The history of aviation in Canada began with the first manned flight in a balloon at Saint John, New Brunswick in 1840. The 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,Milberry 1984, p. 460. following the epochal flight of the Wright Brothers in 1903. The experimental phase gave way to use of aircraft in warfare. 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 applied to the task of tying together far-flung communities in the North, and to gather 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 regional airlines were founded. A lack of national transportation policy delayed the creation of a national carrier until the foundation of the government-subsidized Trans Canada Airlines ( now Air Canada) in 1937.
World War II forced more technological development and brought Canadian industry into the vanguard 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 with less government control brought forth new competitors to the prewar airlines. Thin operating margins and aggressive competition led to periodic booms and failures.
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 aircraft
In August 1840 at Saint John, New Brunswick, Louis Anselm Lauriat became the first person to complete a balloon ascent in Canada, which he did in his balloon Star of the East.Milberry 2008, p. 11.
On September 9, 1856, French aeronaut, Eugène Godard, operating a balloon called Canada (the first aircraft ever constructed in Canada), piloted the country's first successful passenger flight, carrying three passengers from Montreal to Pointe-Olivier, Quebec.Wydera, Markus. "History of Ballooning." wydera.de. Retrieved: April 7, 2015."Today in Aviation History" Retrieved: February 3, 2016
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 completed by C. K. Hamilton at Montreal in 1906.Milberry 2008, p. 16. The British airship R100 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 in 1938.
Periodically, lighter-than-air vehicles and hybrid airships are promoted for use in remote northern areas, on the basis of lower cost of operation than conventional aircraft. While vehicles such as Skyhook and Zeppelin NT regularly obtain press coverage, no company has yet undertaken commercial cargo operations by airship in Canada.http://www.mining.com/canadian-rare-earths-mine-transport-ore-using-airships/ A 2016 proposal for lighter than air transport for northern mining
Experiments and exhibitions
Aerial experiments by Bell
Alexander Graham Bell 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 powered heavier-than-air flight in Canada occurred on Bras d'Or Lake at Baddeck, Nova Scotia on February 23, 1909, when John Alexander Douglas McCurdy piloted the AEA Silver Dart over a flight of less than 1 kilometer."Canada's First Flight to Be commemorated at Oshkosh." Sport Aviation, March 2009, p. 14.
McCurdy and Baldwin in August 1909 demonstrated the Silver Dart and the Baddeck No. 1, a second aircraft built in Canada, to Canadian military authorities at Camp Petawawa. Both aircraft were damaged during the demonstrations and so did not impress the military authorities, who lost interest in using such aircraft. McCurdy later flew a record-setting over water flight from Florida nearly to Cuba in 1910. A trial flight to transport 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. At Montreal in August 1907, Lawrence Lesh completed the first heavier-than-air flights in Canada with a towed glider."Taking Flight 1909-1918." 100 Years of Flight in Canada: Wings & Helicopters magazines, Special Edition, 2009. Retrieved: April 7, 2015. 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.Ellis 1961, pp. 42–51.
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 Mackenzie 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. Aviation exhibitions were common in Canada until the outbreak of war. Generally American barnstormers participated in Canadian events such as fairs, where an exhibition of an aircraft was an attraction due to its novelty; movement of aircraft and performers across the border was virtually unregulated.Ellis 1961, pp. 143, 152.
First fatality
The first aviation fatality in Canada, and the only one before the First World War was John Bryant who was killed in a crash in Victoria on 6 August 1913.Canada's first flying fatality Lookout Newspaper, 18 Aug 2016. Retrieved: 31 Aug 2016 Bryant was visiting British Columbia from the US with his wife Alys McKey Bryant, who was also a pilot, in their Curtiss biplane. Earlier in the trip Alys had become the first woman to pilot a plane in Canada.The History of Flight in British Columbia The Canadian Museum of Flight. Retrieved: 31 Aug 2016
First World War More than 23,000 Canadians served in British air services (Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service and (after April 1918) the Royal Air Force) during the First World War, with more than 1,500 killed."Canada's role in WWI." Courage Remembered. Retrieved: April 7, 2015. 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 the First World War, and in roles including air-to-air combat, bombing, air photography and artillery spotting.Milberry 1984, pp. 14–16.
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. The Curtiss factory built 20 aircraft with pontoon float landing gear, exported to Spain; this was the first export of Canadian-built aircraft. 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.Ellis 1961, p. 112. By the end of the First World 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.Ellsworth, Frederick. "Canada's 50th Anniversary of Flight." Flying Magazine, February 1959. pp. 42–45, 59. 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 or ability to organize its own air force. Canadian politicians made no attempt to fund flight training, aircraft purchase, or construction of airfields.Gray 2000, p. 198. 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.Hunt 2009, pp. 15–22. 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.
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.
Interwar period
After the war, Britain donated over 100 surplus aircraft to Canada. They included land and water-based aircraft. The United States also donated several surplus Curtiss HS flying boats that had been used for antisubmarine patrols. The donated aircraft were used both by the nascent air force and for civil purposes such as forest fire patrols, photographic surveying and reconnaissance. The seaplanes could use lakes and rivers instead of airstrips, making them ideal for exploring and patrolling remote regions.Milberry 1984, pp.17-20
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 Winnipeg 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.
Aircraft manufacture restarted 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 the Second World War 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 throughout the early 1920s, it was not until 1927 that the Post Office started regular use of air mail.
Aviation regulation and a new air force