Avro 504

   It was recognized from the beginning that the Curtiss JN-4(Canadian) would have some shortcomings as a trainer. One drawback was the impossibility of fitting a rotary engine in order to familiarize pupils with its peculiarities, and as pupils went overseas it was soon evident that the aircraft’s low power and large size did not prepare them to go directly on to Service-type aircraft. To alleviate these problems it was proposed to add Avro 504Js for rotary training in Canada and the 80 hp Le Rhone-powered Sopwith Pup for Service training and that Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd would start Pup production in early 1918. Maj R. R. Smith-Barry had shown in England that the Avro 504J was an excellent trainer and that pupils could go directly from it to Service-type machines.
   The problem with the Avro 504J was it was only possible to fit it with the 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape which was in short supply. To overcome this the Avro 504K was designed to accept three types of rotary engines, the 100 hp Gnome B Monosoupape, the 110 hp Le Rhone 9J or the 130 hp Clerget 9B. The Clerget-powered 504K was then selected for production by Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd.
   The original Avro 504 had been designed in 1913, and when it entered the Royal Flying Corps it was considered a standard Service type. Early in the war it bombed the Zeppelin sheds at Friedrichshafen and later was used for anti-Zeppelin patrols; but it really only came into its proper element when developed as a trainer by Smith-Barry, along with his new method of flying instruction. In postwar years its usage became world-wide and during that period it undoubtedly served in more countries than any other single type.
   An order for 500 machines was given to Canadian Aeroplanes in July 1918 and the agreed production schedule was that there should be one in September, two in October, twenty in November, one hundred in each of the four following months and seventy-seven in April 1919. Canadian Aeroplanes redesigned the 504K to take JN-4(Canadian) fittings in order to minimize new tooling, and a complete new undercarriage was fitted featuring an unusual three legs on each side. Also, the cowling design was altered and two instruments were fitted forward of the front cockpit outside the coaming. Neither Canadian Aeroplanes nor the RAF (Canada) had given this new 504 variant a distinctive designation by the time of the Armistice so to distinguish it from its British counterpart and keep the historical record straight it is designated the Avro 504(Canadian).
   The United States Government became interested in the Avro 504 and was considering making it in the USA. When production was being set up in Canada authorization was given to order 100 of the Avro 504(Canadian)s which were to be identical to the standard machine but fitted with the 100 hp Gnome Monosoupapes to be supplied by the United States. Deliveries were to begin in October 1918 and be completed in February 1919, but since the engines were not available the order was not placed.
   The Canadian prototype, C1501, was delivered to the School of Aerial Fighting, Beamsville, Ontario, on 1 October, 1918, and tested there shortly afterwards by Capt A. E. Godfrey (later AVM Godfrey RCAF) accompanied by G. N. Duffy, General Superintendent, Canadian Aeroplanes, as passenger. Only one more machine was completed before the Armistice and the contract cancellation. The fate of these two aircraft is not known but G. N. Duffy has stated that the second machine, C1502, and parts for eight others were sold to F. G. Ericson and associates. Presumably it would have been sold for civil use, probably in the United States for there is no record of it being used in Canada.
   In 1919, sixty-two Avro 504Ks were given to Canada as part of the Imperial Gift of 114 aircraft and they became the standard trainer of the Canadian Air Force and its successor, the Royal Canadian Air Force.
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Avro 504(Canadian)
   One 130hp Clerget 9B. Span 36ft (10-97m); length 28ft (8-54m) approx; height 10 ft 5in (3-17 m); wing area 330sqft (30-66 sq m). Weights and performance similar to British-built Clerget-powered Avro 504K.

de Havilland D.H.6(Canadian)

   While the Curtiss JN-4(Can) had been decided on as the standard trainer of the RFC(Canada), it was felt that an alternative machine should be available. The D.H.6 was selected for this purpose and, as soon as the JN-4(Can) production permitted, the engineering department and experimental shop of Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd started work on it, probably in the spring of 1917.
   The D.H.6 was a British trainer then in favour in some quarters of the RFC. It had been designed with ease of production in mind, resulting in a somewhat inelegant angular appearance, and had some reprehensible features which earned it nicknames such as ‘Clutching Hand’ and ‘Sky Hook’. The 90 hp RAF, 90 hp Curtiss OX-2, 80 hp Renault, and 140 hp Hispano Suiza engines were all used to power the British versions.
   The version selected for Canada was an early one with wide-chord unstaggered wings, and it was proposed that a Curtiss OX engine be fitted. Canadian Aeroplanes changed all fittings to those used in the JN-4(Can). They extended the longerons forward to engage a JN-4(Can) spider fitting which supported the radiator and the forward ends of the engine bearers, and the fuselage plywood covering was extended forward to the radiator. Anti-drag wires were added from the front of the longerons to the wings in a similar manner to the JN-4(Can). What appears to have been an oil drain line extended from the port side of the nose and down to the undercarriage spreader bar to lead any drips clear of the machine.
   The undercarriage was redesigned to take JN-4(Can) fittings and axle. The JN-4(Can) flight-control system was installed but the cross shaft behind the rear seat protruded through the fuselage fabric and was fitted with an external elevator-operating lever on each side.
   The D.H.6 project in Canada seems to have been instigated by Lt-Col C. G. Hoare (later Brig-Gen), commanding officer of the RFC (Canada), who is reported to have followed its progress closely. The machine was completed in July 1917 and taken to Leaside Aerodrome on the northwest outskirts of Toronto where he test flew it.
   The prototype was unnumbered and unmarked, with roundels and rudder stripes added later. It was retained at Leaside Aerodrome and used as a ‘hack’ aircraft to enable administrative officers to keep their hands in, and Capt W. A. Bishop, vc, visiting Canada on leave, flew it at Leaside on 27 October, 1917. Its fate is not known; if it survived the war it quite possibly would have been purchased by F. G. Ericson and associates along with the Curtiss JN-4(Can)s, but it did not appear on the 1920 Canadian civil aircraft register.
   The sole aircraft produced was the first British type to be licence-built in Canada.

   One 90 hp Curtiss OX-2. Span 35 ft 11 1/8 in (10-95 m); length 27 ft 11in (8-51 m) approx; height 10ft 9 1/2 in (3-29m); wing area 436-3sqft (40-53sqm). Empty weight 1,530lb (695kg)*; loaded weight 1,926lb (874kg)*. Maximum speed 75 mph (120-7km/h)*; climb 6,500ft (1,981 m) in 35min*; service ceiling 6,100ft (1,859m)*.

*Figures for D.H.6(Can) are not available but they should be very similar to these official figures for a British OX-powered D.H.6.

Vickers Viking IV

   In late 1922 the CAF called for tenders on a flying-boat to replace the Curtiss HS-2L, and a prime requirement was that the aircraft was to be built in Canada. Two tenders were received, one from Laurentide Air Service of Montreal, and the other from Canadian Vickers, also of Montreal.
   Laurentide Air Service’s unsuccessful proposal was a flying-boat with a Linton Hope type hull designed by Major D. C. M. Hume.
Canadian Vickers proposed the parent company’s Viking IV. The contract was awarded on 23 February, 1923, for eight Viking IVs, and almost certainly a large factor in granting the contract was that some were wanted for operations the next summer and the Viking IV was already being made in Britain. The first two machines were to be shipped, without engines, from England and the final six to be made by Canadian Vickers.
   The Viking IV was the fourth in a family of single-engined amphibious flyingboats developed since the war and, although the Viking III had won an Air Ministry prize for amphibians, the Viking IV was the first to go into production. It was made in a surprising number of versions, none of which received a differentiating designation. It could be obtained with either a 46 ft (14-02 m) or a 50 ft (15-24 m) span wing. The standard wing was of RAF 15 section, but one of high-lift T34 section could be supplied, although it was potentially lethal for an unwary pilot. If required, the wings could fold forward for convenient stowage. The passengers and crew could be housed either in a cabin or in open cockpits. The 450 hp Napier Lion was the standard powerplant but the 360 hp Rolls-Royce Eagle was an alternative. Also, the elevators were found to be inadequate on aircraft with the 50 ft (15-24 m) wing span and had to be increased in chord.
   The Viking IV chosen by the CAF had the 50 ft wing with the RAF 15 section and without wing-folding. The crew was housed in open cockpits, but an additional camera position was provided in the nose and the wide-chord elevators fitted. The Rolls-Royce Eagle version was chosen, primarily for reasons of economy, and the CAF already had some Eagle VIIIs in stock which were fitted until replaced by Eagle IXs. With the Eagle, the Viking IV was considerably underpowered and this was to continue to plague its crews.
   The Viking IV hull was constructed with the main longitudinal members of American elm, intermediate longitudinal members and transverse frames of spruce, and was planked with two-ply mahogany. The amphibian gear was manually operated, and a steerable tailskid was fitted. The wing and tail surfaces were of conventional wooden construction. The engine was supported by faired tubular-steel struts while the interplane struts were of wood.
   The two British-built machines were assembled by Canadian Vickers and the RCAF’s engines installed. They were first tested on 15 and 24 June, 1923, respectively. The first Canadian Vickers built Viking IV, G-CYEU, was completed in July, a creditable performance for the construction of its first machine. A launching ceremony was held on 25 July, 1923, attended by various dignitaries, and the launch was made by Mrs G. J. Desbarats, wife of the Deputy Minister of National Defense. Immediately afterwards the prototype was flown for the first time, from the St Lawrence by Wing Cmdr J. L. Gordon accompanied by Wing Cmdr E. W. Stedman as technical observer. Two more machines were completed in August, two in October and the last in November.
   The Viking IVs were put into service immediately and were used at a number of RCAF bases but primarily in Manitoba. Their main duty in their early years was survey and their secondary duty transport work. When the Canadian Vickers Vedettes and Fairchild FC-2s entered service, the Viking IVs were assigned entirely to transport.
   In RCAF service the amphibian gear was very seldom used for landing - there were few aerodromes - but it was normally left installed as a convenient beaching gear. Although five seats were provided, they were normally limited to carrying three people, the pilot and two others, apparently in deference to the low-powered Eagle engine.
   The Viking IVs were soon found to have poor characteristics in the water, Group Capt J. S. Scott wrote Canadian Vickers in August 1924 as follows: 'In taking off the Viking requires too long a run for our requirements and in any kind of a moderately rough sea it requires great skill - to get the machine off the water. When taxi-ing in any kind of a rough sea it is very difficult to control the direction besides the difficulty of preventing the cockpit from filling up. So far we have been unable to find a way to land the Viking consistently without porpoising.' However, later handling instructions noted that an alighting could be made without porpoising if a fast level alighting was made; but it was then immediately cautioned that this procedure should not be used because of the danger of taking the bottom out of the hull.
   Three-blade Leitner-Watt ground-adjustable pitch propellers were proposed to be fitted in an attempt to improve the Viking IV’s performance, and at least one. 'EZ, had such a propeller installed. This programme was cancelled after the near-catastrophic failure of a Leitner-Watt propeller experimentally fitted to the Napier Lion powered Viking IV, G-CAEB. of Laurentide Air Service.
   In an attempt to increase the Viking IV’s power at low cost, the engineering of a 400 hp Liberty engine installation was completed by the RCAF in October 1924. While no official record or photographs have been found, the late Alan Ferrier wrote that he supervised its installation at Victoria Island, Ottawa, and that it was test flown by Wing Cmdr A. B. Shearer, with himself as observer, in the spring of 1925. The only Viking IV stationed at Ottawa was the British-built G-CYES and it was written off on 2 August, 1925. No other Liberty installation is known.
   In the third year of service some structural problems arose. On 22 July, 1926, 'EY was being landed at Kashabowie Lake, Ontario, by Fl Off A. L. Morfee, when a tip float dug in and the hull broke in two. On 31 July, 1926, the hull of ’EW broke in two while being taken off by Pilot Off E. J. Durnin at Victoria Beach, Manitoba. Finally, on 11 July, 1927, the hull of ’ET, a British-built machine, failed in the air, killing Pilot Off W. C. Weaver, AC1 J. T. Eardley, and F. W. Wrong, a Dominion Land Surveyer. A structural test made on ’EU at Winnipeg practically duplicated the failure in ’ET. A modification strengthening the hull locally was installed and no further failures had occurred when the last remaining Viking IV was struck from strength in May 1931.

