History of aviation in Canada
Encyclopedia
The history of aviation in Canada was punctuated by the two World Wars. Development of the aviation industry in Canada was shaped by the interplay of Canadian national ambitions, national and international politics, economics, and technology.
Experimental aviation started in Canada with the test flights of Bell's
Silver Dart
in 1909, following the epochal flight of the Wright Brothers
in 1903. The experimental phase gave way to use of aircraft in warfare and many Canadians served in the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force during the First World War.
After the war, aircraft turned from an expensive novelty into a vital transportation tool, particularly useful in exploration and development of Canada's North. Canadians who had served with the RAF put their acquired aviation skills to peacetime use. Aviation was soon applied to the peacetime problems of tying together far-flung communities in the North, and of gathering information on the natural resources of the country. Aircraft were as important to opening up the North as the railway was to opening the West in the previous century. Between the wars many small airlines were founded, including the ancestors of the current national carrier, with rapid growth in passenger and air freight traffic.
World War II forced more technological development and brought Canadian industry into the vangard of aircraft manufacture. Canadian airspace and facilities provide training for more than one hundred thousand Commonwealth aircrew, and the wartime facilities supported growing commercial aviation.
The jet age brought air travel into the lives of many Canadians, displacing passenger rail
. Deregulation of airlines brought forth new competitors to the pre-war airlines. Thin operating margins and agressive competition led to periodic booms and failures. Deregulation
of airlines permitted greater competetition with less government control, but left the industry open to rapid and disruptive changes.
Today aviation is an integral part of the Canadian economy. Scheduled airline passenger service, air mail and air freight connect Canadian cities and cities around the world. General aviation provides medical evacuation, air photography, and support for resource development.
visited Canada in August 1930, overflying both Montreal and Toronto; a mooring mast was constructed and used only for this one occasion. After the crash of the R101
, British airships no longer crossed the ocean and the mooring mast was demolished.
had organized the Aerial Experiment Association
for the development of aviation, which was funded by his wife Mabel Gardiner Hubbard
from sale of some of her real estate. AEA member Frederick Walker Baldwin was the first Canadian to pilot an aircraft in 1908, although not in Canada. The first piloted heavier-than-air flight in Canada was on February 23, 1909, when John Alexander Douglas McCurdy
piloted the AEA Silver Dart
over a flight of less than 1 kilometer.
McCurdy and Baldwin in August 1909 demonstrated Baddeck I, a second aircraft built in Canada, to Canadian military authorities at Camp Petawawa; Canadian military authorities at the time did not appreciate the potential of aircraft in warfare. McCurdy later flew a record-setting over water flight from Florida nearly to Cuba in 1910. A trial with flying newspapers from Montreal to Ottawa in 1913 ended in a crash.
and her sisters became the first Canadian women to fly; Mackenzie soon married her pilot, Count Jacques de Lesseps
. De Lesseps Field
near Toronto was named for the French aviator. (chapter 9) Aviation exhibitions were common in Canada until the outbreak of war. Generally American "barnstormers
" participated in Canadian events suh as fairs, where an exhibition of an airplane was an attraction due to its novelty; movement of aircraft and performers across ther border was virtually unregulated.
, Royal Naval Air Service
and (after April 1918) the Royal Air Force
) during the First World War, with more than 1500 killed. Notable Canadian pilots include Billy Bishop
, William George Barker
and Alan Arnett McLeod
, who were awarded the Victoria Cross
. more than 180 Canadian pilots achieved the designation "ace", with five or more credited victories. Canadian aircrew served in every operational theatre during WWI and in roles including air-to-air combat, bombing, air photography, and artillery spotting.
In 1915 the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
of New York set up a small plant in Toronto
for manufacture of the JN-4
training aircraft, managed by McCurdy. This factory also built 20 aircraft on pontoons, exported to Spain; this was the first export of aircraft built in Canada. The company was soon purchased by the Canadian government and operated as Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd.
. The Curtis factory was also associated with an aviation school, which graduated 129 pilots. (page 112) By the end of the war the factory had built 2900 aircraft, including an order of 1000 JN4s, completed in three months and shipped to the United States for pilot training on their entry into the war. Aircraft construction stopped at the end of the war.
In spite of the many Canadians in military aviation, the Canadian government had shown little interest in or ability to organize its own air force. Canadian politicians made no attempt to fund flight training, aircraft purchase, or construction of airfields. The Canadian Aviation Corps
, with only three members, was founded in 1914 by Sir Sam Hughes
, but was an inept and ineffective false start, never flying in combat and with its sole aircraft abandoned after a few months. A Canadian Air Force was established in 1918, but it was disbanded shortly after the end of the war. Not until 1920 was a permanent Air Force
established. Canadians seeking flight training, aside from a few who entered schools at Toronto and Vancouver, either had to travel to enlist in French or British air forces, or received training when the RAF set up schools in Canada in 1917. (page 112)
Very little civilian aviation occurred during the war, although exhibitions were given by American aviator Katherine Stinson
, included an air-mail delivery between Calgary and Edmonton. In eastern Canada exhibitions by Ruth Law
included races against automobiles.
and The Pas
. Although the total number of aviation companies, registered aircraft, and registered pilots then declined between 1920 and 1924, the freight carriage had increased greatly. Canadian aviation was slowly transforming from the experimental era to the commercial era.
