot n1on oplanes. A local sun1n1er resident, n i ne-year-old G ordon McGregor, the future p resid e n t o f Air Canada, recalle d that the whole expe ri ence was rich i n aviation: there were ten ts and crowds, d aily parachute descen ts, and even·a runaway

18

Ble r i o t M o n o p lane balloon. No o ne had seen so inany diverse aircraft i n one place - and in the air - all clt the sa me� Canada's own J .A . D . Mccurdy failed to get his Baddeck No .

2

met with disaster.

biplane airborne and

A n1erican aviator Walter Brookins, flying a Wright biplane, was only a l ittle n1ore successful . v ictory belonge d to Jacques de Lesseps. There were two other Bleriots o n the field , b u t easily the winner. Not satisfied with j u st circli ng the field, o n July

2

time.

\\Tithou t doubt,

his Le Searabee was

he fl ev.r o n a forty-n ine-n1inutc circu i t

fro n1 Lakeside to the centre o f Montreal , n1aking it the first Canadian city to be fl mvn over. The n the c mnpetitors packed u p and n1oved to Turon to . H osted by the Ontario Motor Leagu e, the

Toronto

n1eet was h e ld at the 1tethewey farn1 1 We ston, near Black Creek. A run1vay was l evel l e d ( near p resent-day H e arst Circle), and a grandstand was b u il t for spectators. O nce 1nore de Lesseps prevail e d over McCurdy and everyone else. O n July

13,

he flew to H umber B ay and circle d the CN E grounds be fore returning to the

Tre the wey field (which can l ay clain1 to being Toronto's first airp ort) . The flight of twenty n1iles 1vas made in twen ty-eight ininutes, the n1onoplane at a h e ight of betwee n

1, 5 00

and

2, 000

fe et at

70

n1iles per h o u r.

Although not the first to fly i n Turonto , de Lesseps had accon1plished the first long-distance flight i n the city. The twe nty-seven-year-old Frenchman was the toast of the city that sun1 n1er, the l o cal n1edia n1aking n1uch of the blosson1ing ro1nance between the aviator and Grace Mackenzie, the daughter o f Sir Will ian1

Blerio! in Noya/ Flying Co1jJS.

19

ON C ANA D I AN W ING S

A C E N T U RY

O F

FLIGHT

Mackenzie, 1vh o owned the city's s tree tcar co1npany. The couple were n1arrie d and n1oved i n to the fa 1nily mansion, Beneve n u to, on Avenue Road. No slouch hersel f, G race becan1 e one o f the first C a nadian women to fly when that sun1n1er she accon1panied her husband to the air n1eet at New Yo rk's Belmont Park and took the faithful

L e Seara.bee

o n a couple of circuits herself. The Ble riot was l ater sold to H .A . Somerville of

Mon treal and disappeared from public attention . De Lesseps returned to France during the First World War, j oining the French Air Force and defe nding Paris against Zeppelins, con1pleting a total o f ninety-five bomb i ng raids b e fo re the war ended. He came h o n1e decorated with l e C roix de Guerre and the Legion o f Hono ur; after the war he l i ve d i n Rosedale w ith his wife and four children, but he kept i n touch with his air force coll e agues and dabbled i n flying. In 1 926, the aviator was hired by l a Compagnie aerienne franco-canadienne to photograph the G aspe region for cartography purposes, and sadly, on October 1 8, 1 927, he and his co-pilot disappeared in bad weather over the St. Lawrence. De Lesseps's body eventually washed up on the Newfoundland coast, and he was buried in the Gaspe cemetery on December 1 4, 1 927. The gallant Frenchman who captured the hearts of Canadians in 1 91 0 is con1memorated in this city, i n a wonderfully evocative monument sculpted by H enri H ebert.

20

n the sumn1er of 1913, Montreal was in the midst of a newspaper war. The upstart 1\!Iontrc{{l Umly Mml \Vas fighting the established Montreal Star for readers. In an effort to increase circulation, the J\!Inil ran photo spreads of royal weddings, got hun1orist Stephen Leacock to ·write letters praising it, and e v en serialized a ron1antic novel for won1en. Then the Mail's editor hit on a publicity stunt - why not have the n1orning edition delivered by air directly to the country's leaders in Ottawa: the pri1nc minister, the Right Honourable

R.L.