   One 360hp Rolls-Royce Eagle VIII or IX. Span 50ft (15-24m); length 34ft (10-36m); height 15 ft 1 in (4-6 m); wing area 594 sq ft (55-2sq m). Empty weight 3,750 lb (1,701 kg); loaded weight 5,600lb (2,541kg). Maximum speed 102mph (164km/h); cruising speed 80mph (128km/h); climb 1,000ft (305m) in 1-9min; service ceiling 9,000ft (2,743m).

Bell Cygnet II and III

   Dr Alexander Graham Bell had a great interest in the tetrahedral cell and its application to kites and while recognizing its high drag he felt that the possibility of building large banks of cells with low weight and good aerodynamic stability would outweigh the disadvantage. Following the successful flying of the Cygnet I as a man-carrying kite Bell decided to proceed with the construction of a powered tetrahedral kite, the Cygnet II, his Drome No.5 in 1908.
   The Cygnet II was a large aircraft spanning 52 ft 6 in (16 m) at the top of its massive bank of 2,152 cells which tapered to 40 ft (12 m) at the bottom. A biplane forward elevator and rear rudder were fitted in a similar manner to those used on the aircraft of the Aerial Experiment Association. The machine was mounted on three steel-tube skids for flying off the ice at Baddeck, Nova Scotia. The Curtiss engine from the Silver Dart was borrowed and mounted as a pusher and the aircraft was completed on 19 February, 1909.
   J. A. D. McCurdy attempted to fly the Cygnet II on 22 February but the engine was not running well and the trial was stopped. The engine was then transferred to the Silver Dart and then back again following the Silver Dart's successful flight of 23 February, the first in Canada.
   New trials were made by McCurdy on 24 February but the machine did not rise. After modifications a further trial was made on 15 March which was again unsuccessful. Dr Bell felt that the engine was not powerful enough for the large aircraft, and he hoped to install the Kirkham engine from the Canadian Aerodrome Baddeck No. 1 later but this was not done and no further trials were made.
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   Both the Cygnet II and III were built by Beinn Breagh Laboratory. Beinn Breagh. Gaelic for Mountain Beautiful and pronounced similarly to Ben Vreeah, was the name of Dr Alexander Graham Bell's estate at Baddeck.


Cygnet II
   One 50 hp Curtiss eight-cylinder. Span at top 16 m (52 ft 6 in), span at bottom 12 m (40 ft). Number of cells 2,152. Loaded weight 9501b (430 kg).

   Both aircraft were designed to metric dimensions.

Bell Oionus I

   After the disbanding of the Aerial Experiment Association at the end of March 1909, in addition to helping F. W. (Casey) Baldwin and J. A. D. McCurdy establish the Canadian Aerodrome Co, Dr Bell had appointed them engineer and assistant engineer respectively at his Laboratory on his Beinn Breagh estate.
   Following the failure of the Cygnet II, Dr Bell temporarily gave up the idea of making a powered tetrahedral kite; instead he decided to go ahead with a machine incorporating as much tetrahedral construction as possible, and the responsibility for its design and construction was given to Baldwin and McCurdy.
   The resulting aircraft was a triplane, the first and only Canadian designed triplane, and its centre plane was of greater span than the others and had ailerons at its tips. A biplane elevator at the front and a fixed biplane tail and rudder at the rear were carried by a tubular-steel structure. A four-wheeled chassis or running gear was provided. The pilot was seated in front of the wings while the engine and radiator were mounted at the rear. The engine drove a pusher propeller through a chain and sprockets.
   At the end of February 1910 the aircraft was complete except for its undelivered engine, a 40 hp Kirkham. A Curtiss four-cylinder, air-cooled, engine rated at 16 hp was therefore installed and some ground trials and some minor modifications were made. As the new engine had still not arrived and the ice was disappearing from Baddeck Bay, the intended testing area, the Kirkham engine from the Canadian Aerodrome Baddeck No.2 was borrowed and installed.
   On 25 March, 1910, McCurdy took it out on the ice, and initial ground tests indicated that ballast was needed at the tail. With this added McCurdy succeeded in getting three of the four wheels off the ice. It was then concluded that more incidence was needed.
   However the ice disappeared from the Bay and later in 1910 McCurdy left to join Glenn Curtiss and no further attempts were made to fly Oionus I.

One 40 hp Kirkham. Empty weight 700 lb (317-8 kg) less engine. Details of dimensions and performance not known.

Bell Cygnet II and III

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   Dr Bell’s next experimental powered aircraft was the Oionus I (qv) and while this incorporated some tetrahedral ideas he still wanted to try a powered version of his tetrahedral kite. Construction of the new machine, the Cygnet III, took place during the winter of 1911-12 and was largely the responsibility of J. A. D. McCurdy. McCurdy had been flying with the Curtiss Exhibition Team and had returned, briefly, to Baddeck.
   McCurdy was influenced in the layout of the aircraft by his experience with the latest Curtiss pushers. The Cygnet III had a bank of 360 tetrahedral cells mounted on a typical Curtiss running gear of the period. It was also planned to add additional sections of cells, one at each tip, with 126 cells in each, if more lift was found to be required. There was a forward monoplane elevator and at the rear was a fixed horizontal monoplane tail with movable elevators which worked in conjunction with the forward elevator, an arrangement also borrowed from Curtiss. A conventional vertical rudder was mounted at the rear. A typical Curtiss control column was provided for the pilot but there was no lateral control. The bank of cells was cut away at the centre to accommodate a seven-cylinder 70 hp Gnome rotary engine driving a pusher propeller. The machine was named the Cygnet III.
   The first trial of Cygnet III was on 26 February, 1912, on the ice at Baddeck Bay, and the machine did not have the additional tip extensions. McCurdy attempted a turn during the ground run and a wing hit the ice and was damaged. There was another trial on 9 March when McCurdy succeeded in lifting the machine off but only for about a foot (30 cm). On 17 March he again tried the Cygnet III and on the second run the tetrahedral cell bank failed structurally and the two sides folded upwards. There were no further attempts to fly the aircraft.
   Both the Cygnet II and III were built by Beinn Breagh Laboratory. Beinn Breagh. Gaelic for Mountain Beautiful and pronounced similarly to Ben Vreeah, was the name of Dr Alexander Graham Bell's estate at Baddeck.


Cygnet III
   One 70 hp Gnome Gamma. Span at top 8 m (26 ft 3 in), span at bottom 6 m (19 ft 8? in). Loaded weight 700lb (317-8kg). Speed 43mph (69-2 km/h).

   Both aircraft were designed to metric dimensions.

Canadian Aerodrome Baddeck No.1 and 2

   After the Aerial Experiment Association was disbanded at the end of March 1909 the Association’s Canadian patent rights were assigned to F. W. (Casey) Baldwin and J. A. D. McCurdy. Dr Alexander Graham Bell then suggested that the two engineers should form a company to design and build aircraft and try to interest the Canadian Government in aviation. Also, Dr Bell offered them his Kite House to make their aircraft in and the use of his laboratory at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, as well as financial help.
   Baldwin and McCurdy then formed the Canadian Aerodrome Co, Canada’s first aviation company, and proceeded to design and build the first powered aircraft in Canada, the Baddeck No.1. They adopted the same general layout developed by the A.E.A., tapered wings with dihedral on the lower plane and anhedral on the top plane, and tip ailerons enlarged from those on the A.E.A. Silver Dart. However, they used trussed ribs and covered the wing on both sides, enclosing the spars. They also made a slim fuel tank to fit within the wing structure, an innovation which has since become standard practice and pioneered in the Baddeck No.1. A biplane front elevator was fitted but was cambered, unlike the flat elevator of the Silver Dart. A rudder was mounted at the rear. These control surfaces were carried on steel tubes which replaced the bamboo of the Silver Dart. A six-cylinder 40 hp Kirkham engine was selected as the powerplant.
   The completed machine, less engine, was displayed to Baddeck residents on 9 July, 1909. Meanwhile, Baldwin and McCurdy had accepted the Department of Militia & Defense’s offer of the use of the facilities at Petawawa, Ontario, for their experiments and both the A.E.A. Silver Dart and the Baddeck No.1 were shipped there.
   The Silver Dart was assembled and four familiarization flights were made in it by J. A. D. McCurdy on 2 August but the aircraft crashed on 4 August and was written off. The Baddeck No.1 was then assembled and the Kirkham engine installed. A taxi-ing trial was made by McCurdy on the evening of 11 August, and on the following day a flight of over 100 yd (91-4 m) was made at a height of about 12ft (3-66m), the first flight by a Canadian-made, powered aircraft. Another flight of about 70 yd (64m) was made the next day.
   However McCurdy had experienced trouble controlling the machine and it was returned to Baddeck. The cambered front elevators were thought to cause the difficulty and flat-surfaced elevators were substituted and a fixed biplane horizontal tail added at the rear. Tip ailerons were replaced by between-the-wings ailerons, and some other smaller changes were made.
   The modified Baddeck No.1 was shipped to Montreal in June 1910 to take part in the Montreal Air Meet planned for 25 June to 5 July. McCurdy made unsuccessful flight attempts on 26, 27 and 28 June and then crashed and damaged the Baddeck No.1 the following day.
   The Baddeck No.2 was constructed in the late summer of 1909 and benefited from the Petawawa trials of the Baddeck No.1, and from the beginning had flat biplane front elevators and a fixed rear biplane tail; otherwise it was the same as the Baddeck No.1. After earlier taxi-ing tests the first short flights of about 200 yd (183m) were made by J. A. D. McCurdy on 25 September, 1909, at Baddeck. Fifty-nine flights were made in Baddeck No.2 between then and 12 March, 1910, all at Baddeck, and all, except for three by Baldwin, flown by McCurdy. The best of these was one of 16 miles (25-7 km) around a one mile (1-6 km) course.
   Following this, the Baddeck No.2 was mounted on a single float with outer stabilizing floats under the inner interplane struts. A trial was made on 1 June, 1910, by taking off on turf at the water’s edge and alighting immediately on the water, apparently successfully, although no subsequent flights were made.
   The original wingtip ailerons of the Baddeck No. 1 are now in the Bell Museum at Baddeck, probably the oldest ailerons extant.