At the end of the war the United States abandoned several surplus Curtiss HS
flying boats that had been used for antisubmarine patrols; these aircraft, donated to the Canadian government, were heavily used in the immediate post-war period. Sea planes could use lakes and rivers instead of airstrips, making them ideal for exploring remote regions. The flying boats were used both by the nascent RCAF, and by forestry companies seeking to patrol their logging areas for forest fires.
Aircraft manufacture re-started in 1923, when Canadian Vickers took on a contract to build eight flying boats for the new Air Force. de Havilland of England started building "Moth" aircraft in 1927. The Noorduyn company founded in 1933 produced the Noorduyn Norseman
which was used in bush flying
operations throughout Canada; the type was adopted by the US Army Air Force during WW II and many units were produced. War-surplus aircraft gave way to types specifically designed for civilian service. By the 1930s enclosed cabins greatly improved pilot and passenger comfort.
Although mail had been carried by air in various demonstrations thorughout the early 1920s, it was not until 1927 that the Post Office started regular use of air mail.
in 1923. The Aeronautics Act of 1919 established Federal control over aviation and gave the legislative authority for air regulations. All aviation, civil and military, was under Canadian Air Force (Royal Canadian Air Force) control until 1927. In 1936, the Canadian Privy Council decided In re Regulation and Control of Aeronautics in Canada
that aviation was subject to federal regulation. This later allowed the Department of Transport
to become the civil authority over aviation in 1936, taking over from the Department of National Defence.
(CPR) petitioned to start air service in 1919 but initially did not get involved in aviation. By 1930, Canada was one of the few countries without a national airline.
In Western Canada, Western Canadian Airways
was founded in 1926 by James Richardson
. The airline specialized in Northern operations, and was particularly noted for an airlift of materials and men for surveying associated with the port of Churchill
in 1927.
The effect of the Great Depression
was severe on the Canadian civil aviation industry. The Federal government did not wish to spend money on aviation while the economy was in poor condition. R.B. Bennett was famously quoted as saying he didn't want government-funded aircraft flying over farmers whose fields were blowing away around them. Government air mail contracts were cancelled, putting small aviation companies reliant on mail into finanical difficulty. Tasks such as air photography, transportation of police to Northern posts, air mail, and other civil operations, briefly in the hands of the private sector, were taken up by the RCAF to make it politically acceptable to continue funding it.
C. D. Howe
's role was critical in the founding of Trans-Canada Air Lines
in 1937. Rather like the railways of the preceding century, TCA was founded as the national cross-continent carrier to keep out foreign competitors, and was made a subsidiary of CNR. See main article Air Canada#History.
CPR was a part shareholder in Canadian Airways, and eventually CPR purchased Canadian Airways and other regional operations to form Canadian Pacific Air Lines in 1942. TCA, the government-controlled airline, was designated as the official trans-continental and international carrier by the Mackenize King government in 1943. For nearly forty years afterward, TCA and Air Canada befitted from government regulation of air routes, fares, and standards of service. Government regulation was thought to be essential to prevent destructive competition between TCA and Canadian Airways. The two airlines, TCA and Canadian Airlines/CP Air, would remain bitter commercial and political rivals for the rest of the 20th century.
was an urgent task for mapping remote regions of the country. War-surplus aircraft donated to Canada by the British and United States governments, or purchased by new private aviation companies, were the foundation of aerial survey and air photography in Canada. During the interwar period extensive air mapping was carried out by the RCAF. Mapping of remote regions from the air was valuable in developing forestry and mining resources in Canada's North. The operational experience gained during this time was a foundation of Commonwealth Air Training Program during World War II.
, KLM, Deutsche Luft Hansa
, Air France
and others) for reasons of national prestige, security and commerce. The United Kingdom founded Imperial Airways
with the mandate of tying together the far-flung regions of the British Empire, providing air mail and passenger services for overseas British and allied territories. In the United States conditions - a large land mass, uniform language and culture, large and growing population, and good flying conditions - favored rapid growth of private airlines and many regional airlines grew and looked to expand traffic to Canada and Latin America. In the United States, Pan American World Airways
became unofficially virtually the national flag carrier, being given preferential support by the American government in its negotiations with other governments to carry air traffic.
Conditions in Canada were different from the European and US. Inter-city operations were not the most important aviation sector in the 1920s. Float planes, operating on Northern lakes and rivers, had become the basis of much commercial aviation for mining, paper industry, medical, police and mail carriage, so many private carriers formed regional airlines to serve this business. Little investment in fixed air strips was required for float plane operations. About the only government subsidy available was the contract to carry air mail; however, by the onset of the Great Depression, even these mail contracts were canceled, bringing some airlines to the brink of bankruptcy. While Imperial Airways
negotiated with Pan Am on the potentially lucrative and prestigious trans-Atlantic route, Canadian interests were at risk. A trans-Atlantic route that bypassed Canadian territory would greatly impede commercial aviation development in Canada. No national airline existed, and none of the regional airlines was able to negotiate with Imperial Airways for trans-Atlantic routes; one feasible route with aircraft of the time would run from New York to Newfoundland to Ireland to London, bypassing Canadian territory completely.
