From the eccentric Fairey Battle to the lethal-looking CF-18, from modern airliners that have no defects (and no character) to the classic North Star (which had both), here is the ultimate line-up of the aircraft that have served Canadians in the last century. With over one hundred photographs of fifty historic planes, Wings Across Canada is a retrospective of Canada’s aeronautical technology. This book does not compare the planes, nor claim that all are "classics" in the traditional sense of the word. Instead, it is a celebration of a love affair with aircraft that all served a purpose in their own time.
Whether you are an aviation enthusiast, history buff, or air traveller, don't miss the third in a series of photo essays on aviation in Canada, covering almost 100 years of flight by Canadians. Dramatic visuals accompany each step of aviation's advances, from Canada's first military aircraft to the Harvard II, from the earliest bush planes to the Bombardier Global Express. This comprehensive history showcases 50 aircraft. Whether famous or forgotten, all were designed, built, and/or flown by Canadians.
Lavishly illustrated and richly told, using the full resources of the Canada Aviation Museum — Canadian Wings is a stunning tribute to the men, machines and daredevil achievements of Canadian flight. This book gives a full and copiously illustrated account of how powered flight developed during its first century in Canada, as well as the contribution that Canadians made to the wider story of flight in the world. Canadian Wings draws on the unparallelled collections of the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa, for its nearly 200 images including archival photographs, paintings, and memorabilia. It features the artworks of Robert Bradford, former director of the Museum, and Dan Patterson, photographer and author of several aviation books. Combined with compelling history and colourful anecdote, this beautifully illustrated book will give readers a new appreciation of how northern wings have helped to build, defend, and explore this vast nation, and to project its image abroad.
Bringing together leading researchers on Canadian air power, On the Wings of War and Peace captures the history of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) during the first decades of the Cold War – a period which marked the zenith of air force accomplishments in peacetime Canada. The volume covers topics that go beyond straightforward flying operations, examining policies that drove operational needs and capabilities and the personnel, technical, and logistical functions that made those operations possible. With contributions written by former RCAF members who have both expert and personal knowledge of their topics, On the Wings of War and Peace brings new perspectives to the RCAF’s role in shaping the modern Canadian nation.
There are many myths and legends surrounding the advanced German aeronautical technology of the Second World War. There are also facts and proven events. Yet within these stories and behind these facts lie conspiracy theories, mistaken assumptions and denials that seem to contradict the evidence. So what really happened? How far ahead were the German scientists? And, of even greater interest, why and how???There have been other books about advanced German wartime aeronautics, yet few authors have fully examined the detail of the designs and their relevance to the fighter and bomber legends of the 1950s and '60s, let alone the current crop of military and civil all-wing or blended-wing aircraft. This book charts the story from it origins, through current-day innovations and beyond, into the all-wing future of tomorrow.
This aviation handbook is designed to be used as a quick reference to the classic military heritage aircraft that have been flown by members of the Canadian Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army and the present-day Canadian Forces. The interested reader will find useful information and a few technical details on most of the military aircraft that have been in service with active Canadian squadrons both at home and overseas. 100 selected photographs have been included to illustrate a few of the major examples in addition to the serial numbers assigned to Canadian service aircraft. For those who like to actually see the aircraft concerned, aviation museum locations, addresses and contact phone numbers have been included, along with a list of aircraft held in each museum's current inventory or on display as gate guardians throughout Canada and overseas. The aircraft presented in this edition are listed alphabetically by manufacturer, number and type. Although many of Canada's heritage warplanes have completely disappeared, a few have been carefully collected, restored and preserved, and some have even been restored to flying condition. This guide-book should help you to find and view Canada's Warplane survivors.
A thrilling new series soars above the competition and redefines middle-grade fantasy fiction for a new generation!The seven dragon tribes have been at war for generations, locked in an endless battle over an ancient, lost treasure. A secret movement called the Talons of Peace is determined to bring an end to the fighting, with the help of a prophecy -- a foretelling that calls for great sacrifice.Five dragonets are collected to fulfill the prophecy, raised in a hidden cave and enlisted, against their will, to end the terrible war.But not every dragonet wants a destiny. And when the select five escape their underground captors to look for their original homes, what has been unleashed on the dragon world may be far more than the revolutionary planners intended . . .
