THE SILVER DART, THE BLUE HORNET AND THE GOLDEN HAWK

Sep 29

Intro photo - a composite courtesy of Tom Podolec (Hornet), Andy Cline (Silver Dart) and Canadian Forces (Sabre).

Canada is a country of extreme distances and scattered population. To say that the flying machine has greatly and positively affected our lives is an understatement. To say that most Canadians have never taken the time to fully understand the importance of this invention to our lives and to the very nature of our existence is another understatement. To say that the vast majority of Canadians have no knowledge what so ever about the Canadian men and women who have made aviation history in our land and in foreign lands and wars is not only an understatement, but a travesty. The celebrations spearheaded by three groups seek to change all that.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of flight in Canada and across this vast land, men and women are flying, teaching, building and celebrating. They are building airplanes, re-enacting history, convening flying parades and holding special events, dinners, air shows, lectures, school tours, meetings and conventions. The entire flying community is gathering together under the banner of the Centennial of Flight logo created by Vintage Wings of Canada for the national celebration and through a critical mass of enthusiasm and hard work, showing Canadians who have never even thought about it, that the airplane is part of who they are.

There will be hundreds of spectacular events and achievements throughout the year and we will endeavour to tell you about many of them until the sun sets on December 31st, 2009. To start the year off, let's take a look at three of the most ambitious projects that have been planned and executed already so as to be ready for the actual 100th birthday of flight in Canada - February 23rd, 2009

The first project of course is the creation of a replica Silver Dart airplane to be ready to fly on the same frozen surface as the original and on the same February day. This project involved building the replica to the same standards as the original and with the same materials. The Aerial Experiment Association 2005 was created to bring together the talents and money needed to build the aircraft. They worked hard over the past 4 years to make it happen. Not more than a couple of weeks before the important day, the Silver Dart was completed and rolled out to much fanfare at the Hamilton Airport. Within a couple of hours it was successfully test flown, pulled back indoors, partially disassembled and readied to be shipped by truck to Sydney, Nova Scotia. The pictures that follow will tell you all you need to know about the success of this great endeavour.

Meanwhile, at about the same time, famed Fighter Artist Jim Belliveau and his team at CFB Cold lake were dragging their own beauty out of the hangar into the light of day for the first time. She was an aircraft from a more modern era than the Silver Dart - a CF-18 painted to celebrate everything that has happened in aviation since the Silver Dart first flew. Each year, the Canadian Forces select and paint one of their CF-18 fighters to be a demonstration and recruitment aircraft and these are almost always designed by Belliveau. Whether it is to commemorate an anniversary such as 20 years of operating the CF-18, NORAD's 50th or a squadron's history, the results are always spectacular and the source of much shutter clicking and model making. The Centennial of Flight project is perhaps Belliveau's tour de force, his pièce de résistance. Painted in high gloss red, white, blue and gold, the aircraft is a breathtaking beauty that celebrates flight, military aviation, speed and just-plane Canuckness. The pictures that follow will tell you all you need to know about the success of this great endeavour.

And of course, from us at Vintage Wings of Canada comes the much talked about Hawk One project - a spectacular partnership with the Canadian Armed Forces and Discovery Air and visionary sponsors like Westjet, Marks Work Wearhouse, Cirrus Research Associates, Magellan Aerospace and Inter Pipeline - that has resurrected a Canadair Sabre and a historic RCAF aerobatic team to help all of Canada celebrate.

The funeral of John Alexander Douglas McCurdy, the pilot of the Silver Dart, was held in the summer of 1961 on the sloping hills overlooking the spot on Bras d'Or Lake where he had flown into history. On that day, as the bagpipes skirled, and the breeze blew warm up from the lake, four aircraft thundered over the grave site and one climbed for the heavens. They were F-86 (Canadair) Sabres from RCAF Station Chatham - the same base that our Hawk One is from. Hawk One will continue to pay that same tribute to McCurdy and the AEA throughout 2009. The pictures that follow will tell you all you need to know about the success of this great endeavour.

The Silver Dart, the Blue Hornet and the Golden Hawk. There are no better aircraft to celebrate with, The Silver Dart was the first, the Blue Hornet represents the full span of a century and the Golden Hawks were originally created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of flight - the halfway point. It looks like a great year ahead for aviation in Canada, so strap on your gear, tighten your straps, and get ready to celebrate. Dave O'Malley

The speed of sound meets the light of day. The shiny, brand spanking new CF-18 demo bird or “colour bird” is pulled from the CFB Cold Lake paint bay in February to let the true colours be captured by Canadian Forces photographers. And what a beauty she is – perhaps the finest design that her creator Jim Belliveau has done… and he has done many such CF-18 demo-birds. Photo: Canadian Forces