One 40 hp Kirkham. Span 40ft (12-19 m); length 33 ft 9 in (10-29 m); height 9 ft 7 in (2-92m); wing area 600 sqft (182-87 sqm). Loaded weight 1,200lb (544-8kg). Performance not known.

Canadian Aerodrome Hubbard Monoplane

   In December 1909 Gardiner Greene Hubbard II of Boston, a first cousin of Mrs A. G. Bell (wife of Dr Alexander Graham Bell), commissioned the Canadian Aerodrome Co to build him a monoplane to his general design, and it was agreed that the powerplant would be a 40 hp Kirkham engine and that the fuselage would be fully enclosed with fabric.
   The construction of this machine accounted for the greater part of the work of the company during January and February 1910 and by March it had been completed. The aircraft was a wire-braced shoulder-wing monoplane, and the engine was mounted well back in the fuselage and drove the propeller through a chain and extension shaft. The radiator was located along the fuselage on the port side. The wings were tapered from 8 ft (2-44 m) chord at the root to 6 ft (1-83 m) at the tips. The wing had box spars and was covered on both upper and lower surfaces with nainsook, a cotton fabric. An aileron was hinged to the trailing edge at the outer end of each wing. Conventional nainsook-covered tail surfaces were fitted.
   The first trial was to be attempted by Hubbard on 19 March, 1910, but minor repairs and then a high wind postponed it. On 22 March the aircraft was given a taxi-ing trial but the engine did not appear to be giving its maximum power and the machine would not take off.
   About a week later the Hubbard monoplane was again taken out on the ice of Baddeck Bay and on a taxi-ing run slewed around on the ice, breaking a wheel and damaging the tailskid. More taxi-ing trials were done on 2 April. However, on 5 April Hubbard succeeded in making nine flights, averaging about 15 seconds duration on each at a height of about 12 ft (3-66 m). The length of the flights was governed by the amount of good ice remaining on the bay. In bringing the machine back to its shed it broke through thin ice and came to rest on its wing, the first time but not the last this sort of difficulty was to plague a pilot in Canada.
   The Hubbard monoplane, also referred to as ‘Mike’, was entered in the Montreal Air Meet of 25 June - 5 July, 1910. Hubbard made one attempt to fly on 4 July which failed. The machine was then exported from Canada and was reported as an entrant in the Harvard Aviation Meet held at Boston during 2-15 September, 1910. There is no evidence that it attended the meeting and there is no further record of the machine.
   The Hubbard monoplane was the first aircraft ever sold in Canada and the first to be exported.

   One 40 hp Kirkham. Span 33 ft 11 in (10-34 m); length 32 ft (9-75 m); height 7 ft 6 in (2-28 m); wing area 220 sq ft (20-44 sq m). Loaded weight 1,000 lb (454 kg). Performance not known.

Gibson Twinplane

   William Wallace Gibson designed and built aircraft in the pioneer days of aviation but what made him unique among the early Canadian experimenters was that he designed his own powerplant as well as the airframe.
   Gibson was born on 28 March, 1876, in Ayrshire, Scotland, and emigrated to Canada in 1882 with his parents who settled in Saskatchewan near Regina, and as a young man ran a general store. Gibson experimented with kites and later with spring-powered aircraft models. He then designed a petrol engine as the first step towards making a full-size flying machine. At the same time he accepted a contract to complete 48 miles of railway line, including the section between Wolseley and Regina, but went bankrupt trying to finish the job.
   He then moved to Victoria and joined a prospector in working a gold mining claim which they developed and sold for $10,000. This enabled Gibson to complete his unfinished engine. It was a four-cylinder four-stroke air-cooled upright engine but when completed and tested suffered from vibration.
   Working with Gibson was a partner who Gibson only identifies as David and who promised to put up $5,000 for the experiment but was only able to produce $500. A new engine was designed and built. This one was a six-cylinder two-stroke air-cooled upright unit of 4 1/2 in (114-3 mm) bore and 4 1/4 in (107-95 mm) stroke which was stated to have produced 40 hp. The engine was made in Victoria except for the crankshaft which was made in New York and the aluminium crankcase which was cast in Seattle. The completed engine weighed 210 lb (95 kg). There is no mention of problems with the engine and it apparently ran satisfactorily from the beginning.
   Gibson then designed an airframe which he called the Twinplane. It was a tandem-wing monoplane of low aspect ratio with a forward elevator for longitudinal control. A pair of rudders was mounted below the rear wing. The pilot was seated below the front wing and behind him was the engine driving a tractor propeller at the front and a contra-rotating propeller at the rear which ran at twice engine speed. A four-wheel undercarriage was fitted. A shoulder-yoke control operated the rudders, but no form of lateral control was provided. No doubt Gibson’s model experience led him to trust the generous dihedral angle of the wings for lateral stability.
   Gibson recorded in verse two preliminary trials -
'Twice we had led our bird to flight
To find the members were too light’.
   The press only recorded one trial on 8 September, 1910, at Mount Tolmie, just outside Victoria. It was found that the undercarriage and wheels were too weak, the engine was too far forward, and some tail bracing needed strengthening.
   The alterations made. Gibson next tried the Twinplane in the early morning of 24 September. The aircraft quickly rose but a slight crosswind drifted it to the right and Gibson aggravated the problem by operating the shoulder harness the wrong way. The machine crashed into some oak trees and Gibson was thrown clear; the engine, which was also thrown forward, fortunately missed Gibson. The machine was damaged beyond repair.

   One 40hp Gibson engine. Span 20ft (6-09m). No other information available.

Gibson Multi-plane

   Following the crash of the Twinplane, Gibson resolved to build another aircraft. Although he used the same engine and some parts from the Twinplane, to pay for the new machine he had to sell his house.
   The new design retained much of his original concept and used the four-wheel undercarriage with the engine mounted approximately centrally between the wheels but this time driving a single pusher propeller.
   The design change was in the wings and control system. Gibson had read Sir Hiram S. Maxim’s Artificial and Natural Flight and became convinced of the value of high aspect ratio wings. So for the tandem monoplane wings of the Twinplane he substituted two sets of very narrow triplane wings (Gibson was quoted as saying ‘None of the lifting parts are over 12in (30cm) in width’), and the forward elevator was altered to a narrow-chord biplane structure. Ailerons were placed on the outer ends of the centre plane of the front set of wings. The pilot’s controls now consisted of foot pedals to operate the rudder, and a wheel to operate the ailerons when rotated and the elevators when moved fore and aft.
   The Multi-plane was built at Ladner, near Victoria, on the ranch of British Columbia’s Lt-Governor Pattison, and $10,000 was reported to have been spent on its construction. It was shown at a Made-in-Canada Fair at Vancouver on 8-14 June, 1911. Its exhibition was the responsibility of Jack Woods who was associated with Gibson but whose role in the construction of the machine is not known. At the Fair, Gibson met Alexander M. Jaap of Forest, Ontario, and he joined Gibson in his experiments. The aircraft was then shipped to Kamloops, British Columbia, where it was exhibited again, and between the two exhibitions some modifications were made to the rear undercarriage.
   The Multi-plane was then shipped to Calgary and taken by horse to Jack Hayes’ ranch about three miles north of the city. It was reported that, beginning early in July, the Multi-plane made a number of successful short flights, with Jaap at the controls as Gibson had promised his wife that he would not fly.
   The most successful flight was the last on 11 August, 1911, and the Calgary Herald reported it as follows: ‘While attempting to make a landing from a height of over 100 feet in the air - Alex Jaap - crashed down into a swampy coulee - and narrowly escaped death. His machine was badly wrecked. Jaap, who had flown about a mile in a test flight, miscalculated the ground on which he proposed to descend, and when within 50 feet of the earth noticed that the turf was honeycombed with badger holes. He attempted to ascend - but it was tod late. His engine had stopped and refused to start again. His only chance - was to drop obliquely into the swampy ground of a nearby coulee. When the machine swooped down into the soft soil the wheels stuck in the mud and the terrific momentum literally tore the aeroplane to pieces. Had it not been for the unusual construction of the machine the motor would have fallen upon him [Jaap] and crushed his life out. As it was he escaped with a few bruises.’
   After the accident Gibson announced that he would ‘rebuild my machine with pressed steel plates’ which he was going to have made in Toronto. It was also reported that when rebuilt it would be flown by P. Julien Chatel, a Calgary man who was stated to have worked with Louis Bleriot in France. The machine was never rebuilt.
   Thanks to the efforts of the well-known Canadian aviation historian, the late Frank H. Ellis, the Gibson engine, Canada’s first aviation engine, was located and is now in the National Aeronautical Collection at Ottawa.

   One 40 hp Gibson engine. Empty weight 700 lb (318 kg). No other information available.