Borden, and the leader of the Opposition, the Right Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier? Mont rcalc rs

were fan1iliar with exhibition f lights, son1e having seen Count de Lesseps's Bleriot at the aerial n1eet two years before, but this was different. It would be using aviation, the paper said, for "Canadian ent e rp rise." Ma x Lillie ran a flying school/clubhouse at Chicago's Cicero Field, where exhibition aviators like Lincoln Beachey, Glenn Martin, and Willian1 C. Robinson met. Dissatisfied with the frail V\'right pushers available, one of his students, Chance Vought , designed a tractor biplane \vith a staggered wing. Its P rcnch 50-ho rsrpowcr engine had been built by the Societe Des Moteurs Gnon1e and featu red a stationary crankshaft, a round which the cylinders rotated when running. Air-cooled and lubricated with castor oil, the Gnome was high-torqu ed,

A C E N T U RY

ON CANADIAN WINGS

O F

FLIGHT

noisy, and teinperan1 enta1. The Vou ght/ Lillie airplane was test-flown by Robinso n at Cicero Field , and when he v,ras contacted by the

Niail,

he brought it to M o ntreal by train.

---

�

Z�l!llll�u 3

Vo ught/Lillie bip!alle. The paper planned the intercity fl ight with care. Publicized as the

"Mail's

own b ird1nan , 11 Robinson was to

fly copies of the newspaper o n October 8, 191 3, fron1 Snowdon J u nction in M o n treal West to Lansdowne Park at the O ttawa exhibition grounds. Mu ch of h is account would also be ghostwritten , the Mail's e ditor n o t wanting tru th t o get i n the way o f a good s tory . O n takeo ff fron1 Snowdon Junction, the aviator would over­ fly Fletcher's Field i n downtown Montreal, where the

Mail

e nsured that crowds would b e gathere d, and the n

head west for O ttawa . The Vou ght/ Lilli e h a d the e nd u rance t o make O ttawa i n fo u r stages, s o i t w o u l d re fu el en route i n the villages o f St. A n n e de Bellevue, Choisy, Cal e donia Springs, and Leonard Stati o n . Gasoline a n d castor oi1 were s e n t ahead t o be stored at these landi ng fields, which would also b e marked with

22

V o u ght / L i ll i e l arge white cotton crosse s twenty yards i n le ngth. Circulars were distributed

warning

farn1ers ci long the

that a " real aeroplane" would be con1 i ng down in those fields and to keep their animcils ou t.

Robinson

route

was

navigate by the " iron con1pass" - i . e . he would follow the Canadian Pacific Raihvciy t racks to Ottawci and

to

then

look for the exhibition grounds. O n the great day, Robinson and his 111echanic, Frank Burns, were still work ing on the Vough t Lillie at Snowdon Junction when Montreal Mayor Louis A. Lavellee arrived at 8 : 00 a . 111. by auton1obile. Like n1ost of the audience, he had neve r seen an aircraft actually take off b e fore and said that he was very exci ted. Standing before the grey b iplane, the mayor n1ade a spe ech wishing the

Daily J\1ai l

a long life. The n , "do n ni ng

o il-skins a n d a leather cap, " Robinson got i nto the a ircraft . Copies of the newspaper we re handed to h i 1n the editor. As the e ngine was started, the

Mail's

by

reporter wrote :

Willing men rush e d up and shoved the huge b iplane fo rward. The revolutions grew faster and faster, cau sing the spe cta tors to be e nveloped in a cloud o f dust .. . the aviator turned and shouted one last word to his mechanic as the aero plane lurched fo rward . .. i t looked as though the aviator vvas go i ng to be dashed against a fence but i t left the ground and gracefully shot into the air . . . higher and higher he rose.

Robinson lifte d off at 9 : 50 a . n1. and inade for the Lake of T\vo Mountains. Walking to his car, the n1ayor prophesied, "The fligh t is a good augu ry of the success of the

Daily Jviail."

Perhaps nervous about the Gnon1e

e ngine or about wasti ng tin1e, Robinson decided not to circle the city (as the

1\10.il

had pro111ised he would)

b u t to make d irectly for Ottawa . But hardly had the editor gotten to his office when he re ceived the news that the aircra ft had l anded j ust outside the city, in the suburb of Lachine. I ts gasoline pipe had developed a leak, and Robinson had put

down

at the Belange r Farn1, east of the C P R bridge at H ighlands Station. Fortunately, the faithful B urns had bee n following by car and actually saw the aircraft , as he told the n e v.rspape1� "vol planning . " The l eak was fixed, and Robinson was i n the air o nce rnore, getting to a he ight he es tin1ated at fifteen hundred feet. He l anded at St. Anne de Bellevue shortly afte r noon and, while re fuelling, asked a won1an to get hin1 a sa ndwich. it was off M o n tre al I sland to Choisy (a passenger train had passe d him at St. An ne,

but

he caught up

at Choisy) and across the Ontario border to Caledonia Spri ngs. Landing th ere at 2 : 4 5 p . 111.

with it

Robinson l e ft

aircraft as it was being refuelled and 'iven t to the C P R hotel, whe re he drank the n1incral wa tc1

23

Then

the

for whi( h thf'

A C E N TU R Y

ON CANADIAN WINGS

tovn1 v.rc1s re nowned . He arr ive d at the last sto p, Le o nard S tation , at

4: 10

O F

FLIGHT

p . n1 . and was n1et by aviatio n

e nthusiast George Conway, who had drive n fron1 Montreal to help with the refu elling. At 4:30 p. n1. the biplane was o nce inore in the air, bearing for Ottawa. Low cloud had e nveloped Rob inso n nlost o f the way, son1 e tin1es n1aking it difficult to see the railway lin e s, b u t i t cleared u p fron1 Leonard Station o nwa rd. "The first knowledge I had of the capital was the b ig bend i n the river and the Parlian1 e n t b u ildings, " Robinson wou l d tell the half n1ile track. " In

Mail.

