The Silver Dart and the Dawn of Flight in Canada
McCurdy had dubbed the machine Silver for the coating on its wings and Dart just because it seemed obvious. Someone cracked the propeller and McCurdy signaled to the crowd to get out of the way.
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Create AccountMcCurdy had dubbed the machine Silver for the coating on its wings and Dart just because it seemed obvious. Someone cracked the propeller and McCurdy signaled to the crowd to get out of the way.
A collision between a school bus and a freight train on 7 October 1966 killed 19 students from Cité-des-Jeunes secondary school near Vaudreuil, Quebec, and their bus driver. The crash is among the worst road disasters in Canadian history.
The SkyTrain is the rapid transit rail system serving Metro Vancouver, British Columbia. It uses mostly Advanced Light Rapid Transit (ALRT) technology, an automated rail system that operates mainly on a raised guideway, although some sections run underground or at street level. Regular service began 3 January 1986. The SkyTrain’s opening coincided with Expo 86, the world’s fair hosted by Vancouver as part of its 100th anniversary celebrations. The system is run by TransLink, the provincial transit agency for the South Coast of British Columbia. It was the world’s first driverless urban rail system. Now, it is one of the longest fully automated rapid transit systems in the world. The SkyTrain has three lines connecting 53 stations in seven municipalities. In 2018, it had more than 495,000 boardings per weekday, on average.
This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on December 29, 1997. Partner content is not updated.
Like thousands of other Canadians last week, Krista Kitchen was headed home for the holidays. Flying into Fredericton from Toronto aboard Air Canada Flight 646, the 23-year-old University of Western Ontario student was looking forward to Christmas with family and friends.This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on July 29, 1996. Partner content is not updated.
O'Callaghan was one of the first people in Canada to drive the Impact, a compact electric vehicle (known as an EV) that will soon be the subject of a joint research project by General Motors Corp., B.C. Hydro and the British Columbia government.On 28 May 1980, 22 workers on a Canadian Pacific Railway steel crew were killed in a bus accident on the Trans-Canada Highway near Webb, Saskatchewan, west of Regina. It was one of the deadliest motor vehicle disasters in Canadian history.
There have been many tragic events in Canada’s aviation history. Some of these have involved Canadian aircraft, commercial as well as non-commercial. In other cases, many Canadians have died in the crash of a non-Canadian aircraft. Crashes that occurred over Canadian soil, or search and rescue efforts in which Canadians have played a large part, are also part of this history.
The White Pass & Yukon Route railway was built to meet the demand for transportation to the gold fields of the Yukon River basin during the Klondike Gold Rush. Completed in 1900, it was a feat of engineering and one of the steepest railways in North America. It ran 177 km from Skagway, Alaska, to Whitehorse, Yukon. Today, tourist rail excursions run on a portion of the original line.
Aviation, the art and science of flying, has been a practical reality since the early 20th century. Canadians have participated in its development almost from its inception.
Military aviation began with the use of balloons for observation as early as 1794, during the French Revolution.
Mackinaw Boat, a strong flat-bottomed boat, pointed at each end and with a hold in the middle, was used by fur traders during the French regime for running downstream. It was later adapted for open water by the addition of 2 sails and a steering oar. By the 1870s a distinctive type, 6.7 m to 8.
Icebreakers were first used in the Canadian Arctic in the 1920s to deliver supplies and services to Native and isolated settlements during the short summer season, and to back up claims of Canadian sovereignty over the NORTHWEST PASSAGE and ARCTIC ARCHIPELAGO.
Transport Canada is the federal government department responsible for the regulation and administration of transportation policies, programs and services to promote the safety and efficiency of the national transportation system.
Until recent times, the umiak — which means “open skin boat” in Inuktitut — was the primary method of summer transport for coastal Inuit, used for moving family and possessions to seasonal hunting areas and for whaling expeditions.
The Nova Scotia Nautical Institute was an institute for seamanship training founded in 1872. It was common in England and Canada, which followed England in marine matters, to have people called "crammers" to assist mariners to pass their examinations, following apprenticeship on board ship.
The Royal Commission on Transportation (MacPherson Commission) was appointed by the federal government (1959) to investigate transportation policy, particularly freight-rate inequities.
Although the Scandinavians claim to have pioneered the RO-RO concept, the first purpose-built RO-RO ferry was the Motor Princess, launched at Esquimalt, BC, in 1923 for Canadian Pacific. It ended its long career with British Columbia Ferry Corporation in the 1970s as the Pender Queen.
The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow (the Arrow) was a supersonic interceptor jet aircraft designed and built in the 1950s by A.V. Roe Canada (Avro). The Arrow was one of the most advanced aircraft of its era, helping to establish Canada as a world leader in scientific research and development.
Though the Arrow was widely praised for its power and beauty, the program was cancelled in February 1959 by the government of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. This resulted in the loss of at least 25,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Many believe that the Arrow’s cancellation was a betrayal of Canada’s aerospace industry. Others assert that the jet was extravagant and had little chance of competing with impending innovations. At best, Avro and the Arrow were historic examples of Canadian ingenuity and intriguing case studies of unrealized potential.
The CF-100 Canuck, manufactured by A.V. Roe Canada (Avro), was the first jet fighter designed and built entirely in Canada. It flew in front-line air defence from 1953 until the early 1960s.
Control was the problem, and the men who showed the way to the practical helicopter were Juan de la Cierva of Spain, with his autogyros, Heinrich Rocke of Germany and Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky of Russia and the US.