News
Cross-country Centennial Vintage flight relay arrives at the Canadian Aviation Museum

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.