Just For Fun

Take a Flight on the Concorde

Nasa's Jets

The Snowbirds are the fearless Canadian Air Demonstration Squadron. The nine-plane team amazes crowds with formations like the Big Diamond, Concorde, and Canada Burst. Their average air speed during shows is 525 km/h. Plane wing tips often overlap by about 1.25 metres. During the 25 minutes of show time, the Snowbirds demonstrate 50 separate maneuvers with less than ten seconds in between.

The Snowbirds first performed in July 1971. They gave 27 shows that season. Since then, the Snowbirds have given over 1,000 performances, including one at the opening ceremonies of the 1988 Calgary Olympics. This year marks the 26th season of the Snowbirds. By the end of 1996, they will have added another 75 shows in 50 locations to their impressive performance total.

The Snowbirds fly a jet trainer, the Canadair CT-114 Tudor, while performing their aerial wizardry. The Tudor (painted red, white, and blue for the Snowbirds) is especially good for the slow speeds and quick movements required in an air show. Smoke tanks are attached to the Tudor to add colourful flourishes to formations.


	When was the first passenger flight in Canada? On May 15, 1914, Theodore Macaulay flew Lou Marsh, a sports writer, from Toronto to Hamilton, Ontario and back. When was the first airmail flight in Canada? Captain Brian A. Peck, R.A.F., made the first official airmail flight on June 24, 1918, taking the mail from Montreal to Toronto. Who was the first to fly across the Canadain Rockies? In August 1919, after zigzagging between mountain peaks, barely scraping over treetops, and fighting strong winds, Captain Ernest C. Hoy became the first to fly across the Canadian Rockies. He landed in Calgary 16 hours 42 minutes after taking off from Vancouver. (It was also the first air mail flight across the Rockies.) A. V. Roe Canada test flew its Avro Jetliner on August 10, 1949, making Canada the second country to produce a jet transport. It was never put into production because no one was sure how it would sell.

	The Avro Arrow was a Canadian jet fighter tested in 1958. With its American jet engines, the test jet flew over 1920 km/h and five more were built. A new model with Canadian engines was soon ready to go, but the Canadian government canceled the project. High costs were given as the reason, but many people did not accept this explanation. A huge ruckus developed, but the government refused to change its decision.

Return to Flight