1913,

"Th e n

I

discerned the Chateau Laurier. The exhib i tion gro un d s I located by the

the area of Ottawa between the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River was still rural;

the n1ost pron1inent landn1ark would have been the Scholasticate, a compl ex of buildings b elonging to a reli­ gious order, and Robinson would have u se d them to find Lansdowne Park o n th e other side o f the canal. H e flew over both the river a n d the canal a n d p repared t o land. But the closer h e caine t o the exhib ition grou nds the n1ore people he saw spread out over the field . " I thought it not very safe so I wheeled aro u n d and went back across the canal . " He inade i nstead for fanner Bern ard Slattery's field on the other side o f the canal. Then disaster aln1ost struck. "Just as I was landing . . . there was a horse in the field and as I came down the animal can1e in fron t of n1e. I had to raise one wing and n1ake a very sharp t u rn to n1iss striking it . " By coincidence, Slattery's fiel ds had b e e n u sed a s a runway b e fore. I n

1911,

b e cause the exhib ition

grou nds at Lansdowne were too crowded, aviators Lee H a111mond 1 flying Thon1as S . Baldwin's Re d-Devil biplane, and Georges Mestach, flying a Borel M orane n1onoplane, had both brought their aircraft to it. When he landed on the farmer's field, Rob inson calculated that he had covered the Montreal to Ottawa in 2 hours,

55

115

miles fro111

n1i n u te s flying time. He was driven to the Chateau Laurier while copies of

the newspape r were delivered to Lau r ier and Bord e n . When asked abo u t the fligh t , i n an excl u sive interview Robi nson tol d the

Ottawa Mail

correspondent, "The ride was pleasant . . . i t is l ike riding o n a b ig locomotive

in a way for yon feel the throbbi ng of the e ngine as you float throu gh the air so sn1oothly that the sensa tio n is a soothing one. 11 A week l ater, Robinson flew ove r the Experi111e ntal Farn1 and the Parliainent b uildings b e fore retu rning to Slattery's field . This tin1e he was not as fortun ate, and an u nrecord e d 111ishap occurred tha t res u l ted in Robinson and the aircraft being sent back to Montreal by train. The

Mail

n1ilked the whole experience for as n1u ch as i t could, eve n getting Laurier to e ndorse the e vent.

But it was soon yeste rday's news. H aving carried out the first co111 n1ercial intercity and inte rprovincial flight in Canadian h istory, Robinson and the aircraft would d isappear into the exhibition c ircuit. With i n a year, w ith the start of the Great War, both the

lvJ mtreal Daily Mail

and the

24

Montreal Sta r

would have inore tha n enough

V o u gh t / L i ll i e to fill their pages. The flight itself v,rould later be con1n1en1orated in a painting by forn1cr CanadC1 Aviation Museum Director

R.W.

Bradford.

But the biplane was to be only the first of Chance Vought's innovative designs, and from his con1pany would en1erge aircraft such as the

F4U

gull-winged Corsair and the B-2 bomber. Slattery's fields remained

rural until the 1950s, when Ontario Hydro built a substation on the spot where the first flights took place. A plaque on the wall of the substation, erected by the Canadian Aviation Historical Society, commen1orates the flights with these words:

I n this area, once a cow pasture, the first aeroplane flights occurred in the Ottawa Regi on. Between Septemb er 1 1 th and 1 4th, 1 91 1 , Lee Hammond, flying a biplane, performed before crowds attending the Central Canada Exhib ition. On October 8th 1 91 3, William C . Robinson landed at Slattery's Field after flying from Montreal. The first flight b e tween two Canadian cites. Both pilots had to contend with cows &

horse which shared this crude airfield.

ff!illiam C. Robinson1 pilot, in the cockpit of his Vought/Lillie bijJlrme during ht�,, ii/on/real

25

01/mt·a Jl(v,hl.

