July 16, 2009 – Visitors to the Canada Aviation Museum are in for a special weekend as the
National Capital welcomes the Back to Baddeck coast-to-coast-to-coast
vintage aircraft relay, commemorating 100 years of powered flight in
Canada, as it touches down in
Ottawa at the historic Rockcliffe Airport.
The Canada Aviation Museum and Vintage Wings of Canada, as co-hosts
will be offering the site, the aircraft and special programming for the
public. On Sunday, July 19, the Canada Aviation Museum will host
aviators from Vintage Wings of Canada who will fly in aboard, weather
permitting, a North American Harvard, and a De Havilland Tiger Moth,
both in the bright yellow colours associated with one of Canada's major
Second World War efforts the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
(BCATP).
The event will provide the unique opportunity to meet the pilots and
view the aircraft up close and personal. Visitors will be treated to a
presentation and lecture at 11 a.m. by Vintage Wings of Canada pilot
Rob Kostecka, entitled “Flying aircraft from the BCAT.
The Back to Baddeck baton will be passed officially from the Toronto
Aerospace Museum representatives to Mr. Anthony Smyth, Director General
of the Canada Aviation Museum, who is tasked with passing it to the
Canadian Aviation Heritage Centre for the next leg. Mr. Michael Potter,
President and CEO of Vintage Wings of Canada Foundation, will fly the
Ottawa to Montreal leg of the relay to the Pierre Elliot Trudeau
International Airport with Mr. Smyth. They will take the trip in the
Vintage Wings of Canada North American Havard, in the markings of John
Gillespie Magee, author of the timeless poem High Flight (see www.vintagewings.ca for more information).
2009 marks the 100th Anniversary of the first powered,
heavier-than-air, controlled flight in Canada by J.A.D. McCurdy in the
Silver Dart on the frozen surface of the Bras d'Or
Lake near Baddeck, Nova Scotia.
Under the leadership of the Canadian Aeronautical Preservation
Association (CAPA), aviation museums and aviation heritage sites across
Canada are celebrating that milestone with a unique and historically
oriented event. The Back To Baddeck vintage aircraft relay flight
project recognizes 100 years of Canadian achievement in aviation
through a circumnavigation of Canada which launched from Nova Scotia in
March and will end there in September after completing 36 flight legs
involving a wide variety of civil and military aircraft.
Stay in touch to find out more information on all the Museum's centennial activities and events. Visit our website at www.aviation.technomuses.ca.
The Canada Aviation Museum, listed in Canada's Top Ten New and Exciting
Destinations for the Summer Travel Season, is Canada's finest aviation
museum with an internationally renowned aeronautical collection. The
Museum, a component of the Canada Science and Technology Museum
Corporation, is located at the intersection of Aviation and Rockcliffe
Parkways, just 10 minutes from Parliament Hill.
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