International aviation treaties were negotiated, mostly among European countries, after the end of WW I. The Air Navigation Convention
signed by European countries in 1920 was an attempt to provide international rules for air traffic. Canada was only weakly represented at negotiations, but obtained an amendment to one article of the convention that would permit Canada and the US to make their own agreements on cross-boundary air regulations; in the event, the United States Senate never ratified the convention and so the Americans never became a party to it.
Although Alcock and Brown had flown over the North Atlantic in 1919, the first non-stop trans-Canada flight from Halifax to Vancouver was only in 1949. A cross-Canada air mail demonstration by the Canadian Air Force was staged in 1920, but this was a relay of a half-dozen aircraft. American aviator James Dalzell McKee (1885–1927) and an RCAF officer took nine days in September 1926 to fly from Montreal to Vancouver. McKee donated funds for the Trans-Canada Trophy
in 1927 to recognize accomplishment in Canadian aviation.
One side-effect of Canadian participation in international air regulations was the establishment of the ICAO headquarters at Montreal
.
museum records some of the key events of this time.
The bush pilot era produced such notable pilots as Wop May
and Punch Dickins
. In January 1929 Wop May's flight from Edmonton to Fort Vermilion, Alberta
carrying diphtheria vaccine became a headline news story. Both May and Dickins, along with many other bush plane aviators, became founders of Canadian aviation businesses.
Frederick Stevenson (1896–1928) barnstormed after the war, and flew in Manitoba and Northern Ontario. In 1927 he joined Richardson's Western Canada Airways and airlfited 14 men and 17,000 pounds of material in support of exploration at Fort Churchill. These flights were proof of the utility of aircraft in the North. He was killed in an air crash.
in Canada trained over 130,000 aircrew during the Second World War. Some of the facilities built for BCATP were used after the war in extending and improving civilian aviation.
Canadian factories, far from the dangers of enemy attack, manufactured both training and combat aircraft. Since shipborne delivery was slow and vulnerable to attack, complete aircraft were flown in stages across a North Atlantic route. Initial operations were organized by Canadian Pacific Air Lines, and the initial service was taken over by the RAF to become RAF Ferry Command
. About 9000 aircraft were dispatched, and the operational experience gained became the basis for peacetime trans-Atlantic scheduled flights.
The first women pilots were not licensed in Canada until 1928. As more men were sent off to direct combat roles, women were increasingly employed in aviation technical support roles and in aircraft manufacturing
.
The Curtiss company established a branch plant for manufacture of engines and airframes in 1915; this was taken over by the federal government and operated as Victory Aircraft.
During the Second World War, companies such as Canadian Car and Foundry
, not ordinarily in the aviation field, turned their production lines to the manufacture of fighters and bombers.
Aviation manufacturers in Canada included:
Experimental aviation started in Canada with the test flights of Bell's
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone....
Silver Dart
Silver Dart
Silver Dart may refer to:*AEA Silver Dart - An early aircraft which was flown off the ice at Baddeck, Nova Scotia on February 23, 1909. This was the first controlled powered flight in Canada....
in 1909, following the epochal flight of the Wright Brothers
Wright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...
in 1903. The experimental phase gave way to use of aircraft in warfare and many Canadians served in the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force during the First World War.
After the war, aircraft turned from an expensive novelty into a vital transportation tool, particularly useful in exploration and development of Canada's North. Canadians who had served with the RAF put their acquired aviation skills to peacetime use. Aviation was soon applied to the peacetime problems of tying together far-flung communities in the North, and of gathering information on the natural resources of the country. Aircraft were as important to opening up the North as the railway was to opening the West in the previous century. Between the wars many small airlines were founded, including the ancestors of the current national carrier, with rapid growth in passenger and air freight traffic.
World War II forced more technological development and brought Canadian industry into the vangard of aircraft manufacture. Canadian airspace and facilities provide training for more than one hundred thousand Commonwealth aircrew, and the wartime facilities supported growing commercial aviation.
The jet age brought air travel into the lives of many Canadians, displacing passenger rail
Rail transport in Canada
Canada has a large and well-developed railway system that today transports primarily freight. There are two major privately owned transcontinental freight railway systems, the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railway. Nation-wide passenger services are provided by the federal crown...
. Deregulation of airlines brought forth new competitors to the pre-war airlines. Thin operating margins and agressive competition led to periodic booms and failures. Deregulation
Deregulation
Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or simplification of government rules and regulations that constrain the operation of market forces.Deregulation is the removal or...
of airlines permitted greater competetition with less government control, but left the industry open to rapid and disruptive changes.
Today aviation is an integral part of the Canadian economy. Scheduled airline passenger service, air mail and air freight connect Canadian cities and cities around the world. General aviation provides medical evacuation, air photography, and support for resource development.
