CAHS Manitoba's next meeting, on Thursday 29 October at 7 pm CDT, will feature chapter secretary Bill Zuk, who will speak on the history of Atlantic crossings by air. Bill's story began a decade ago, when the first of a series of journeys to Canada's Maritime provinces led to visits to the places where aviation history was made in the transatlantic era where aviators tested their frail aircraft against the dangers of the North Atlantic crossing. The locations included St. John's Newfoundland. where Alcock and Brown had triumphed over a collection of adventurers who also wanted to win the Daily Mail £10,000 award. In trying to retrace their steps to find Lester's Field, the small unprepared strip where the pair had taken off, I found it was not marked on any map, but a day of sleuthing finally led to a modern day Royal Canadian Legion that stands on the same ground. Trips to other Newfoundland sites were just as unusual from Trepassey where Curtiss NC Flying Boats made the first flight across the North Atlantic, albeit in a series of hops in 1919. The small outport and harbour was also where the Friendship later set off in 1928 with the first woman to cross the Atlantic on board, a virtual unknown aviatrix, Amela Earhart. In 1932, Earhart returned to fly solo from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland to Ireland. Other famous flights took me to Gander where the RCAF carried out wartime ferry missions, to the less well known Cartwright where Italian General Balbo had set down after a formation flight across the Atlantic and even DIldo (yes, Dildo) which was the end point of an aerial crossing by the massive Dornier DO.X. There were other trips to New Brunswick to St. John to trace where Amelia's newspaper had come from- more about this curio later. Prince Edward Island led me to where CFB Summerside, now gone, was an important waypoint much like Gander had become, especially on 9/11. Stay tuned for more stories of the men and women who flew the North Atlantic. Bill's bio is below.
The meeting poster is here. This meeting will be online only. To attend, you must sign up at www.bit.ly/CAHS-MB, no later than three hours before the meeting, so that we can send you the link. Our events are free and open to CAHS members and everyone interested in Canadian aviation history.
Our next meeting will be Thursday 26 November at 7 pm CDT.