ON CANADIAN WINGS

A C E N T U RY

OF

FL I G H T

-

A rtist's depiction of Burgess-Dun1ie1 Canada s first

26

m

ilita1T a ircraft.

nvalided hon1e fr01n the Boer War, Lieutenant John Dunne spent his tin1e writing fanciful books on f light and designing "heavier than air" n1achines. In 1905, the Royal Balloon Factory at Farnborough contracted hin1 to build kites that could lift a n1an into the air, an idea that the n1ilitary thought cou1d be useful for battlefield observation. The resourceful Dunne took the idea a step further with a hang-g1id­ er. Sporting swept-back wings, it was aerodynamically far ahead of its tin1e but con1pletely unstab1e and prone to crash landings. Dunne added a 25-horsepower engine, enough to drive two pusher prope11crs, and a four-wheel landing gear. Even with this, the strange aircraft n1ade no 1nore than a few hops into the air, and the governn1ent soon lost interest in it. But aviation has never lacked for investors willing to throw good n1oney after bad, and the Short Brothers took up the contraption, al1owing Dunne to pursue his cxper­ in1ents at their workshop on the Isle of Sheppey. By 1910, he had graduated to his fifth n1odel

-

now

with

acco1nn1odation for a pilot and observer, a 60-horsepower engine, vertical fins on the wing tips, and ailerons for better control. Dunne den1onstrated this at Farnborough in March 1914, but by then there

were

A C E N T U RY

ON CANADIAN WINGS

O F

FLIGHT

so 1nany conventional aircraft ava i l abl e that no one wanted a w eird, tailless b iplane that n e e d e d c o n stan t adj u stn1 ents t o the rigging. His aircraft n1ight have vanished into obscurity had not the B urgess C o n1pany o f Marblehead, Massachu setts, an A1nerican b oat builder, taken it up. Guessing that tho se crashe s were b e cause the aircraft was susceptibl e to crosswinds on l a nding, they ren1ade it as a seaplane, replacing the wheels with a single float and installing a powerful Curtiss OXX-2 e ngine. Now cal l e d the Burgess-Dunne, it was a o ne-off aircraft, and the con1pany l ooked for cust01ners. Once n1ore the oddity might have vanished into h istory except for Toronto aircraft e n thusiast Ernest Lloyd Janney. I t was Septen1ber

1914,

a nd the G reat War was i n its e n th usiastic phase with the first contin­

gent o f the Canadian Expeditionary Force (C E F) hurriedly asse1nbl ing at Val cartier, Quebec, to go overseas b e fore it could end. Even b efore the hostilities, many air e nthusiasts had unsuccessfu lly attempted to con­ vince the C anadian government to fonn an air corps. Son1ehow Janney talked the Departn1ent o f Militia and Defe nce, and especially its controversial 1ninister, Sain H ughes, i nto doing j ust that - naturally with himself as its con1mander. H ughes granted commissions in the Canadian Aircraft Corps to Janney and to W. Sharpe, a native o f Prescott, Ontario, who had l e arned to fly the year before at the C urtiss School i n Texas. The min­ ister also authorized a sizeable expenditure o f $ 5 , 000 for the purchase of an aircraft . Janney wanted to be o n the first C E F convoy t o Britain, rightly suspecting that the erratic H ughes could change h i s min d about the CAC at anytime. He had heard o f the B u rgess-Dunne and rush e d to Massachusetts with cheque in hand, arriving a t the Marblehead workshop o n Septe1nber 1 2 . Whe n the aircraft was de1n on strated o n Septemb e r 17 h e bought i t , despite warni ngs fron1 t h e manufacturer that t h e e ngine n e e de d t o b e overhauled. The n h e inade fo r Quebec City. No one had the n flown across country at such l ength, but Janney insisted that he fly to Valcartier in1me­ diately to catch the convoy. The Burgess Cmnpany disassembled the plane at its own expense and shipped it by rail across the b order to Lake Champlain. Fro n1 there, o n Septen1b er 21, with Janney as a passe nger, con1pany pil ot Clifford Webster flew it to Sorel , Quebec. Foll owing the St. Law re nce River, they made it a s far a s Cha1nplain, Quebec, before t h e e ngine d i e d o f exhausti o n . The aircraft was the n transported the re1nainder o f the way to Val cartier by road. The Burgess-Dunne was l oaded onto the SS

Athenia

and, presumably b e cause there was no time to take

it apart, l ashed on deck. Predictably, whe n it arrived in England, it was battered out of shape from the rough seas.

In

whatever forn1 , it was shipped to the C en tral Flying School at Uphavon for trials, b u t there it rotted

28

B u rgess - D u nne away, never to be flow n . The CAC disappeared too, as neither th e British no r the Canz1Cl ian wanted a nything to do with it ( o r Janney) . Sharpe transferred to the Royal

Flying

Corps a n d

governments

cliccl in a crash

i n February 1 9 1 5 . B u t that was n o t the e n d o f the irrepressible Janney. H e re tu rned t o Canada i n Janu ar y 1 9 1 5 a n d opened a private flying school at Lawrence Park, Turonto . H ow that fared is not known, b u t wh e n th e RoyC1l Canadian Naval Air Service was begun in Septen1ber 1 9 1 8 , he was one of its first cadets. Th e

Burgess-Dunnc,

O ttawa's fi rs t aircraft purchase, like Janney, pl ayed an i 111portant, i f confused, part in Canadi a n history .