Lighter than air
The first people to enter Canada by air were two balloonists in September 1856, blown off course by high winds and crashing some 150 miles north of Ottawa. A gas-filled balloon was constructed and launched at Montreal in 1879 . Free balloon and dirigible balloon exhibitions were popular attractions in the first years of the 20th century. The first power-driven, dirigible flight in Canada was in 1906. The British airship R100R100
HM Airship R100 was a privately designed and built rigid airship made as part of a two-ship competition to develop new techniques for a projected larger commercial airship for use on British empire routes...
visited Canada in August 1930, overflying both Montreal and Toronto; a mooring mast was constructed and used only for this one occasion. After the crash of the R101
R101
R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airship completed in 1929 as part of a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was designed and built by an Air Ministry-appointed team and was effectively in competition...
, British airships no longer crossed the ocean and the mooring mast was demolished.
Aerial experiments by Bell
Alexander Graham BellAlexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone....
had organized the Aerial Experiment Association
Aerial Experiment Association
The Aerial Experiment Association was a Canadian aeronautical research group formed on 30 September 1907, under the tutelage of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell...
for the development of aviation, which was funded by his wife Mabel Gardiner Hubbard
Mabel Gardiner Hubbard
Mabel Gardiner Hubbard , was the daughter of Boston lawyer Gardiner Hubbard—the first president of the Bell Telephone Company...
from sale of some of her real estate. AEA member Frederick Walker Baldwin was the first Canadian to pilot an aircraft in 1908, although not in Canada. The first piloted heavier-than-air flight in Canada was on February 23, 1909, when John Alexander Douglas McCurdy
John Alexander Douglas McCurdy
John Alexander Douglas McCurdy was a Canadian aviation pioneer and the 19th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia from 1947 to 1952. -Early years:...
piloted the AEA Silver Dart
AEA Silver Dart
-References:NotesBibliography* Aerial Experimental Association . Aerofiles. . Retrieved: 19 May 2005.* Green, H. Gordon. The Silver Dart: The Authentic Story of the Hon. J.A.D. McCurdy, Canada's First Pilot. Fredericton, New Brunswick: Atlantic Advocate Book, 1959.* Milberry, Larry. Aviation in...
over a flight of less than 1 kilometer.
McCurdy and Baldwin in August 1909 demonstrated Baddeck I, a second aircraft built in Canada, to Canadian military authorities at Camp Petawawa; Canadian military authorities at the time did not appreciate the potential of aircraft in warfare. McCurdy later flew a record-setting over water flight from Florida nearly to Cuba in 1910. A trial with flying newspapers from Montreal to Ottawa in 1913 ended in a crash.
Other experimenters
Many man-carrying kites, gliders, and powered aircraft were constructed by individual private experimenters in Canada before outbreak of war. Experimenters were handicapped by limited personal financing, the high cost and short supply of suitable engines of sufficient power, and sometimes even by the lack of technical literature describing current aerodynamic theory and successful experiments.Flight exhibitions
In 1910 two large aviation meet exhibitions were held at Montreal and Toronto, where several Canadian aviation records were set. In October 1910, at an air exhibition near Belmont New York, Grace Mackenzie, daughter of Sir William MackenzieWilliam Mackenzie (railway entrepreneur)
Sir William Mackenzie was a Canadian railway contractor and entrepreneur.Born near Peterborough, Ontario, Mackenzie became a teacher and politician before entering business as the owner of a sawmill and gristmill in Kirkfield, Ontario...
and her sisters became the first Canadian women to fly; Mackenzie soon married her pilot, Count Jacques de Lesseps
Jacques de Lesseps
Jacques Benjamin de Lesseps was a French aviator born in Paris on 5 July 1883, killed in an air accident presumably on 18 October 1927 along with his flight engineer Theodor Chichenko. He was the son of French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps...
. De Lesseps Field
De Lesseps Field
De Lesseps Field was a small, but important airfield in early aviation in Toronto.Opened sometime before 1910, an airfield was created from three farms by engineer William G. Tretheway...
near Toronto was named for the French aviator. (chapter 9) Aviation exhibitions were common in Canada until the outbreak of war. Generally American "barnstormers
Barnstorming
Barnstorming was a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s in which stunt pilots would perform tricks with airplanes, either individually or in groups called a flying circus. Barnstorming was the first major form of civil aviation in the history of flight...
" participated in Canadian events suh as fairs, where an exhibition of an airplane was an attraction due to its novelty; movement of aircraft and performers across ther border was virtually unregulated.
World War I
More than 23,000 Canadians served in British air services (Royal Flying CorpsRoyal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
, Royal Naval Air Service
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service or RNAS was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of the First World War, when it merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form a new service , the Royal Air Force...
and (after April 1918) the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
) during the First World War, with more than 1500 killed. Notable Canadian pilots include Billy Bishop
Billy Bishop
Air Marshal William Avery "Billy" Bishop VC, CB, DSO & Bar, MC, DFC, ED was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 72 victories, making him the top Canadian ace, and according to some sources, the top ace of the British Empire.-Early life:Bishop was born in Owen Sound,...
