Page 22 - Feb2020

Various aircraft in an international air race Toronto
to New York
*September 24,1919 - Earliest mail flown between
Nova Scotia & PEI - Lts Laurie Stevens & L.L. Barnhill
Truro NS to Charlottetown PEI

*Dates such as 16 August and 24 September have
potential re-enactment opportunities...

We have honoured and commemorated Canada’s First
World War Airmen. Now, 2019 – Welcome to the
Centennials of The Golden Age of Aviation

The flying years from 1919 to 1939 began with slow,
fabric covered, wooden biplanes and developed over

twenty years into high speed, aluminum skinned,
monoplanes. During this period many aviation ‘Firsts’ 1943 Saint-Donat RCAF Liberator III crash
were accomplished by pioneering pilots and ground
crew. The promise of a rapid delivery method for the
nation’s Royal Mail spurred these early efforts.

Noteworthy air mail events one hundred years ago are:
rd
March 3 ,1919 - First official international Air mail Pilot
Eddie Hubbard & W.E. Boeing - Vancouver BC to Seattle
WA
th
May 18 , 1919 - First letters across Puget Sound &
return Pilot Lt Robert Rideout & H. Brown - Victoria BC
to Seattle WA & Return
th
June 14 ,1919 - First mail across the Atlantic non-stop The 1943 Saint-Donat Liberator III Crash was an
Capt John Alcock & Lt Arthur Whitten Brown - St John’s aerial accident that killed 24 people — the worst
NF to Clifden, Ireland accident in Canadian military aviation history.

th
August 7 , 1919 - First mail over the Rocky Mountains During a routine flight from Gander, Newfoundland
in Canada. Capt Ernest C. Hoy - Vancouver BC to and Labrador to Mont-Joli, Quebec, a combination
Calgary AB via Lethbridge of inclement weather and a mapping error caused
the Liberator to collide with the Black Mountain,
th
*August 16 , 1919 - Earliest mail flown on Vancouver
killing all those on board. The wreckage was
Island: James Gray & Gordon Cameron - Victoria BC to discovered accidentally more than two years later.
Nanaimo BC
Today, a hiking trail leads to the site where remains
th
August 25 , 1919 - Earliest Mail flown between Toronto
of the aircraft can still be seen along with numerous
& New York
plaques detailing the accident and a monument
honouring those who died.