Hamilton Biplane

   In the early summer of 1915 twelve young men in Vancouver formed the Aero Club of British Columbia and put up $200 each. The $2,400 collected was given to William M. Stark (W. M. Stark learned to fly at the Curtiss School at North Island, San Diego, and received Aero Club of America Certificate No. 110 on 10 April, 1912. He bought a Curtiss pusher and returned to Canada with it), who in return agreed to give his Curtiss pusher to the Club, to provide fuel and oil and to teach the twelve to fly. Later, some money was raised by public subscription for the Club. Flight training started in July at the Minoru Race Track on Lulu Island and was then transferred to a field at Terra Nova on Sea Island.
   By November the ground was too wet to be used and the Curtiss pusher was put on a single float. The float was waterlogged and the aircraft sank with Sidney Mowat, the lightest student, on board. The group was then out of funds, and J. R. Seymour, father of one of the students, M. A. Seymour, arranged that they should be attached to the 158th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, for pay and allowances but not for discipline - an unusual arrangement.
   Thomas Foster Hamilton had been born in Seattle in 1894. He built and flew a glider of his own design in 1908 and on 28 May, 1910, flew a powered aircraft of his own construction, the first flight in the State of Washington. In June 1910 Hamilton formed the Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Co at Seattle as an aeronautical supply house, and was agent for Elbridge and, later, Maximotor engines. He constructed and built aircraft of his own design and in 1913 built a Maximotor-powered biplane for export to New Zealand and in 1915 a flying-boat was built and sold.
   Aerial Age Weekly of 12 July, 1915, reported the company as having ‘A large force at work rushing out a speedy tractor biplane - it is believed it will see service in Canada'.
   The aircraft, however, did not come to Canada. It is thought that Hamilton built the machine with that idea, but may have decided to make the machine at Vancouver when he realized the duty that would have to be paid. He established the Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Co Ltd on Fourth Avenue, Vancouver, in late 1915 with an authorized capital of $50,000 divided into 50,000 shares of $1-00 each. It would seem probable that the machine Hamilton built at Vancouver (The aircraft has been reported as a ‘Curtiss-type’ built from Curtiss plans but it can be seen from inspection that this was not so) was very similar, if not identical, to the one he was reported building in Seattle during the summer of 1915.
   The young men, mentioned earlier, went every day from the Armouries on Cambie Street to the shop on Fourth Avenue where they assisted in the construction throughout the winter, and they also did some army drill there with wooden rifles made on the premises.
   The Hamilton Biplane was completed in late April or early May 1916. It was a single-seat two-bay biplane powered by a four-cylinder Maximotor, believed to have been the Model B rated at 60/70 hp (Several four-cylinder Maximotor engines were identical in appearance but differed in bore and stroke and, consequently, power), but quite probably delivering somewhat less. The wheels of the undercarriage were located almost directly beneath the centre of gravity and two skids projected forward to prevent overturning.
   Hamilton formed the British Columbia Aviation School to operate the aircraft, and he tested it at the Minoru Race Track on Lulu Island, probably in May 1916.
   The aircraft was found unsatisfactory for the School’s purposes and was modified to a two-seat machine. A second cockpit was added under the centre section, an extra bay was added to the wings, two small wheels were fitted at the front of the undercarriage skids, and the 75 hp Curtiss O engine from Stark’s Curtiss pusher was installed.
   Instruction on the modified aircraft was done at Coquitlam, about 25 miles (40 km) east of Vancouver. Incidentally, the Union Flag on the fuselage and the roundels on the wings of the modified machine were the first national insignia to appear in Canadian skies although the School was not a national organization. Later in the year the aircraft crashed after an engine failure while being flown by C. O. Rayner, and the operation of the School stopped.
   Hamilton returned to the United States and joined the Aircraft Department of Matthews Bros Manufacturing Ltd at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as General Manager. It established a good reputation for fine propellers and Hamilton took over the business in 1919 and formed the Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Co at Milwaukee to continue the business. This was the third company of the same name that he had formed. It was later joined with the Standard Steel Propeller Co and became the Hamilton Standard Propeller Corporation which became the largest and best known propeller company. Hamilton also formed the Hamilton Metalplane Co at Milwaukee in 1927.

   Dimensions, weights and performance not known.

Hoffar H-1

   In 1915 Henry and James Hoffar, boat builders of Vancouver, decided to build an aircraft. They took as their general pattern the Avro 500 which they had seen in a magazine. However, the structure detail had to be designed and, since they wanted a seaplane, so did the entire float installation. Their successful single-float installation served as the pattern for the 1919 Hoffar float installation on the Curtiss JN-4(Canadian). These two were the only single-float installations designed in Canada.
   The Roberts 6X engine selected to power the aircraft was a two-stroke six-cylinder inline water-cooled type rated at 75 hp. The 6X and the similar four-cylinder 4X were probably the most successful of the pioneer American two-cycle aircraft engines. They were made by the Roberts Motor Co, Sandusky, Ohio, originally founded by E. W. Roberts, a former assistant to Sir Hiram Maxim during his aeronautical experiments of 1893-94, to make marine engines.
   The wing of the Hoffar H-1 was made of spruce. The front spar was of a solid D section while the rear spar was routed out for lightness and the ribs made from laminated spruce. Each panel was braced with piano wire. The fuselage was of spruce and ash cross braced with piano wire and had ash engine bearers. The tail surfaces were made of ash. The whole machine was covered with unbleached cotton except for the forward portion of the fuselage which appears to have been covered by sheet metal. There were no cockpit instruments. Construction of the aircraft, which had to be fitted in between boat building, took about four months.
   Neither brother had flown but it was agreed that they should be able to get the feel of the controls by taxi-ing along the water and then should be able to rise, say, ten feet off the water. James Hoffar won the toss and with him on board Henry towed the H-1 to the centre of Burrard Inlet. The aircraft was taxied away for about a mile and then turned and headed back towards Henry in the boat. By the time the aircraft was abreast of the boat it was clear of the water and was soon at about 100 ft (30 m). This was not according to plan and alarmed Henry considerably. James made a flat turn near North Vancouver and headed back towards the boat, gradually losing altitude until he alighted on the water at full throttle about a hundred yards from the boat.
   James Hoffar explained that the H-1 was airborne before he realized what was happening and he felt the best thing to do was to descend very gradually until he was on the water. The brothers taught themselves to fly in this manner and continued to operate the H-1 until the following year when, feeling its wires were getting too rusty for safety, they scrapped it, but the float remained in use for some time as a boat.

   One 75 hp Roberts 6X. Span 36ft (10-97m); length 35 ft 1 1/2 in (10-7m) approx; height 7ft 1 1/2 in (2-32m) approx; wing area 330sqft (30-65sqm). Weights and performance are not known.

Hoffar H-2 and H-3

   Following the scrapping of the successful H-1 seaplane the Hoffar brothers built two flying-boats, designed by Henry Hoffar as the H-2 and H-3. Unfortunately very little is known about these aircraft.
   The H-2 was a three-bay equal-span biplane with ailerons on each wing. It had two seats and was powered by the Roberts 6X engine and propeller which had been used in the H-1.
   Writing many years later, Henry Hoffar stated that the H-2 was flying in 1917 and the H-3 in 1918 but there is evidence that this was not true.
   During the construction of the H-2 the British Columbia Forestry Department became interested in it for forest patrol and agreed to charter the aircraft after the Hoffars had completed about an hour’s test flying. So after it was launched on 3 September, 1918, James Hoffar took off from the Immigration Wharf, climbed to 5,000 ft and circled over Hollyburn Mountain for an hour, and terminated the flight with a perfect alighting, his first in a flying-boat.
   The Forestry Department took over the flying-boat immediately after the flight and on the following day their pilot, Lt Victor A. Bishop, set off on a flight in the H-2. The engine stopped and the machine entered a spin and crashed into a house on Brute Street in Vancouver. The pilot suffered only minor injuries but the H-2 was a total wreck.
   Soon after this, work was begun on the H-3 which, from the meagre details that can be seen in a photograph of the wrecked H-2, seems to have been merely a refined and more powerful version of the H-2. It was a two-seat flying-boat with equal-span wings and ailerons on each, powered by a six-cylinder water-cooled Hall-Scott L-5-a engine of 150 hp.
   The life of the H-3 was also short for it struck a deadhead during take off for a projected flight to Victoria, with both Hoffars on board. The aircraft was a total loss but the Hoffars suffered only minor injuries.
   Henry Hoffar has written that both Edward Hubbard and W. E. Boeing saw the H-3 and that some of its structural detail design was embodied in the later Boeing flying-boats.

   The span of the H-2 was 34 ft (10-36 m) but no other details of these flying-boats have been traced.

McCurdy Biplane

   The McCurdy biplane does not properly belong in this book because it was built in the United States. However, it was the only type completely designed by John Alexander Douglas McCurdy, the Canadian pioneer aviator and Canada’s first licensed pilot. It was also the first aircraft designed by a Canadian to be produced in quantity and the first aircraft to make an inter-city flight in Canada.
   McCurdy had joined Glenn Curtiss after leaving the Canadian Aerodrome Co in 1910, and at the end of May 1911 he left Curtiss and teamed up with Charles F. Willard to form the McCurdy-Willard Aeroplane Co at 1780 Broadway, New York, to do exhibition flying, but each formed a separate company to make aircraft to their own designs. McCurdy’s company was the McCurdy Aeroplane Co which was formed at Pittsburgh, on 20 June.
   McCurdy designed a Gnome-powered headless (Term used to describe an aeroplane without forward elevator) biplane and contracted with the Queen Aeroplane Co of New York City to make six of them. McCurdy made only one brief test hop in the prototype, at Nassau Boulevard Aerodrome on Long Island, probably about 15 July as the machine had to be shipped to Hamilton, Ontario, to fly an exhibition.
   McCurdy, Willard and J. V. Martin gave their display from a farm on the outskirts of Hamilton from 27 to 29 July, and the new biplane performed well and gave no trouble. On 1 August an impromptu ‘race’ was held and McCurdy was the winner by flying the 45 miles in 32 minutes, and he landed on a sandbar on Fisherman’s Island, on the east side of Toronto. Willard had left Hamilton 10 minutes ahead of McCurdy, a considerable margin on a 45-mile flight. This was the first inter-city flight in Canada. The following day the two aviators moved to Donlands Farm, northeast of the city, for their exhibition engagement. The field was small and rough, and on his first take off McCurdy’s aircraft was thrown into the air prematurely, crashed and was written off. McCurdy had brought two spare and, apparently, still untried McCurdy biplanes with him and one of these was assembled the next day but not flown.
   In August, McCurdy entered the Chicago Air Meet with his biplane, which bore racing number 7 for the event. His winnings were reported as both $2,400 and $1,900 and his best day was on 15 August, when he won the biplane speed contest. During the flying McCurdy collided with some electric wires, his aircraft burnt but he was unhurt.
   He was at the Nassau, New York, meeting during 22-30 September with his biplane and then went to Hattiesburg, Miss, but on 3 October refused to fly because of the hot weather. He then moved to Natchez, Miss, and flew there on 19-21 October.
   In the meantime, three McCurdy biplanes had been sold. One went to G. G. Hubbard II of Boston who crashed it at Norwich, NY, on 2 September and was injured. Another went to W. E. (Jake) Doherty of Buffalo, who was reported as practising with it at Nassau Boulevard Aerodrome. Another went to a McCurdy pupil, Doctor Weidman, who was also flying at Nassau Boulevard.
   In October, McCurdy, Willard and Weidman were reported to be going to Mexico to appear with the Moisant International aviators in mid-November but only Willard appeared. Both McCurdy and Willard rejoined Curtiss in late October.
   No further record of the McCurdy biplanes is known; McCurdy may have been restricted to flying Curtiss machines after rejoining the Curtiss company.

   One 50hp Gnome Omega. Span 25 ft 8in (7-82 m); length 26 ft 9 in (7-02 m); height 7 ft 3 in (2-21 m); wing area 201-5sqft (18-72sqm). Empty weight 565lb (256kg); loaded weight 825lb (374kg) estimated. Speed 51 mph (82km/h) recorded over a closed course.