Bu rgess-IJ 1t ""e iJI .flight.

29

ON C A N A D I A N W I N G S

A C E NTU R Y

O F

FLIGHT

Bleriot E:>-vp erimental 2 .

30

n June

191 4

the entire Royal Flying Corps - all seve n h u nd re d 111en and thi rty airc raft - assembled a t

Netheravon o n the Salisbury Plain. They were to b e the B ritish Arn1y 1 s aerial scouts and artillery spot­ ters, a definite ii11prove111ent over the observation bal l oons then used. The highlight of the ca n1 p was the a rrival of the l atest ve rsion of the Bleriot Experin1ental

2.

M aj o r S e fton B rancke r flew one ove r fron1

the factory at Farnbo rough and, o n landing, told the assen1bly that he had take n off, clil11bed to two thousand fe et, and the n so stable was it that he had occupied hin1self with writi ng a reconnaissance report u ntil Salisbury Plain appe are d below his wings. Brancker (destined to be a n1aj o r-general and the directo r of civil aviation) paid a tribute to the B E2's reliability for allowing hin1 to do this . News that an Austro-H u ngarian archduke h a d b e e n assassinated so111ewh e re on the continent caused the exe rcise to break up, no o n e guessing that t h e first war for a i r superiority was abo u t t o begi n . T h e Bleriot Experime ntal 2 had b e e n shown t o the public in August

1 91 2

i n the first Mil i ta ry Ae ropl ane

C ontest held at Larkhill on Sal isbury Plai n, England. Flmv n by its designe r, the you ng Geoffrey d e 1-l a v i l land, and carrying a passenger, it clin1be d to

1 0, 560

feet ·with a l oad o f 450 pou nds, b e nt i ng out all competitors. The

ON CANADIAN WINGS

A C E N T U RY

OF

FLIGHT

aircraft1s Renault 70-horsepower e ngine gave i t a n1ax in1 un1 speed o f 80 n1iles per h o u r, and control was by \.vingwarping. But later n1odel s - the A, B, and C - would h ave staggered wings, ailerons o n b oth the upper and l ower, and built-up cockpit coan1ings. They were the ulti mate i n reconna issance soundness - a n d as a resul t would suffer terribly when air fighting b egan i n 1 91 5 . That it was a Bleriot-inspired design was n o t surp risi ng, fo r at the tilne the French l e d i n all things aero­ nautical. The French the mselves considered the Bleriot outdated, and the new escadrilles of the French Arn1y were flying Nieuports i nstead. But the British government was sufficiently impressed in 1 91 2 to orde r that the B E 2 b e buil t at the Royal Aircraft Factory. Official acceptance came when they were flown i n the great naval review at Spithead. They so impressed King George V that through his i n fl u e nce and that o f Winston Churchill, the young first Lord o f the Adn1iralty 1 all " naval minded" aviators i n the RFC were p er­ mitted to forn1 the Royal Naval Air Service with the B E 2 as the 111ain aircraft . In April 1 91 4 , whe n the king went to France, the royal yacht

Albert and Vic toria

was escorted by B E 2 s of the RNAS. The RNAS was not

constrained, as the RFC was, to buying o nly aircraft b uil t at the Royal Aircraft Factory ; they p u rchased their BE2s fro111 p rivate firn1s, in this case H ewle tt and Blondeau. Whe n B ritain e ntered the war, the BE2 was the RFC 's n1ainstay, and on August 1 1 , 1 91 4 , the first Royal Flying C orps aircraft to land on French soil was a BE2a flown by Lieute nant H . D . H arvey-Kelly. I n 1 91 5 , aerial warfare changed rap idly over the front when the Gennans i ntro duced the Fokker E-1 1 1 , or Eindekker. With its fixed synchronized n1achine gun, it could attack Allied aircraft from any a ngle, and RFC l osses escalated, with a corresponding drop in morale by the soldiers in the tre nches. By n ow reconnaissance aircraft had beco me prize targets for the German Fokkers, and the RFC devised forward-firing 111ountings for a Lewis gun o n the BE2s. There were several C an adians in the RFC flying B E2s, attempting to cope with the Fokkers a ny way they could. Alan Duncan Bell-Irving, later to bec0111e Canada's first air ace, was then flying a BE2c in 7 Squadron, and on Septen1ber 20 he h ad a narrow escape. The n1ost famo u s C an adian air ace of the m all , W.A . " Billy" B ishop, trained on BE2s before he came to the front to fly Nieuports. As RFC squadrons received n1ore lethal n1achines, their BE2s were handed d own to training schools or the colonial air forces on other fronts. I n 1 91 6 , 1 7 Squadron's BE2s were sent to the Middle East to equip the first Australian Flying Corps squ adro n . O n Decen1ber 1 1 , 1 91 6 , Cap tain Loudon Pierce Watkins of 95 Breadalbane Street, Toronto , repo rted t o the I I0111e Defence Squadro n at G oldhanger, Essex. The aircraft he was assigned was #661 0 , a B E 1 2 with a Dain1ler e ngine - a more p owerful version o f the B E 2 . O n the 111orn i ng of J un e 1 7, 1 91 7, Watkins and his