Wings Over the Wilderness tells the story of the secret WW II airway that arched across 8,000 miles of sub-Arctic wilderness and the adventures of the men that flew it. Non-fiction, WW II history, aviation. During June of 1941, under an assault that was code-named Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, signaling the start to one of history's most bloody and bitter conflicts. The powerful German army crushed all opposition and swiftly conquered huge tracts of Soviet territory. The highly skilled German Luftwaffe swept the skies of Red air power, pulverized troop concentrations and demolished Soviet industry. On the ground, German Panzer and artillery units pursued and hammered the retreating, beleaguered Red Army as fast as their steel wheels could roll. After two short months the Nazis had rumbled up to the edge of Moscow: there seemed to be no stopping German military might and the complete collapse of the Soviet Union appeared inevitable. Within days of the initial June attack, both Great Britain and the United States responded to Stalin's appeal for assistance by extending Lend-Lease aid to provide Russia with the materiel of war. A downturn in aircraft production, combined with staggering battlefield losses, placed aircraft acquisition especially high on the Soviet's Lend-Lease shopping list. Both Britain and the United States responded with the immediate shipment of a small quantity of combat aircraft while pledging to send a steady stream of 400 aircraft per month. Delivery of tactical aircraft to the Soviet battlefield presented significant logistical and technical challenges due to the great distances involved, exposure to hostile forces and damage to delicate aircraft components inflicted while in transit. Spanning the breadth of Siberia there existed only a scattering of primitive airfields, and on the North American side the situation was only marginally better. To accommodate aircraft ferrying on the scale envisioned, additional airfields would have to be created, others upgraded, hangars and housing built, navigational aids installed, massive quantities of fuel delivered and scarce manpower diverted for the purpose. Wings Over the Wilderness tells the story of the secret WW II airway that arched across 8,000 miles of sub-Arctic wilderness and over Siberia to reach an ally in need. The book pays tribute to the thousands of men and women who toiled under the most difficult of circumstances to help decide the outcome of World War Two. Primitive facilities, harsh climate and wild terrain were among the difficulties faced by American and Russian pilots in the transfer of nearly 8,000 warplanes from American factories to the Russian battlefield. The airway was cruel on man and machine as the grave markers and twisted wrecks of fallen warplanes littering forest and muskeg bear testament. Smith's writings offer first-hand veteran accounts and fascinating stories surrounding the delivery of the warplanes to Russia. The book includes an extensive introduction by the author that offers the reader the historical and geo-political background at the time of the writing. Accompanying the detailed text are hundreds of never-before-published photographs. Also included in the book are extensive endnotes, a glossary of terms and abbreviations, a bibliography and index.
The proportions of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan were huge. At its peak, the plan was graduating over 3,000 aircrew a month from 107 training schools across Canada. In total, graduates numbered more than 130,000. This enormous war effort made Canada WWII's "aerodrome of democracy." Full of personal anecdotes, "Wings For Victory is the story of the BCATP and of the politicians who negotiated it into existence, of the officers and airmen of the RCAF and the RAF, and of the many civilians who made it work day by day. Above all, it is the story of the young men who entered the scheme as clerks and farmers, students and salesmen, and graduated as pilots, navigators, air gunners, air bombers, and flight engineers. In the late 1930s, mindful of the need to play an important role in the looming war, Canadian politicians conceived of a plan that would entail a major commitment to the war effort yet keep the country's young men at home and avoid the horrendous loss of Canadian lives experienced on the ground in WWI. The British Commonwealth Air training Plan was born, whereby young recruits from Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand would join their Canadian counterparts in training schools to be set up across the country. Here they would be trained to fight the battles of the new war, in the air. Canada was the ideal location, far enough away from the threat of air raids, and with plenty of wide open space for the business of building airfields and teaching men to fly. In a huge, country-wide mobilization of personnel and resources, training facilities were hastily erected from Vancouver to Charlottetown. And when young recruits from around the globe started pouringinto the scores of towns and villages across the map selected as sites for the BCATP, communities were turned upside down. Spencer Dunmore follows these raw young recruits through the lengthy selection process and training regimen that awaited them so far from home. Many wouldn't make it. A large number "washed out," finding themselves no longer considered pilot material. The training process would injure some and kill some more. A handful would discover that, although they had always dreamed of flying, they loathed and feared the reality of it. But masses of them were eventually successful and were shipped to Europe, where they put their Canadian training to the ultimate test, winning the war in the air.