McDowall Monoplane

   In the spring of 1910 Robert McDowall, a civil engineer and land surveyor of Owen Sound, Ontario, visited England and France and saw heavier-than-air craft for the first time, including the famous cross-Channel Bleriot XI. This aroused his interest in aeronautics, and after he returned home he heard of some aeronautical material being offered for sale by a New York agent. He went to New York and bought a 25 hp fan-type Anzani engine which had been used by a Long Island flying-club and before that had, it is said, belonged to the Mexican Government.
   McDowall returned home and designed an aircraft to take the engine, and he, together with his cousin George A. Ferguson, began to build it in the winter of 1911-12. Construction was at Morrishes Foundry & Machine Shop, 8th Street, Owen Sound, owned by his uncle and George’s father, William Ferguson. The work proceeded slowly as a part-time project in the winters only, so it was not completed until the summer of 1915. Fuel and oil tanks and, probably, the wheels had been purchased from a New York aeronautical supply house, and Irish linen to cover the surfaces had been bought during a trip to Ireland.
   While in recent years the aircraft has often been referred to as a 'Bleriot monoplane', in fact no part of it resembled a Bleriot XI. The McDowall was smaller, its tailplane and elevator were of more modern design, the undercarriage, with its rubber shock absorber, and all components were quite different. However, it was a wire-braced high-wing monoplane like the Bleriot XI and a good many other monoplanes of the period, and it did use wing warping for lateral control. The whole fuselage was left uncovered.
   The finished aircraft was taken to the nearby farm of John Riddell, McDowall’s mother’s uncle, for testing. Robert McDowall made several attempts to fly it during the summer but it seems that none was successful although 'hops' were apparently made. The machine was then returned to the Morrishes Foundry and hung from the ceiling.
   There it was discovered, apparently in 1916 or 1917, by two schoolboys, L. R. C. McAteer and J. P. Middlebro, who got permission to try it. They installed a new jet in a carburettor taken from a Maxwell car and this added 150 rpm. They then reduced the propeller diameter to enable the engine to produce its full revolutions. Next they planned to replace the wing-warping system with ailerons and the trailing edge was cut away at the wingtips to receive them; these were not fitted and the machine was again stored.
   In 1920, apparently, Edward Pratt of Durham, Ontario, who was attending business college at Owen Sound, bought the machine and transported it to Durham by sleigh. He replaced the wheels by skis and used it, without wings, as an ice scooter on nearby MacLean’s Lake. For protection from the slipstream a sheet-metal shield was fitted around the driver’s position.
   In the spring of 1958, Keith S. Hopkinson of Sky Harbour Air Services, Godrich, Ontario, bought the aircraft, and it hung from his hangar ceiling until sold to the National Aviation Museum in the spring of 1967 and taken to Ottawa. There it remains, still unrestored, the oldest surviving Canadian-built aircraft although it appears never to have made a full-fledged flight.

   One 25 hp Anzani. Span 27ft 6in (8-38 m); length 21 ft 6 in (6-55 m); height 7ft 5 in (2-26 m); wing area 139-6 sqft (12-97 sqm). No other information available.

M.F.P. (Polson) B-2 and C Biplanes

   In 1915 Walter H. Phipps designed a family of aircraft that was unusual for the time, especially so in North America in that the structure was largely of steel. The family consisted of a fast single-seat scout (presumably the Model A); an unequalspan two-seat biplane, the Model B-2; an equal-span two-seat biplane, the Model C; and a two-seat scout of 38 ft (11-58 m) span powered by a 300 hp Dusenberg V-12 engine. All could be used as seaplanes when fitted with twin single-step wooden floats, and all, except the Model A, were to use the same fuselage. In the event, only the B-2 and C were made and neither was ever fitted with floats.
   To develop and market the aircraft, Phipps formed a group of three, Col J. B. Miller, President of Polson Iron Works Ltd of Toronto, Walter L. Fairchild, and himself, to become the M.F.P, Aero Sales Corp of New York City, the initials having been taken from the names of the three men. The aircraft were to be made by the Polson Iron Works and were frequently referred to by the Polson name rather than the designated M.F.P. The Polson Co was the main financial backer, and one reference states that M.F.P. Aero Sales was a subsidiary of the Polson company, whose normal business was in structural steel construction, marine engines and shipbuilding.
   Phipps had taken some experienced staff to Toronto to introduce the Polson company to aeronautical practices, including Jean A. Roche who was later well known as the designer of the successful Aeronca C-2 light aircraft.
   Construction began with the B-2. Its fuselage was made of steel tubing which was joined by special standardized steel clamps and wire braced. The wings had tubular steel spars and conventional wooden ribs of Eiffel 36 section. Interchangeability of parts was advertised as a particular feature. The University of Toronto made physical tests on the main fittings, spars and struts, which seems to be the University’s first direct involvement in aeronautical work. Deperdussin flight controls were fitted. The powerplant was a 125 hp Hall-Scott L-5, and as an alternative, a new engine under development, a 160 hp Bournonville was specified. An unusually large fuel tank of 60 US gal (227 litres) capacity was fitted between the cockpits, giving an endurance of six hours.
   The machine was first flown, on wheels, from the ice of Toronto Bay by John Guy Gilpatric on 29 March, 1916. It was then shipped to Mineola on Long Island, where Gilpatric continued as its pilot. On 2 June, Charles F. Niles, the well-known aerobatic pilot, took it up for a ‘record climb’ of 3,500 ft (1,067 m) in four minutes.
   During the summer, articles and advertisements continued to promote the B-2 as a ‘steel warplane’ and a ‘steel battleplane’, but no armament was ever mentioned in connection with the type and, as far as is known, no official attempt was made to sell it to the United States or Canadian Governments, but it seems likely that informal demonstrations were given at Mineola.
   Equal-span wings with ailerons on both upper and lower sets were sent to Mineola to convert the B-2 into the Model C, on which side-radiators were fitted and the nose tapered. Nothing more is known of the Model C and its career, and the whole M.F.P. scheme was abandoned. As far as can be determined only the one B-2 was completed and converted to the Model C.
   Earl S. Daugherty of Long Beach, was operating a Curtiss OX-5-powered Polson biplane just after the first war but this was built locally by Thor Polson, no relation of the M.F.P. Polson.


Model B-2
   One 125 hp Hall-Scott L-5. Span, upper 45 ft (13-71 m), lower 36ft (10-97m); length 26ft 6in (8-08m); height 10ft (3-05m) approx; wing area 410 sq ft (38-09sqm). Empty weight 1,3701b (622kg); loaded weight 2,270lb (1,031 kg). Maximum speed 85 mph (136-8 km/h); climb 1,000 ft (305 m) in 1-33min.

Model C
   One 125hp Hall-Scott L-5. Span 38ft Win (11 -83 m); length 26ft 6in (8-08m); height 10ft (3-05m) approx; wing area 393sqft (36-51sqm). Empty weight 1,420lb (645kg); loaded weight 2,320lb (1,053 kg). Maximum speed 95 mph (152-8 km/h).

Partridge-Kent Biplane

   Frederick Kent was born in 1886 in Killarney, Manitoba, a small town about 50 miles south of Brandon and near the United States border. By 1910 he owned a bakery shop in the town. He developed an interest in aviation, read current aviation periodicals, and built aircraft models, at least one of them being displayed in his shop. He then decided he wanted to learn how to build an aircraft and went to the United States early in the winter of 1914-15. He is believed to have taken brief flying lessons but not soloed. Almost certainly, he must have been at Cicero Field, Chicago. then a well-known aviation centre, for he returned home with drawings for the Partridge biplane which was built there by Elmer Partridge and Henry Keller. (A number of similar Partridge-Keller biplanes were built at Cicero Field from 1913 to 1917. The best known of these was the Gnome-powered Partridge-Keller Looper which was flown extensively on exhibitions in 1916 in the USA, Canada, and Japan, by Katherine Stinson)
   Kent immediately started on construction of his aircraft and was assisted by a 15-year-old boy, Wilfred W. Schnarr, from whom all information on Kent’s work has emanated. The aircraft was a single-seat, unequal-span biplane, and the overhang was braced by wires from kingposts and the front spar served also as the leading edge. For flight control a wheel was mounted on the control column and its rotation controlled the rudder, and Schnarr recalls that forward motion of the column caused the aircraft to climb while side-to-side motion controlled the ailerons in the usual way. The throttle was operated by a foot pedal and was normally held wide open by a spring and closed by depressing the pedal. The engine was a four-cylinder water-cooled unit fitted with a Bosche magneto and, almost certainly, of American origin and developing 50/60 hp.
   Components were made in a shed behind Kent’s store and the aircraft assembled in a vacant lot across from the store. It was towed by a horse to a field he was allowed to use, about a mile and a half south of the town, and stored, hidden from view, in a grove of poplar trees. It was here in the summer of 1915 that he began taxi-ing trials of his aircraft and to learn how to fly it. He made hops only a foot or two off the ground and during the course of the trials suffered two slight accidents, one when he ran into a pothole, and another when a wheel, lacking a cotter-pin, came off. Repairs were needed on both occasions. At the time of the last accident the owner of the field reclaimed it for autumn ploughing and trials were terminated.
   The next year, 1916, Kent moved to a field east of the town and there made his first real flights, at 5 to 10 feet off the ground. The water-cooled engine seemed to have ample power but it was suspected that the cooling was not satisfactory; nevertheless one evening he took off on his first flight beyond the field boundaries which he crossed at 200-300 ft (60-90 m). However, the water boiled and blew in his face. He attempted a turn, his first, but had to land in a nearby pasture, damaging the aircraft. The owner of the field then said he would have to stop using it as he was scaring the horses.
   In 1917 Kent attempted to use the local fair-ground but it was small and unsuitable, and it is doubtful whether any flights were made.
In the early spring of 1918 the aircraft was taken to the ice on a nearby lake. On starting, the engine suffered damage, apparently through lack of oil, and this appears to have been the last time it was taken out. Its fate is unknown.

   Dimensions, weights and performance are not known.

Pollien Biplane

   Gustave Pollien was born of French-Swiss parents in 1890 at Assen in northern Holland. He was a mechanic by trade and worked for both the Caudron brothers and H. Farman at Port Aviation near Juisy in France. There he met Ernest Anctil of Montreal, and Pollien followed him there apparently in late 1911. (The role of Ernest Anctil in prewar aviation in the Montreal area is not well recorded but may well have been more significant than the meagre records indicate. He worked with both Reid and Pollien, and Pollien’s aircraft was once referred to as the Anctil-Pollien biplane. He flew the aircraft of both Reid and Pollien)
   By 1912 Pollien had met P. H. Reid and built his own aircraft. Pollien was known as a skilled craftsman and made propellers for both Reid and himself. He built his aircraft with the aid of Ernest Anctil in the Barreyre Garage on Hotel de Ville Street near Dorchester Street in Montreal, and it was then moved to a barn owned by Gervais Cousineau at the Montreal Polo Club. His early flying was done from the polo grounds on Bois Franc Road. The aircraft was reported as being flown on 26 September, 1912, by Anctil and on 6 October by Pollien, but it may well have flown earlier. On 20 October Pollien had a crash near the polo grounds following engine failure.
   Pollien’s aircraft was of original design but followed generally the early machines of Gaston and Rene Caudron which he would have worked on in France. It had a small nacelle, mounted centrally on the lower wing, housing a pilot, passenger and a tractor engine, while booms extended aft to carry the tail surfaces. It had a five-cylinder air-cooled Viale engine of 55 hp which had been provided by Georges Husson of the Franco-American Auto Co, Montreal. Two unusual features were the exceptionally wide track of the undercarriage and the method of bracing the engine.
   Pollien was flying his reconstructed aircraft again at the polo grounds in August 1913. The Viale engine gave trouble and was replaced by a 50 hp Gnome, and in a crash on 5 October, 1913, the aircraft was wrecked but the Gnome undamaged.
   Pollien then moved to Montreal South, on the south shore of the St Lawrence opposite the city, where he continued his aviation activities. By 1914 he had formed the Canadian Aircraft Works and built two more machines.