32

B1

e r

iot

Expe r

i

111

e

11

ta1

2

observer, Lieu tenan t C .W. Wridgeway, were patrolling over Harwich whe n he sighted a Ze ppel i n . part o f a fl igh t o f two Zeppelins fro111 Nordholz heading fo r London. Harried by fight e rs,

L4 2

bombs over Ran1sgate and n1ade for hon1e, and the cre'.v of L48 inu st have wished the same. eleven thousand fe e t whe n h e spotted the shape far above hin1 . H e p ulled back

the�

It

was

L4 B ,

d rop ped its

\Va t k i ns

was a t

s tick, and the

BE1

2

cli mb e d slowly to 1 1 , 500 feet, at which point he fired o ff a drmn of incendiary bullets, but to no e ffect. H e cli n1bed h igher still , firing down to his last dn1 n1 . There were now two other 111achi n es with h i n1 . The re

was

an explosion , and 148 sank stern first, covered in flan1es. It crashe d near Holly Tree Farn1 , Theb re to n, Suffolk, and incredibly, three of its crew survived to be taken prisoner. Awarded the Mil i tary Cross, Wa tkins was posted to France with 1 48 Squadron, the n flying FE2bs. On Don1inion Day 1 91 8 , on a night bo111bi ng raicl, he and his observer ( the sa111e Wridgeway) crashed on takeo ff, and Watki ns was kill e d . As for the B E 2 , once the pride o f the RFC, i t was last u s e d in con1bat over the Dardenell es - a n old warhorse that b elonged to the days whe n gentle111en aviators did not fire at each other and war was still chival rous. 0 z c

- ... - � ....

Bleriol E\jJerimenlal

33

2.

A

Century

of

Flight

Courtesy of DND

ON CANADIAN WINGS

De Havilland 4 aircraft oj the Canadian Air Board preparing to make an airmail flight to Toronto.

34

he D H 4 had n1any firsts: it began the long l i ne of De H avilland tractor a ircraft; lt was the only British aircraft to be b uilt in l arge nu 1nbers in the Un ited States; and post-v.rar, n1any o f then1 would b ecome the b asis of the U nited States Arn1y Air Corps (USAAC) and would be used in shaping th e U . S . ainn ail service. I n Canada, the D H 4 also equipped the en1bryonic Canadian Air Force, as it would the Belgian, G reek, Japanese, and Spanish air a rms. The fo u rth a ircraft b u ilt by Geoffrey de H avilland (and the last at his old en1ploye1� Airco) had i ts o rigins in 1 91 6 whe n the Royal Flying Corps wanted a dependable day bon1ber. The value of tact i cal bon1b ing was j u st being appreciated, and this was to be the first British aircraft designed specifically for that purpose. l ts distinctive "auton1obile radiator" 1 6 0-horsepower B H P engine vvas the creation o f three men: S i r

\'\'il l iam

Beardn1ore, Frank H al fo rd, and T. C . Pulinger. When serious producti on problen1s developed, a varict v of o ther e ngines, fron1 the Fiat to the Sunbea1n to the An1erican Liberty , were substitu ted, b u t none was better tha n the su perb 2 50-ho rsepower Rolls Royce Eagle engine, soon to power Alcock and B row n's V icke rs V i n1y across the Atlantic O cean .

ON CANADIAN WINGS

A C E N T U RY

O F

Whatever the p ower plant, the Airco

FLIGHT DH

4 is acknowl edged as

the best bon1ber in the First World Wai� I t was pleasa nt to fly, light on the controls, and its tailplane could be adj u sted by a hand wheel so that the pilot could trin1 the a ircraft i n fligh t . Lateral co ntrol was by a stick, which had the trigger mech anisn1 for the gu ns. It differed fron1 the older aircraft in that the fuselage was covered with plywood fron1 the nose to behind tl1 e observer's cock­ pit, which disp ensed with the internal b racing that fabric needed. The two cockpits were far apart to give the pilot a good downward and forward view for bmnb ain1ing and the gunner/ observer a good field o f fire for his Lewis guns. The aircraft was u sed exten­ sively for strafing the tren ches (the word Gennan exp ressio n

s trafe

" Gott s trafe England, "

derived fron1 the

or "May God p u n ish

E ngland 11) . I ts under-fuselage and u n der-wing b o mb racks had a capacity for 460 pounds o f b o 1nbs, allowing the RFC to use the D H

Major D. R. Maclaren with DH 9 aircraft Leicester.