, William George Barker
William George Barker
William George Barker VC, DSO & Bar, MC & Two Bars was a Canadian First World War fighter ace and Victoria Cross recipient...
and Alan Arnett McLeod
Alan Arnett McLeod
Alan Arnett McLeod VC was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Alan McLeod grew up in Stonewall, Manitoba, the son of a doctor. He enrolled in The 34th Fort...
, who were awarded the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
. more than 180 Canadian pilots achieved the designation "ace", with five or more credited victories. Canadian aircrew served in every operational theatre during WWI and in roles including air-to-air combat, bombing, air photography, and artillery spotting.
In 1915 the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company was an American aircraft manufacturer that went public in 1916 with Glenn Hammond Curtiss as president. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the company was the largest aircraft manufacturer in the United States...
of New York set up a small plant in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
for manufacture of the JN-4
Curtiss JN-4
The Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" was one of a series of "JN" biplanes built by the Curtiss Aeroplane Company of Hammondsport, New York, later the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Although the Curtiss JN series was originally produced as a training aircraft for the U.S...
training aircraft, managed by McCurdy. This factory also built 20 aircraft on pontoons, exported to Spain; this was the first export of aircraft built in Canada. The company was soon purchased by the Canadian government and operated as Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd.
Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd.
Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd. was an aircraft manufacturing company located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that built aircraft for the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War....
. The Curtis factory was also associated with an aviation school, which graduated 129 pilots. (page 112) By the end of the war the factory had built 2900 aircraft, including an order of 1000 JN4s, completed in three months and shipped to the United States for pilot training on their entry into the war. Aircraft construction stopped at the end of the war.
In spite of the many Canadians in military aviation, the Canadian government had shown little interest in or ability to organize its own air force. Canadian politicians made no attempt to fund flight training, aircraft purchase, or construction of airfields. The Canadian Aviation Corps
Canadian Aviation Corps
Canadian Aviation Corps was an early attempt to create an air force for Canada at the beginning of the First World War. The unit was created in 1914 and was attached to the Canadian Expeditionary Force. The CAC had a maximum strength of three personnel and one aircraft which was delivered but...
, with only three members, was founded in 1914 by Sir Sam Hughes
Sam Hughes
For other people of the same name see Sam Hughes Sir Samuel Hughes, KCB, PC was the Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence during World War I...
, but was an inept and ineffective false start, never flying in combat and with its sole aircraft abandoned after a few months. A Canadian Air Force was established in 1918, but it was disbanded shortly after the end of the war. Not until 1920 was a permanent Air Force
Canadian Air Force (1920–1924)
The Canadian Air Force which was formed in 1920, was one of Canada's early attempts at forming an air force. When the Air Board was formed in 1919 to manage Canadian aviation, one of its responsibilities was air defence; the CAF was formed to meet this responsibility...
established. Canadians seeking flight training, aside from a few who entered schools at Toronto and Vancouver, either had to travel to enlist in French or British air forces, or received training when the RAF set up schools in Canada in 1917. (page 112)
Very little civilian aviation occurred during the war, although exhibitions were given by American aviator Katherine Stinson
Katherine Stinson
Katherine Stinson was an early female flier. She was the fourth woman in the United States to obtain a pilot's certificate, which she earned on July 24, 1912, at the age of 21 while residing in Pine Bluff, AR...
, included an air-mail delivery between Calgary and Edmonton. In eastern Canada exhibitions by Ruth Law
Ruth Law
Ruth Bancroft Law was a pioneer American aviatrix during the 1910s.Law received her pilot's license in November 1912. In 1915 she gave a demonstration of aerobatics at Daytona Beach, Florida, before a large crowd...
included races against automobiles.
Interwar period
Many Canadians had aviation training due to the war, and surplus aircraft were plentiful. A two-year boom in aviation followed. The first paying passenger flight in Canada occurred in 1920, between WinnipegWinnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
and The Pas
The Pas, Manitoba
The Pas is a town in Manitoba, Canada, located in Division No. 21, Manitoba in the Northern Region, some 630 kilometres northwest of the provincial capital, Winnipeg, near the border of Saskatchewan. It is sometimes still called Paskoyac by locals as the first trading post was called Fort Paskoyac...
. Although the total number of aviation companies, registered aircraft, and registered pilots then declined between 1920 and 1924, the freight carriage had increased greatly. Canadian aviation was slowly transforming from the experimental era to the commercial era.
At the end of the war the United States abandoned several surplus Curtiss HS
Curtiss HS
The Curtiss HS was a single-engined patrol flying boat built for the United States Navy during World War I. Large numbers were built from 1917 to 1919, with the type being used to carry out anti-submarine patrols from bases in France from June 1918...
flying boats that had been used for antisubmarine patrols; these aircraft, donated to the Canadian government, were heavily used in the immediate post-war period. Sea planes could use lakes and rivers instead of airstrips, making them ideal for exploring remote regions. The flying boats were used both by the nascent RCAF, and by forestry companies seeking to patrol their logging areas for forest fires.