   One 55hp Viale or 50hp Gnome Omega. Span 30ft (9-14m); length 32ft (9-75m); wing area 250 sqft (23-22 sqm). Empty weight 600lb (272kg).
   Specification given with 55 hp Viale engine after the aircraft’s 1913 reconstruction.


Canadian Aircraft Works Biplanes

   In 1914 Gustave Pollien accomplished three things at his new location in Montreal South. He built a single-seat biplane, formed the Canadian Aircraft Works, and built a two-seat biplane, and it is believed that they were done in that order.
   Certainly by 11 June, 1914, his new single-seat biplane was flying well and probably had been for some time. The aircraft followed the same general pattern as his 1912 machine and still used wing warping for lateral control but was powered with a cowled 50 hp Gnome engine. By all accounts the design was most successful. Pollien was advertised to appear with the celebrated Lincoln Beachey at Maisonneuve Park. Montreal, on 27 June where Beachey looped his machine, the first time a loop had been performed in Canada. Unfortunately the usually reliable Gnome had given Pollien trouble so he did not appear. Pollien continued to fly his machine and made at least one cross-country flight from Montreal South to Chambly and return, a claimed distance of 30 miles (48-3 km), a flight erroneously claimed as a Canadian record.
   It is thought that Pollien formed the Canadian Aircraft Works soon after the outbreak of the First World War in the hope of supplying aircraft and training aviators for the Canadian Government. The Company’s Secretary wrote to the Government to this effect on 7 November, 1914, and later Maj W. B. Anderson inspected their facilities. The company offered to train an aviator for $350, with a guaranteed pilot’s certificate, which is not understood as there was no licensing authority in Canada at that time. This was the first time that a company actively offered flying instruction in Canada. They priced their single-seat biplane at $4,000. It is believed that the principal backer of the Canadian Aircraft Works was W. L. Daoust.
   Later that year, a two-seat aircraft was completed and flown successfully. It followed the same general design practices but was larger and seated two in tandem, with the pilot at the rear. Two rudders were fitted, and the more powerful 60 hp Gnome was installed without a cowl. The aircraft was exhibited at the Second Annual Motor Show in Montreal between 23 and 30 January, 1915.
   It is believed that the Canadian Aircraft Works attempted to get a training programme under way in the spring of 1915 and that E. L. Janney joined, or attempted to join, the company after crashing W. A. Dean’s Curtiss E flying-boat at Toronto. The company is not known to have trained any pilots and is believed to have gone out of business in 1915. The fate of its two machines is unknown and Pollien is not known to have had any further aviation activities.


Single-seat biplane
   One 50hp Gnome Omega. Span, upper, 30ft (9-14m). Empty weight 727lb (330kg). Ceiling 1,500ft (457m).*

Two-seat biplane
   One 60 hp Gnome Sigma. Maximum speed 60 mph (96-5 km/h). Ceiling 4,000ft (1,219 m).*

*Altitudes reported reached but it is not known what they represent.

Reid Monoplanes

   Percival Hall Reid was born at Dalhousie, New Brunswick, on 29 January, 1891. He moved to Montreal with his family in 1901, but when and how his interest in aviation was first aroused is not known. He was given a complimentary pass to the 1910 Montreal Aviation Meet, which indicates that his interest was well known locally at that time.
   Reid was then reported as Shop Superintendant or Foreman Mechanic at the Stockwell Motor Co located at the corner of Bishop and St Catherine Streets in Montreal. It was there he built his first two monoplanes with the assistance of his friend Ernest Anctil and a helper, W. Audy, and his aircraft was the first powered aircraft to be built in the Montreal area. Later, Gustave Pollien built propellers for him, probably in 1912 and 1913. Reid’s third aircraft was built in a small wooden hangar, apparently erected in 1912 with some assistance from the Montreal Standard newspaper, on the polo grounds near Cartierville where he did most of his flying.
   Reid’s use of the polo grounds marked the beginning of aviation activity on the site which has continued to the present day. The Montreal Polo Club had leased the property from Gervais Cousineau, a local farmer. In 1912 the Club ceased operations and Cousineau permitted Reid to use the field, about a mile long (1-6 km) and 1,000 ft (305 m) wide, and in addition donated the use of his barn to house the aircraft. Initially it was used by Reid and Pollien and the occasional visiting pilot. The hangar, built in 1912 and destroyed in 1913, is believed to have been the first aircraft hangar in Canada and backed on to what is now Laurentian Boulevard just where W. T. Reid built his Rambler prototype in 1928. During the first war it was used by visiting RFC/RAF (Canada) aircraft, and the first Canadian air mail was flown from the site on 24 June, 1918. When Canadian Aerial Services Ltd began operations after the war, the site became an aerodrome in regular use. When American Curtiss interests bought W. T. Reid’s company it developed the airport into, probably, the best in Canada, with the exception of the large Government-developed St Hubert Airport. Noorduyn Aviation moved in during the 1930s and during the second war the Government bought the site and enlarged it. A new plant was built there for Canadian Vickers which was taken over by Canadair whose operations continue today.
   To revert to Percival Reid, his three monoplanes were all wire-braced shoulder-wing aircraft and used wing warping for lateral control. The Deperdussin control system was used on his first machine but the Bleriot ‘cloche’ control column was used on his second machine, and it is thought that he reverted to the Deperdussin control on his third aircraft. Complete specifications of Reid’s aircraft have not been found but the following details help to distinguish between them.

   1911 Monoplane Powered originally by a 25 hp two-cylinder Detroit Aero engine and later a 35 hp three-cylinder fan-type Viale engine. Uncovered fuselage. Constant-chord wing with square tips and wing warping control. Elevators fitted at tips of tailplane as on early Bleriot XIs. Deperdussin control. Undercarriage had skids supported by a vertical member to the fuselage at each end and an axle for the wheels was lashed to each skid between the supports. Span 30 ft (9-14m); length 25ft (7-62m); wing area 210sqft (19-51 sqm). Empty weight 525 lb (238 kg) approx with Viale engine.

   1912 Monoplane Powered by a 55 hp five-cylinder radial Viale engine. Uncovered fuselage. Constant-chord wing with tips slightly raked. Undercarriage as on 1911 model. Bleriot ‘cloche’ flight control. Span approximately 32 ft (9-75 m); length approximately 29ft (8-8m).

   1913 Monoplane Powered by a three-cylinder fan-type engine. Fuselage was fabric covered from aluminium nose cowling to aft of the cockpit. Rest of fuselage uncovered. Wing with rounded tips. Bleriot XI type undercarriage.

   Reid’s first aircraft, fitted with the Detroit Aero engine, started its taxi-ing trials on 7 June, 1911, and made a short hop. These tests were terminated by rain. Whether this can be considered his first flight is conjectural, and it seems that his aircraft, with the Detroit Aero engine donated by F. J. Murray, had only a marginal performance. Later fitted with the three-cylinder Viale, it apparently flew well, and in October Reid was reported to be practising to appear in the Delormier Park Aviation Meet to be held on 6-11 October. However, he did not fly during the Meet but his aircraft may have been exhibited. On 28 December, 1911, on a bitterly cold day, Reid made four flights to Riviere des Prairies (Back River) and return and crashed on his final trip. He was only slightly injured but his aircraft suffered a broken undercarriage and propeller and damaged wings.
   The aircraft was repaired and its first flight in 1912 was made on 19 June. By late August Reid had finished his second aircraft with the 55 hp Viale engine and it was reported as most successful.
   Reid flew usually from the polo grounds but on occasion he flew from F. S. Meighen’s (later Brig-Gen) estate nearby. He took his second aircraft, towed by car, to Longue Pointe to fly there on at least one, and probably more, occasions. Occasionally Anctil flew the aircraft but Reid did most of the flying.
   About the end of September 1912 Reid enrolled in the Sloane School of Aviation, Hemstead, Long Island, for flying instruction, then advertised for $300. There he flew single-seat 35 hp Anzani powered Deperdussin monoplanes under the instruction of Leonard W. Bonney. He passed his test on 18 October, 1912, and was issued Aero Club of America Certificate No. 179 on 23 October and became the fourth Canadian licensed pilot.
   His third aircraft incorporated many improvements over his earlier machines but had a short life for it was only completed late in August 1913, and was destroyed in a windstorm in October, along with the hangar at the polo grounds.
   Reid built the Reid-Morgan flying-boat in 1914 but gave up flying upon his marriage in 1921. However, he remained in touch with the Montreal aviation community until his friend, J. H. Maher Jr, was killed in a Travel Air 6000 crash at Hamilton, on 1 July, 1931.
Reid continued to work in the automotive field, and died at Montreal on 18 May, 1938.

Curtiss-Type Pushers

   On 31 March, 1909, the Aerial Experiment Association was disbanded and the American rights to its patents were assigned to Glenn Hammond Curtiss. Curtiss adopted the basic AEA aircraft design and control system but, being an excellent practical mechanic, simplified and lightened it and added between-the-wings ailerons in an attempt to circumvent the Wright patent. He then produced a series of successful pusher aircraft that remained in production until 1913. They were powered by various four- and eight-cylinder Curtiss engines which were the best and most expensive in North America in that prewar period, and these engines were responsible for much of their success.
   The Curtiss pushers became a popular type for amateur builders throughout North America and there were several reasons for this. They were well known, for Curtiss himself had won the 1909 Gordon Bennett Cup with one and in another won the New York World's prize in 1910 for an Albany-New York flight. In 1911 the famous Lincoln Beachey flew one through the Niagara gorge and under the suspension bridge, which rated headlines. In addition, they were the mounts of the Curtiss Exhibition Team pilots who flew in well-publicized demonstrations throughout North America. These exploits, coupled with the fact that the type was small and easily built and that difficult parts could be readily bought from aeronautical suppliers, made the type a logical choice of the experimenter. These copies were almost invariably powered by a North American-made engine other than the Curtiss because of cost considerations; and Curtiss, unlike the Wrights, was unconcerned about his design being copied.
   The first Canadian-built Curtiss-Type pusher appears to have been that constructed by Riddick Elliott and Bruce Ross at Lindsay, Ontario, and then taken to Ottawa in September 1909. The aircraft was flown as a glider, apparently by Ross, while being towed at 28 mph (45 km/h) by an automobile. An engine was planned to be installed but no further information is available.
   In 1911 the Constables of Sarnia, Ontario, built a Curtiss Model D, closely following the original design, but powered by a three-cylinder Elbridge Featherweight engine of 30/45 hp. It was built by William J. Constable, Lewis Taylor Constable and his son, Lewis Taylor Constable Jr. It was the first aircraft in Sarnia and a major attraction at the September 1911 fair, but details of its career are not known.
   Also in 1911, a Mr Boswell, in his bicycle repair shop in Winnipeg, built an aircraft, apparently of a Curtiss-type, which had a four-cylinder air-cooled Curtiss C-4 engine of 25 hp.
   In 1913 Frank H. Ellis, later to become Canada’s first aviation historian, with Thomas Blakely in Calgary, bought the remains of a Curtiss D-type pusher with a four-cylinder 45 hp Maximotor, probably their Model 2, (Maximotor, over a period, offered the following four-cylinder engines of about this power - Model 1,41 in (114-3 mm) by 41 in (114-3 mm). 30/40 hp; Model 2,5 m (127 mm) by 5in (127 mm), 40/50hp; Model A, 41 in (114-3 mm) by 5in (127mm), 40/50hp; Model E, 41 in (114-3mm) by 5in (127mm), 50hp.) which had crashed at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, when flown by an American pilot. It followed the Curtiss Model D closely but had extensions fitted to the upper wing which were only occasionally used by Curtiss or fitted by other builders. Ellis and Blakely rebuilt the aircraft, and may have replaced most, if not all, of the wooden members and mainly used the fittings.
   The Ellis-Blakely Curtiss, by then named West Wind, was first flown on 25 June, 1914, by Tom Blakely from Bowness Park, about six miles (9-6 km) west of Calgary, and Ellis first flew it on 2 July. In 1915 they moved to the Shouldice estate, north of the Bow River. In 1915 Blakely crashed in a cross wind, the machine requiring two weeks to repair and then Ellis crashed when some wing fabric ripped. Shortly afterwards, a windstorm demolished the aircraft, putting an end to their flying.
   John Pickles, a 15-year-old boy, of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, in 1914 built a Curtiss-type biplane powered by a four-cylinder air-cooled Grey Eagle D-4 engine of 35 hp. but he was unable to obtain the use of a suitable field for flight attempts and the aircraft was never tested.