4

i n such operations as the Rai d on Zeebrugge a nd the sinking o f

U-boats. The b o mb ing raids at the front were usu ally about fifteen

to twe nty n1i1es behind the enemy lines and consisted o f high explosives or incendiaries that the p il ot released by a toggle and cable mech anisn1 outside his cock pit . Pinpricks when compared with the dan1 age that bmnbers infl icted in the next war, these were inore for 1norale purposes and usually preceded a "push . 11 The observer played a big part i n the o peratio n of the

DH 4 . H e

was trained to be a substitute pilot, a n d

stowed in h i s cockpit was a con trol column with dual rudder bars. M ost

DH

4 pilots taught their obse rve rs to

fly as soon as p ossible in case they were hit, and there were several i nstances of observers bringing the air­ craft back . The distance between the two cockpits was a fundan1ental weakness i n co1n n1unication - a t least before the use o f the G osport tube - that n1ade the aircra ft vulnerable to air attack. Tu overcome this, inany D I I 4 pilots equipped their aircraft with an auton1 ob il e-type rear-view n1i rror to kee p an eye o n their

observers, with whmn they con1111unicated through sign language. Many Canadians fl ew the

DH

4 during the F irst World Wai� the n1ost fain o u s flight o ccurring on August

5 , 1 9 1 0 , when the you ng Captain Robert Leckie, flyi ng as an observer with Maj o r Egb ert Cadb u ry, shot down the prid e of the Gennan Naval A i rship Services, the Zeppelin L70 .

36

De

H a v i lland

4

Post-war, the fortunes o f th e D H 4s w ere n1ore n1undane. I n 1 9 1 8, the Canadian gove rnn1ent accepted t ro rn King George V a gift o f ten D H 4s to begin a national air force. Anxious to de1nonstrate the variety o f ro l es that aircraft could perforn1, the governn1ent dispersed the planes across the

2 c. � �

country on forestry, fishery, and photographic survey inissions. Son1e of the D H 4 s were based at Morley, Alberta, t o patro] over the Rocky M o u ntain Forest Reserve; it was in one o f these, G-CYBV, that ex-RFC piJot Lieutenant Willian1 Shields n1et his death. Whe n taking o ff for a forestry patrol on August 1 , 1 9 2 1 , he began a clin1b ing turn b efore he had attained sufficient air­

A irco De Hal 'illand 4.

speed and slipped sideways to the ground.

I n the United States, the D ayton-Wright Airplane Con1pany and the Fisher Body Corporation n1ade 3 , 227 D H 4s powere d with Lib erty engines. By 1 9 1 8 , these equipped thirtee n An1erican squadrons. They becan1e the inainstay o f the post-war United States Arn1y Air Corps and starred in several long-distance flights. On August 2 9 , 1 91 9 , M aj o r J . W. Silnons of the U . S . Air Corps fl ew one fron1 Toronto to New York City in thre e h ours, forty-fo ur ininutes. On April 1 5, 1 920, Lieutenant-Colonel H . E . Hartney and Captain H .T. Douglas con­ nected the two capitals by air, ] anding their DH 4 at Bowesville airfield (now Upl ands) in Ontari o . That sa me sum111 e 1� fou r Air Corps DH 4s, as part o f the first Alaska Air Expedition, fl ew fron1 Ne\v York to N01ne, A]aska . They arrived at M cClelland Field in Saskatoo n on J uly 25 and at Edn1onton's McCall Field on J uly 2 7 . Landing at Jasper, Alberta, Prince George and H azelton, British Colun1bia, and Dawson City, Yukon, on the way h0111e 1 the DH 4s would give n1any Canadians their first view of a n aircraft. The DH 4 was a hard act to follow. It was so good that when its su ccessor, the De Havilland 9 , was bu ilt critics thought it a fai]u re. The DH 9's din1ensions were sin1ilar1 and the pilot and gunner were closer, bu t it had n o ne of the speed, ceiling, or stab il ity of its p redecessor. It c01nplen1entecl but never fu lly re placed th e D H 4 . As part o f the llnperia] G i ft, twelve D H 9As were given to Canada . Three o f the 111 would be involved in the fi rst trans-Canada flight, and one, G-CYBF, would be used in the final leg and land in Va ncouver. Th e D H 9 As would ren1ain in RCAF service u ntil 1 9 2 7 .

37

ON CANADIAN WINGS

A C ENT U R Y

O F

FLIGHT

c z c

One of the two "Brisfits " that came to Canada.