Aircraft manufacture re-started in 1923, when Canadian Vickers took on a contract to build eight flying boats for the new Air Force. de Havilland of England started building "Moth" aircraft in 1927. The Noorduyn company founded in 1933 produced the Noorduyn Norseman
Noorduyn Norseman
The Noorduyn Norseman is a Canadian single-engine bush plane designed to operate from unimproved surfaces. Norseman aircraft are known to have been registered and/or operated in 68 countries throughout the world and also have been based and flown in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.-Design and...
which was used in bush flying
Bush flying
Bush flying is a term for aircraft operations carried out in remote, inhospitable regions of the world. Bush flying involves operations in rough terrain where there are often no prepared landing strips or runways, frequently necessitating that bush planes be equipped with abnormally large tires,...
operations throughout Canada; the type was adopted by the US Army Air Force during WW II and many units were produced. War-surplus aircraft gave way to types specifically designed for civilian service. By the 1930s enclosed cabins greatly improved pilot and passenger comfort.
Although mail had been carried by air in various demonstrations thorughout the early 1920s, it was not until 1927 that the Post Office started regular use of air mail.
Regulating a new industry
The Canadian Air Board was founded 1919 and had regulatory control over all civil and military aviation, merging into the Department of National DefenceDepartment of National Defence (Canada)
The Department of National Defence , frequently referred to by its acronym DND, is the department within the government of Canada with responsibility for all matters concerning the defence of Canada...
in 1923. The Aeronautics Act of 1919 established Federal control over aviation and gave the legislative authority for air regulations. All aviation, civil and military, was under Canadian Air Force (Royal Canadian Air Force) control until 1927. In 1936, the Canadian Privy Council decided In re Regulation and Control of Aeronautics in Canada
In re Regulation and Control of Aeronautics in Canada
In re the Regulation and Control of Aeronautics in Canada [1932] A.C. 54 is a decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on the interpretation of the Canadian Constitution...
that aviation was subject to federal regulation. This later allowed the Department of Transport
Transport Canada
Transport Canada is the department within the government of Canada which is responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportation, Infrastructure and Communities portfolio...
to become the civil authority over aviation in 1936, taking over from the Department of National Defence.
Foundation of civil airlines
The Canadian Pacific RailwayCanadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...
(CPR) petitioned to start air service in 1919 but initially did not get involved in aviation. By 1930, Canada was one of the few countries without a national airline.
In Western Canada, Western Canadian Airways
Canadian Airways
Canadian Airways was an airline formed when Western Canadian Airways bought out Commercial. It operated through the 1930s until it was purchased by Canadian Pacific Air Lines in 1941, carrying passengers on mail planes into smaller communities.-History:James Armstrong Richardson established WCA in...
was founded in 1926 by James Richardson
James Armstrong Richardson, Sr.
James Armstrong Richardson Sr. was an influential business person in Canada in both business and aviation during the early part of the 20th Century. He lived most of his life in Winnipeg.-Early life:...
. The airline specialized in Northern operations, and was particularly noted for an airlift of materials and men for surveying associated with the port of Churchill
Churchill, Manitoba
Churchill is a town on the shore of Hudson Bay in Manitoba, Canada. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leading to the nickname "Polar Bear Capital of the World" that has helped its growing tourism industry.-History:A variety of nomadic...
in 1927.
The effect of the Great Depression
Great Depression in Canada
Canada was hit hard by the Great Depression. Between 1929 and 1939, the gross national product dropped 40% . Unemployment reached 27% at the depth of the Depression in 1933...
was severe on the Canadian civil aviation industry. The Federal government did not wish to spend money on aviation while the economy was in poor condition. R.B. Bennett was famously quoted as saying he didn't want government-funded aircraft flying over farmers whose fields were blowing away around them. Government air mail contracts were cancelled, putting small aviation companies reliant on mail into finanical difficulty. Tasks such as air photography, transportation of police to Northern posts, air mail, and other civil operations, briefly in the hands of the private sector, were taken up by the RCAF to make it politically acceptable to continue funding it.
C. D. Howe
C. D. Howe
Clarence Decatur Howe, PC , generally known as C. D. Howe, was a powerful Canadian Cabinet minister of the Liberal Party. Howe served in the governments of Prime Ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent continuously from 1935 to 1957...
's role was critical in the founding of Trans-Canada Air Lines
Trans-Canada Air Lines
Trans-Canada Air Lines was a Canadian airline and operated as the country's flag carrier. Its corporate headquarters were in Montreal, Quebec...
in 1937. Rather like the railways of the preceding century, TCA was founded as the national cross-continent carrier to keep out foreign competitors, and was made a subsidiary of CNR. See main article Air Canada#History.
CPR was a part shareholder in Canadian Airways, and eventually CPR purchased Canadian Airways and other regional operations to form Canadian Pacific Air Lines in 1942. TCA, the government-controlled airline, was designated as the official trans-continental and international carrier by the Mackenize King government in 1943. For nearly forty years afterward, TCA and Air Canada befitted from government regulation of air routes, fares, and standards of service. Government regulation was thought to be essential to prevent destructive competition between TCA and Canadian Airways. The two airlines, TCA and Canadian Airlines/CP Air, would remain bitter commercial and political rivals for the rest of the 20th century.