Model D Type
   Various engines. Span (over wing) 26 ft 3 in (8 m), (over ailerons) 33 ft 1 in (10-08 m); length 25 ft 6in (7-77 m); height 7ft 4?in (2-25 m); wing area 210 sq ft (19-51 sq m). Empty weight 700/750lb (318/340kg). The above figures are for the standard Curtiss D without wing extension or other modifications.

Curtiss JN-3

   The Curtiss Aeroplanes & Motors Co had been formed at Toronto with the intention of making training aircraft for the Curtiss Aviation School at Toronto and for the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). Production of the current Curtiss model, the JN-3, got under way in May 1915 but then the Curtiss Canada was given priority, which delayed production of the first and only batch of JN-3s.
   The Curtiss JN aircraft family got its start by combining some of the best features of the Models J and N which resulted in the Model JN. This was then developed into the JN-2 which grew into the JN-3 and which in turn developed into the familiar JN-4 series of trainers. In the spring of 1915 the JN-3 was just entering production in the United States for the RNAS.
   The JN-3 was an unequal-span biplane of quite conventional wire-braced wooden construction and was fabric covered. All machines made for the RNAS and the Curtiss Aviation School at Long Branch, Ontario, had Deperdussin controls fitted, but the US Signal Corps aircraft had shoulder yoke controls.
   A batch of 18 aircraft was laid down at Toronto, 12 for the RNAS and six for the Curtiss Aviation School. This was the first series production of aircraft undertaken in Canada. One or two aircraft were completed before the Curtiss Canada, and the balance completed as a group after the Canada had left the shop in August 1915. The Canadian prototype JN-3, RNAS 8392, was first flown at Long Branch on 14 July, 1915, by Anthony H. Jannus.
   Some of the RNAS machines were recorded as being at Hendon on 1 November, 1915. Probably all were shipped there but it is possible that 8394 may have gone directly to Killingholme air station. Flt Lt Sydney Pickles did most, if not all, of the acceptance flights and they were later assigned to RNAS stations at Chingford, Detling, Eastchurch and Killingholme. One aircraft, 8403, has been reported as being transferred to the French Government.
   Some of the Canadian-built JN-3s were modified in Britain for various reasons. A number of strengthening modifications were recommended as a result of tests conducted on a US-built machine in the summer of 1915. Four-bladed propellers of British manufacture were frequently installed.
   The Curtiss Aviation School machines continued to serve there until the School closed towards the end of 1916. Some modifications were introduced. The diagonal tube from the bottom of the front centre-section strut to the top of the rear centre-section strut, which severely restricted access to the front cockpit, was replaced by a system of wires. Also it seems that one or more of the JN-3s at Long Branch may have had ailerons on the lower wings as later used on the JN-4 (Canadian) prototype.
   When Canadian Aeroplanes took over the Curtiss company in December 1916 and the RFC (Canada) began its training operations, the School’s JN-3s were not purchased, but were transferred to the Curtiss School at Newport News, Virginia, which had been set up in December 1915 by Capt Thomas Scott Baldwin. At least one aircraft, Curtiss Aviation School’s No. 8, remained at Long Branch until sometime in January 1917 and Bertrand Acosta used it to take Frank W. Baillie (later Sir Frank). President of Canadian Aeroplanes, for his first flight.

   One 90 hp Curtiss OX. Span, upper 43 ft 10 in (13-36 m) approx, lower 33 ft 11 1/4 in (10-34 m); length 27ft 2 1/2 in (8-29 m); height 9ft 11 in (3-02 m); wing area 360sqft (33-5sqm) approx. Empty weight 1.300lb (590kg);* loaded weight 1,918lb (871kg).* Maximum speed 72-9 mph (117-3km/h);* climb 3.000ft (914m) in 9min 10sec.*

*Figures for a US-built JN-3, RNAS 3348. tested in England on 30 July, 1915. Canadian-built JN-3s should have been the same.

Curtiss Canada

   In 1914 the Curtiss Aeroplane Co had made a twin-engined flying-boat, the Curtiss H-1 America, for a projected transatlantic flight and its pilot was to have been Lt John Cyril Porte. The outbreak of war stopped the projected Atlantic flight but Porte interested the British Admiralty in the machine and orders were placed for the prototype and a production version, the H-4, which became known in the RNAS as the Small America to differentiate it from the H-12, the Large America.
   The Admiralty was impressed with the type and requested the Curtiss Co to design a landplane counterpart. Glenn H. Curtiss laid out a design and took out US Patent No. 1,228,382 to cover it. The patent also went on to cover a flying-boat layout developed from the landplane, so what had started as a flying-boat developed through a landplane and back to a flying-boat. The proposed flying-boat had booms protruding aft from the engine nacelles to support the tail, the first known projected Curtiss design to do so and thus it was the ancestor of the Curtiss H-7 and the later Navy-Curtiss NC flying-boats of transatlantic fame.
   The Curtiss Co in Hammondsport, New York, was too busy with war orders to complete the design, so responsibility was given to its new subsidiary, the Curtiss Aeroplanes & Motors Co at Toronto. Frithiof Gusaf Ericson was appointed Chief Engineer. Anthony H. Jannus was engaged as pilot and consultant, and Dr Albert F. Zahm also acted as consultant on the project.
   The new machine had been known as the Columbia but was named the Canada after the project had been transferred to the Canadian company. It had a conventional wire-braced wooden structure, fabric covered. The undercarriage was unusual and was the subject of US Patent No. 1,246,020 assigned to Glenn H. Curtiss. Each side consisted of a pair of struts forming a V and mounted vertically below the engine nacelles. The struts were braced laterally by wires, and an inverted leaf-spring was mounted at the apex of the struts. An axle was held at each end of the leaf-spring and the inboard end of the axle was pin-jointed to a cabane structure below the fuselage. A wheel was mounted outboard of the spring on each axle. A Sperry autopilot or stabilizer was fitted, which may well have been the first time such a device had been installed as original equipment. The Canada was designed to have two 160 hp Curtiss VX engines, handed to eliminate torque, and drive three-bladed propellers, but these engines, were not available in time so test flying of the prototype in Canada was done with a pair of 90 hp Curtiss OX engines.
   Work on the Canada was started in May 1915 and a trial assembly of the uncovered components began about the end of June. The assembly took place in the open at Strachan Avenue. On 11 August, 1915, the Toronto World reported that the first flight would be in ‘about two weeks’ but from then on wartime censorship imposed silence on the Canadian press.
   The Canada was moved to Long Branch on the western outskirts of Toronto and first flown there on 3 September by Anthony Jannus. On a second flight that day a passenger, probably Ericson, was carried. On 7 September the aircraft was officially demonstrated to Sqn Cmdr J. C. Porte who had for security reasons travelled to North America under the assumed name of J. B. Scott. The Canada was accepted and shipped to Britain. It had been built and flown with a balanced rudder, identical to that used on the H-4 flying-boats, but this was replaced by an unbalanced rudder before shipping. It arrived damaged at Farnborough, according to a report of 21 October, and repairs were put in hand. The Canada had, apparently, been sent without engines, for the installation of 150 hp Sunbeam engines was considered but not proceeded with and Curtiss VX engines were installed as originally planned.
   Sgt Maj W. B. Power was the pilot for most, if not all, of the Canada’s flights at Farnborough, which probably began in the last part of November. A failure of the upper-wing overhang resulted in bracing struts being installed to replace one set of wires. Also, it was thought that the propeller design could be improved upon so orders were placed in Britain with both Vickers Ltd and the Lang Propeller Co for new propellers. During the Farnborough test programme the wing bracing cables were replaced with double streamlined RAF wires which improved the top speed.
   By 16 January, 1916, it was said by those concerned that after partial trials they were very pleased, and it was doubtless as a result of them that orders were placed at the beginning of the year with Curtiss in Toronto for eleven more aircraft, ten for the RFC and one for the RNAS.
   However, there were problems. The machine was considered unsatisfactory for use as a bomber but suitable as a platform for a 1- or 2-pounder gun if rear protection was added, but how this protection was to be provided was not stated. Vickers was asked to design a 1-pounder gun mounting and the resulting design gave 86 deg of elevation and 60 deg of depression for the gun but the mounting was not made.
   The general design of the Canada was stated to be ‘fairly satisfactory but the design and workmanship of the details is exceedingly bad and, in some cases, every principle of (good) design (practice) appears to have been violated’. The fuel system was thought to be particularly vulnerable to battle damage and required modification.
   On 29 January, 1916, a Lang propeller on the port engine burst in flight due to faulty glueing. Sgt Maj Power kept the starboard engine going and managed to land on rough ground with no injuries to himself or the three passengers, and he was commended for his action. The Canada suffered extensive, but repairable, damage to all wings, the nacelles and undercarriage, as well as the propellers.
   The machine was repaired and Power made a climb test on 27 April. By 4 May it was noted that performance was disappointing and the aircraft had given a lot of trouble. No test of the Sperry stabilizer had been carried out by 5 May and it is doubtful that it was ever tried; this seems surprising as it was probably the first such device seen at Farnborough. There is no record of any tests after early May.
   In the meantime, work had been proceeding rapidly on the batch of eleven improved Canadas at Toronto. These incorporated strut bracing to the wing overhang, constant-chord ailerons (This reduced the upper wing span to about 75 ft 4 in (22-96 m) and the wing area to about 787sqft (73-1 sqm)) and wing skids under the lower wings. The Sperry stabilizer was not fitted, but, apparently, the fuel system remained unchanged. These machines were designated as Canada Model Cs. They were shipped to Britain untested in the early spring of 1916, and a further order for 25 machines, with unknown improvements, designated Canada C-2s, was received. This order was cancelled about the end of June or early July but it seems that the first Canada C-2 must have been nearly completed then for a Canada has been reported in the factory in December when Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd took it over.
   The RFC Canada Model Cs were at the Southern Aircraft Depot, South Farnborough, in May, and a Mr Sudlow was on his way from Toronto to supervise their erection, and by 7 July they were reported as waiting for propellers. On 26 August an order was issued to stop erecting the machines as no suitable engines were available.
   The RNAS Canada Model C, serial 37001, was being erected at Hendon on 6 June and reported ready for test on the 20th. Shortly alterations were started, apparently mainly to the wings. New crankshafts were found to be required and these were still being awaited when the machine was scrapped in January 1917. Like the RFC Canada Model Cs, there is no known record of a flight test being made.
   The unsatisfactory performance of the Canada can be attributed to three things. First, its design had been laid down before air warfare had developed and was initially accepted before any had been experienced by the British air forces. Secondly, its unsatisfactory engines would have condemned it regardless of other factors. Thirdly, poor detail design and workmanship simply compounded the other problems.
   Unsatisfactory as the Canada was, it nevertheless occupies a secure place in Canadian aviation history as the first twin-engined aircraft ever built or flown in Canada.