38

any Canad ians flew the " B risfi t" in the Royal Flying Corps, but first an1ong the m was econd Lieutenant Andrew E dward McKeever fron1 Listowel , Ontari o . M c Keever j o i ned the RFC in 1 91 6 , and within a year, he and his observer, Second Lieutenant Leslie Archibald Powell, flying a Bristol Fighter, had accounted for twe n ty-eight enen1y aircra ft. Frank Barnwell, B ristol 's chief designer, was a capta i n i n the B ritish anny; fortunately, i n August

1

9 1 5 he

was sent h01ne to design aircraft. The resul t was one of the o utstanding inili tary planes o f the cby: the Bristol Fighter. It was large, heavy, and sluggish on the ailerons, bu t it was the first two-sea t fighter that the Royal Flying Corps used. The B risfi t 1nade its deb u t during " Bloody April 11 1 91 7, the period when the RFC's single-seat figh t e rs were b e i ng severely n1auled by the latest Ge rn1an Albatross D-I l l s. Co1npared w i th single-sea t figh ters l ike the Can1e l and Pup, the Brisfit was huge - it had a wingspan of thirty-nine fee t and a l oaded \vcigh t of t w c n ty­ e ight hundred pounds. The n1ost noticeable differe n ce between the it and conven tional two-scaters was tha t now the pil o t a n d observer/gun n e r '"''ere seated back to back, giving the l a tter a good field o f vision - except fo r d i rectly astern o r below the ai rcraft.

ON CANADIAN WINGS

A C E N T U RY

O F

FLIGHT

H eavily arn1ed, it was to be a flying gun turret, with a . 3 03 Vickers forward firing thro ugh the propelle r and twin Lew i s . 303 guns n1o unted o n a Scarff ring o n the rear cockpit. With such arman1ent, RFC p ilots were con fused: should the pilot fly to give his observer the best opportun ities or should he fly it as a conventional fighter and use the observer to protect his rear? What gave the aircraft its power was the 2 75-horsepower Rolls Royce Falcon I I I . An in-li n e, water-cooled e ngine, it was gratefully received by RFC p ilots who had su f­ fered years o f rotary engines. A top speed o f 1 25 mile s per hour made it a formidable opponent, and because o f its weight it could dive faster than any other aircraft . As a result, p ilots chose to fly their mach i nes as single-engined fighters, a tactic that served to kill many o f their observers, who had to stand up a n d bring t�1eir gun to bear on pursui ng ene1ny fighters without an e ngine to protect then1 . E scaping a p u rsuer was a problen1 , for although the Brisfit was fast, it was heavy at the ailerons and couldn't twist and turn quickly . I t also took a l o t o f muscular energy to move - o ne could al ways tell a Brisfit p ilot b y his b ulging biceps. While the Brisfit ren1ained in p roduction u ntil 1 9 2 6 and in RAF service u ntil 1 9 3 2 , o nly two caine to Canada as part of the I n1perial Gift. After the Arn1istice, Brisfit ace Andrew M c Keever, appointed com1nanding o fficer of No . l Squadron of the Canadian Air Force, adopted o ne o f the two Bristol Fighters as his p e rsonal aircraft . Whe n demob ilized h e son1 chow 1nanaged to keep it, and the old warho rse appeared i n the civil register as G-CYBC . Unhappily, McKeeve r was killed in a car crash on December 26, 1 9 1 9 .

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Brist � I F2Bs in flight.

40

n 1 9 8 2 , the docun1entary

The Kid Who Couldn 't Miss

provoked 1nore controve rsy than a ny o th e 1 th,l t

the N a t i o n al F i l n1 B o ard had ever d o n e . I t i n1 p l i e d that Willian1 Avery Bishop h a d fab ricated his military exploits, in p articular th e dawn airfield raid for which he had been awarded th e Victoria C ross. I n extricably linked with this was Bishop's aircraft , the Nieuport 1 7 . Gusta v Delage designed h is first Nieuport in 1 91 4 , modelled after a pre-war Gordon Bennett rc1 ce r. With a single Lewis firing over the top o f the wing, the N ieuport 1 1 was so s111all that the Fre nch p ress C..p ress flying on October 131 1996. The first Gl obal Express fl e w on O ctobe r

1 3,

1 99 6 , a n d e ntered service i n July 1 9 9 9 , setting seven new

world re cords in two weeks as p a rt of its per forn1ance fl ight p l a n . B etwee n M ay 1 a n d M ay 1 5 , producti o n

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a ircraft s/ n 9 0 1 4 n1ade o n e U . S . tra n s co n t i n e ntal a n d six ocean c rossi ngs, incl u d ing two Atb n tic Paci fic crossi ngs. The n1ost re111arkable fligh t , o n e pilo t con1 m e n t e d , was fron1 H i i ton

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