Aerial photography
Aerial photographyAerial photography
Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. Cameras may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely or...
was an urgent task for mapping remote regions of the country. War-surplus aircraft donated to Canada by the British and United States governments, or purchased by new private aviation companies, were the foundation of aerial survey and air photography in Canada. During the interwar period extensive air mapping was carried out by the RCAF. Mapping of remote regions from the air was valuable in developing forestry and mining resources in Canada's North. The operational experience gained during this time was a foundation of Commonwealth Air Training Program during World War II.
International aviation
Worldwide commercial civil aviation expanded greatly after the First World War. Many European countries founded subsidized national airlines (SabenaSabena
SABENA was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its bankruptcy in 2001, the newly formed SN Brussels Airlines took over part of SABENA's assets in February 2002, which then became Brussels Airlines...
, KLM, Deutsche Luft Hansa
Deutsche Luft Hansa
Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G. was a German airline, serving as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and throughout the Third Reich.-1920s:Deutsche Luft Hansa was founded on 6 January 1926 in Berlin...
, Air France
Air France
Air France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
and others) for reasons of national prestige, security and commerce. The United Kingdom founded Imperial Airways
Imperial Airways
Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long range air transport company, operating from 1924 to 1939 and serving parts of Europe but especially the Empire routes to South Africa, India and the Far East...
with the mandate of tying together the far-flung regions of the British Empire, providing air mail and passenger services for overseas British and allied territories. In the United States conditions - a large land mass, uniform language and culture, large and growing population, and good flying conditions - favored rapid growth of private airlines and many regional airlines grew and looked to expand traffic to Canada and Latin America. In the United States, Pan American World Airways
Pan American World Airways
Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991...
became unofficially virtually the national flag carrier, being given preferential support by the American government in its negotiations with other governments to carry air traffic.
Conditions in Canada were different from the European and US. Inter-city operations were not the most important aviation sector in the 1920s. Float planes, operating on Northern lakes and rivers, had become the basis of much commercial aviation for mining, paper industry, medical, police and mail carriage, so many private carriers formed regional airlines to serve this business. Little investment in fixed air strips was required for float plane operations. About the only government subsidy available was the contract to carry air mail; however, by the onset of the Great Depression, even these mail contracts were canceled, bringing some airlines to the brink of bankruptcy. While Imperial Airways
Imperial Airways
Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long range air transport company, operating from 1924 to 1939 and serving parts of Europe but especially the Empire routes to South Africa, India and the Far East...
negotiated with Pan Am on the potentially lucrative and prestigious trans-Atlantic route, Canadian interests were at risk. A trans-Atlantic route that bypassed Canadian territory would greatly impede commercial aviation development in Canada. No national airline existed, and none of the regional airlines was able to negotiate with Imperial Airways for trans-Atlantic routes; one feasible route with aircraft of the time would run from New York to Newfoundland to Ireland to London, bypassing Canadian territory completely.
International aviation treaties were negotiated, mostly among European countries, after the end of WW I. The Air Navigation Convention
International Civil Aviation Organization
The International Civil Aviation Organization , pronounced , , is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth...
signed by European countries in 1920 was an attempt to provide international rules for air traffic. Canada was only weakly represented at negotiations, but obtained an amendment to one article of the convention that would permit Canada and the US to make their own agreements on cross-boundary air regulations; in the event, the United States Senate never ratified the convention and so the Americans never became a party to it.
Although Alcock and Brown had flown over the North Atlantic in 1919, the first non-stop trans-Canada flight from Halifax to Vancouver was only in 1949. A cross-Canada air mail demonstration by the Canadian Air Force was staged in 1920, but this was a relay of a half-dozen aircraft. American aviator James Dalzell McKee (1885–1927) and an RCAF officer took nine days in September 1926 to fly from Montreal to Vancouver. McKee donated funds for the Trans-Canada Trophy
Trans-Canada Trophy
The Trans-Canada Trophy, also known as the McKee Trophy, is awarded by the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute to a Canadian citizen who has made an outstanding, contemporary achievement in aerospace operations, whether a single act within the year prior to the award or a sustained level of...
in 1927 to recognize accomplishment in Canadian aviation.
One side-effect of Canadian participation in international air regulations was the establishment of the ICAO headquarters at Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
.
Opening the North
An aircraft could traverse and photograph in hours rugged undeveloped country that would take weeks to cross by canoe, dog team, horseback, or on foot. Resource companies thrived with the ability to move personnel and material year round. Particularly important was winter flying, in conditions so cold that oil had to be drained from engines and kept indoors overnight, then preheated and poured back in. Skis and floats were as useful as wheels for Northern fliers. These flights were made under the most primitive of conditions, often with no prepared airfields, no reliable weather forecasts, no radio or visual navigation aids, poor maps, and often no indoor facilities for repairs. Today the Canadian Bushplane Heritage CentreCanadian Bushplane Heritage Centre
Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre , located on the north bank of the St. Marys River in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, is dedicated to preserving the history of bush flying and forest protection in Canada...
museum records some of the key events of this time.
