Celebrating 100 Years of Flight in Canada
This year we celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Powered Flight in Canada—the 85th Anniversary of the RCAF—and the 60th Anniversary of NATO. We honour the achievement of Canada’s military tradition through music and perfomances that are, at once, entertaining and educational. We will pay special tribute to the young heroes and veterans of service in Afghanistan and Bosnia who will form the 2009 Tattoo Veterans Guard of Honour. Tattoo 2009 is taking place in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on June 13 at 7:30 p.m. and June 14 at 2:30 p.m., 2009.
TATTOO 2009 WAS A ROUSING SUCCESS! A sincere thank you to all who participated and attended. Next years shows take place June 12–13, 2010.
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TIME TILL TATTOO 2010:
A New Era in Canadian History
In the winter of 1909, one hundred years ago, a few flight enthusiasts trudged across the frozen waters of Cape Breton's Bras d'Or Lake in Nova Scotia, Canada hauling a curious contraption behind a horse-drawn sleigh. The experimental aircraft was constructed of bamboo, ash, spruce, metal tubing, and wire cable, with the wings sporting a covering of silver-coloured, rubberized balloon cloth—spawning the moniker Silver Dart. A gathering of about a hundred people witnessed the first powered flight to take place in Canada and the British Empire, marking a turning point in our nation’s history.
The Silver Dart was designed and built by the Aerial Experiment Association, a small group of flight enthusiasts recruited by Alexander Graham Bell. The Silver Dart, dismantled after successful flights in New York state, was transported to Bell's home town in Baddeck leading to its maiden flight in Canada on February 23, 1909, piloted by a young engineering graduate and AEA member, John Alexander Douglas McCurdy.
The Silver Bird Rises
The aircraft (called an aerodrome by Bell) had a wingspan of 14.9 metres (just under 49 feet) and weighed 390 kilograms (about 890 pounds), including the pilot. McCurdy was the principal designer and Glenn H. Curtiss was the developer of the aircraft's revolutionary water-cooled engine. On its second attempt, the silver-winged air machine, after moving forward approximately 30 metres (98 feet), lifted 3 to 9 metres (10 to 30 feet) into the air, reaching a speed of approximately 65 kilometres per hour (40 miles per hour) for a distance of 0.8 kilometre (or about a half a mile).
The Silver Dart flew more than 200 times before it was damaged beyond repair during military trials in August of 1909 in Petawawa, Ontario. The engine was later retrieved and restored and is now on display at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa. A full-scale model of the Silver Dart may be found in Ottawa's National Aviation Museum. Of special interest to Hamiltonians is the February 6, 2009 flight of a replica of the famous Silver Dart, piloted by Canadian astronaut, Bjarni Tryggvason, at Hamilton International Airport.
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The Canadian International Military Tattoo is a not-for-profit organization.
Charitable number 87591 7817 RR0001.