The bush pilot era produced such notable pilots as Wop May
Wop May
Captain Wilfrid Reid "Wop" May, OBE, DFC , was a First World War flying ace and a pioneering aviator who created the role of the bush pilot while working the Canadian west....
and Punch Dickins
Punch Dickins
Clennell Haggerston "Punch" Dickins OC, OBE, DFC was a pioneering Canadian aviator and bush pilot. Northern Indians called him "Snow Eagle;" northern whites called him "White Eagle;" while the press dubbed him the "Flying Knight of the Northland."-Early years:Clennell Haggerston Dickins was born...
. In January 1929 Wop May's flight from Edmonton to Fort Vermilion, Alberta
Fort Vermilion, Alberta
Fort Vermilion is a hamlet in northern Alberta, Canada within Mackenzie County.Established in 1788, Fort Vermilion shares the title of oldest European settlement in Alberta with Fort Chipewyan. Fort Vermilion contains many modern amenities to serve its inhabitants as well as the surrounding rural...
carrying diphtheria vaccine became a headline news story. Both May and Dickins, along with many other bush plane aviators, became founders of Canadian aviation businesses.
Frederick Stevenson (1896–1928) barnstormed after the war, and flew in Manitoba and Northern Ontario. In 1927 he joined Richardson's Western Canada Airways and airlfited 14 men and 17,000 pounds of material in support of exploration at Fort Churchill. These flights were proof of the utility of aircraft in the North. He was killed in an air crash.
World War II
The British Commonwealth Air Training PlanBritish Commonwealth Air Training Plan
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan , known in some countries as the Empire Air Training Scheme , was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, during the Second World War...
in Canada trained over 130,000 aircrew during the Second World War. Some of the facilities built for BCATP were used after the war in extending and improving civilian aviation.
Canadian factories, far from the dangers of enemy attack, manufactured both training and combat aircraft. Since shipborne delivery was slow and vulnerable to attack, complete aircraft were flown in stages across a North Atlantic route. Initial operations were organized by Canadian Pacific Air Lines, and the initial service was taken over by the RAF to become RAF Ferry Command
RAF Ferry Command
The RAF Ferry Command had a short life, but it spawned, in part, an organisation that lasted well beyond the war years during which it was formed.-History:...
. About 9000 aircraft were dispatched, and the operational experience gained became the basis for peacetime trans-Atlantic scheduled flights.
The first women pilots were not licensed in Canada until 1928. As more men were sent off to direct combat roles, women were increasingly employed in aviation technical support roles and in aircraft manufacturing
Rosie the Riveter
Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the American women who worked in factories during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who were in the military...
.
Aircraft manufacturing
Many aircraft during WWII were licensed designs from British or American manufacturers, in some cases altered for available materials, engines, and production facilities.The Curtiss company established a branch plant for manufacture of engines and airframes in 1915; this was taken over by the federal government and operated as Victory Aircraft.
During the Second World War, companies such as Canadian Car and Foundry
Canadian Car and Foundry
Canadian Car and Foundry also variously known as "Canadian Car & Foundry," or more familiarly as "Can Car," manufactured buses, railroad rolling stock and later aircraft for the Canadian market...
, not ordinarily in the aviation field, turned their production lines to the manufacture of fighters and bombers.
Aviation manufacturers in Canada included:
- Canadian Vickers 1923-1944
- CanadairCanadairCanadair Ltd. was a civil and military aircraft manufacturer in Canada. It was a subsidiary of other aircraft manufacturers, then a nationalized corporation until privatized in 1986, and became the core of Bombardier Aerospace....
1944-1986 - Bristol AerospaceBristol AerospaceBristol Aerospace is a Canadian aerospace firm located in Winnipeg, Manitoba and is an operating division of Magellan Aerospace.-History:Bristol Aerospace began in 1930 as the MacDonald Brothers Aircraft Company. Brothers Jim and Grant MacDonald moved to Winnipeg from Nova Scotia in 1904 to start a...
1930-1996 founded as McDonald Brothers - Avro CanadaAvro CanadaCommonly known as Avro Canada, this company started in 1945 as an aircraft plant and became within thirteen years the third-largest company in Canada, one of the largest 100 companies in the world, and directly employing over 50,000...
1945-1962 - de Havilland CanadaDe Havilland CanadaThe de Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd. company was an aircraft manufacturer with facilities based in what is now the Downsview area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
1928-1986 - Bombardier AerospaceBombardier AerospaceBombardier Aerospace is a division of Bombardier Inc. and is the third-largest airplane manufacturer in the world. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada.- History :...
1986-, bought the remains of Canadair, later added Short Brothers, Lear, adn de Havilland Canada.- Bombardier Aerospace and Embraer S.A. government subsidy controversyBombardier Aerospace and Embraer S.A. government subsidy controversyBrazil and Canada engaged in the Bombardier Aerospace and Embraer S.A. government subsidy controversy over government subsidies to domestic plane-makers in the late 1990s and early 2000s...
- Bombardier Aerospace and Embraer S.A. government subsidy controversy
- Magellan AerospaceMagellan AerospaceMagellan Aerospace Corporation is a Canadian manufacturer of aerospace systems and components. Magellan also repairs and overhauls, tests, and provides aftermarket support services for engines, and engine structural components. The company's business units are divided into the product areas of...
1996-