Two 90 hp Curtiss OX* or 160 hp Curtiss VX. Span, upper 75 ft 10 in (23-1 m), lower 48 ft (14-63 m); length 33ft 4f in (10-18m); height 15 ft 6in (4-72m) approx; wing area 827sqft (76-83sqm). Empty weight 4,700lb (2,134kg); loaded weight 7,000lb (3,178kg). Maximum speed 90mph (144-8km/h);** initial rate of climb 390ft/min (102-4m/min);*** service ceiling 5,750ft (1,752m).***

*Maximum speed with Curtiss OX engines is reported as 70mph (112-6km/h).
**Reported as 102mph (164-1 km/h) after being fitted with RAF wires in England.
***Estimated by author from climb test figures of 27 April, 1916.

Curtiss JN-4(Canadian)

   As early as autumn 1915 the Royal Flying Corps had considered setting up a training programme in Canada although it was rejected by the British War Office. In 1916 the idea was revived and discussions started between various British agencies, the Canadian Government and the Imperial Munitions Board. The Imperial Munitions Board was a British agency, set up in Canada and staffed by Canadians, but it reported to the British Ministry of Supply and dealt with the procurement of all British munitions in Canada. In August 1916 the British proposed that an aviation school be set up by Canada but the idea was rejected by the Canadian Government.
   The heavy casualties suffered in the Battle of the Somme brought the matter to a head in the autumn of 1916 and a new RFC plan was approved on 12 December which included raising 35 new training squadrons, 20 of which were to be in Canada. As originally conceived the Canadian squadrons were to provide primary flight training only. A fundamental part of the programme was that the training aircraft were to be built in Canada to avoid shipping risks. The whole programme was the responsibility of the British Government, with the Imperial Munitions Board acting as its agent to set up necessary contracts and purchase materials and equipment. The Canadian Government did agree to finance the construction of an aircraft factory which was to remain its property.
   On 15 December, 1916, just three days after the approval of the new training plan, Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd was incorporated and took over the rented quarters of the Curtiss Aeroplanes & Motors Co on Strachan Ave in Toronto. It also acquired the manufacturing rights to the Curtiss JN-3 and the Curtiss OX engine. The engine rights were never exercised. Most of the Curtiss staff joined the new company, including F. G. Ericson who became Chief Engineer. Frank W. Baillie was appointed President.
   It was agreed that the Curtiss JN-3 would be basically accepted as the training aircraft, but the RFC wanted the Deperdussin control system replaced by a stick control, and they considered the rudder and tailskid too susceptible to damage and must be changed. Ericson designed a new rudder of metal and also redesigned the elevators and fin in metal. The redesign eliminated many bracing wires, 26 can be counted, but Ericson stated that 36 were actually removed. Ericson also claimed, probably correctly, that the modified aircraft was the first stick-controlled machine to go into production in North America. The ailerons on the lower wings were inherited from the Canadian modified JN-3 and not especially designed for the revised trainer as has usually been stated.
   The type was designated the JN-4 by Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd and this was accepted by the RFC (Canada) but this designation has caused difficulty ever since. Curtiss in the United States had already produced a JN-4 model which went on to be developed in a number of versions indicated by a letter suffix, eg JN-4D. It was necessary to distinguish between Canadian-built machines and the various US-built models, especially when the Canadian machines came to be used in the United States in large numbers. The designation JN-4(Canadian) was informally assigned and this inevitably led to its being referred to as the Canuck, the only member of the Jenny family to have had its own name. Unfortunately, many people incorrectly refer to the Canuck as the JN-4C, a designation already used by Curtiss for an experimental JN-4 variant fitted with wings of RAF 6 section.
   The prototype was completed by 1 January, 1971, and taken to Long Branch Aerodrome on the western outskirts of Toronto for testing. Bertrand Blanchard Acosta made the initial flight early in the month, having been brought up from the United States for the occasion. Acosta was well known in Toronto having served there as an instructor with the Curtiss Aviation School, and he later became a colourful aviation personality well known for his high-speed and long-distance flying.
   No problems were encountered and the type went into production, some modifications being introduced during the programme. Almost immediately the parallel aileron interconnecting struts were replaced by ones forming a V when viewed fore and aft, and windshields were added. A new system of fuselage covering was introduced about aircraft serial C490 which featured the distinctive style of lacing. The cockpit coaming was cut away to enlarge the opening and so avoid a series of broken noses sustained by crews in minor accidents. Finally, a strengthened and improved undercarriage was designed and built quite late in the production programme.Production started slowly at the Strachan Avenue plant. There was some trouble getting used to the stringent AID requirements, and the RFC (Canada) complained that Canadian Aeroplanes did not seem to realize the importance of providing adequate spare parts along with complete aircraft in the early days. Work had been started on a new factory on Dufferin Street and was pushed ahead rapidly during the cold winter and by May Canadian Aeroplanes had moved into its new quarters, although the factory was not completed until 1 June. The move inevitably interfered with production.
   In the spring, the RFC (Canada) had been asked whether, in addition to providing primary flight instruction, it would provide instruction in aerial gunnery, radio, aerial photography and artillery spotting, which comprised the whole field of Service flying training at the time. This was agreed to but it imposed immediate requirements for more aircraft than originally planned, the machines adapted to carry out their new duties, and therefore 150 Curtiss JN-4As were diverted from a British order in the United States and taken to Canada. Some were supplied without wings and JN-4(Can) wings were fitted, resulting in a hybrid JN-4A-JN-4(Can) aircraft. The JN-4As had Deperdussin flight controls. In the beginning flight instruction was done on JN-4As, but as supplies of JN-4(Can)s increased the JN-4As were relegated to other duties. The 150 JN-4A-JN-4(Can)s were assigned serials at random in the C500 and C600 blocks of C serials and were referred to in the RFC/RAF (Canada) as Buffaloes from their origin in Buffalo, NY, to distinguish them from the JN-4(Can)s.
   Modifications made to individual JN-4(Can)s to fit them for their new training duties included a camera gun above the centre section for aerial fighting practice, adding a synchronized machine-gun for the pilot to fire through the propeller arc at ground targets, a Lewis gun on a Scarff ring mounting in the observer’s cockpit for gunnery training, radio installation, an aerial camera, and various types of long-range fuel tanks added above the centre section to increase the range when required. The performance of the JN-4(Can) must have suffered with this additional equipment but no complaints have been noted, and the fact that this low-powered aircraft was able to undertake this wide variety of Service training is noteworthy and possibly unique.
   Canadian Aeroplanes Limited soon established itself as ‘the most efficient airplane factory on the continent’, according to US authorities. It was also unusual in that it made almost everything for its machines, from propellers to turnbuckles, although engines, instruments and wheels were provided as usual by outside suppliers.
   A number of JN-4(Can)s were presented to the RFC/RAF (Canada) by individuals and organizations. In accordance with RFC policy, when the original machine which had been donated was written off its name was passed on either to a new machine or to a rebuilt machine. No official listing of the presentation aircraft has been found but the following list has been prepared from photographs and is therefore, almost certainly, incomplete. The donor’s name, where known is shown in parentheses.
   C119 Lundy’s Lane (Col W. H. Merritt); *C130 Lundy’s Lane, July 25, 1814; *C138 City of Toronto', C197 Queenston (Col W. H. Merritt), *C226 Queenston, Oct 13,1812; *C247 Lundy's Lane; C249 Edmonton (J. Carruthers); C253 Mercer; *C254 Mercer, June 13, 1916; C268 Montreal (J. Carruthers); C274 Mercer June 3rd, 1812; *C277 Lundy’s Lane, July 25, 1812; C278 City of Toronto (City of Toronto); *C282 Winnipeg; *C296 City of Toronto; *C307 Montreal; *C309 Edmonton; C324 Winnipeg (J. Carruthers); *C330 Winnipeg; C333 MacDonnell; *C367 MacDonnell Oct 13, 1812; *C368 City of Toronto; *C375 Montreal; C421 Ontario No.1 (Province of Ontario); C476 Ontario No.2 (Province of Ontario); *C1009 Ontario No.2; C1324 Ontario; *C1346 Queenston, Oct 13, 1812; *C1347 Edmonton; *C1380 City of Toronto
*Indicates re-allocation of name.
   At the end of the war the presentation machines were overhauled by the RAF (Canada) and given to the following eleven universities, colleges and schools. Universities of Toronto, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Dalhousie, Laval, McGill and Queen's University; Upper Canada and the Manitoba Agricultural Colleges and the Hamilton Technical and Art School. Unfortunately none of these machines has survived.
   In April 1917 the United States entered the war against Germany and shortly afterwards an agreement was reached whereby the RFC (Canada) would train American aviation personnel in the summer of 1917 in Canada and in return the United States would house the 42nd and 43rd Wings of the RFC (Canada) in Texas during the winter of 1917-18. By the summer of 1917 the United States had agreed to buy some JN-4(Can)s and this order was followed by two more, comprising 680 machines in all as follows:

Order No. Date No. Serials Deliveries
Memo 21 July, 1917 280 - 60 Sep 1917, 94 Oct 1917, 126 Nov 1917
20440 7 Jan, 1918 100 38533-38632 100 Dec 1917
20489 19 Jan, 1918 300 39062-39361 63 Jan 1918, 80 Feb 1918, 157 Mar 1918

   In United States service the Canuck played a more significant role in the early part of the wartime training programme than is usually realized. There were two reasons for this. One was that they were all delivered promptly when the US aviation industry was just getting started in its production programme, and the other was that the Canucks were delivered complete with engines while there was an engine shortage among the US-built machines. It has been estimated that in January 1918 some 40-50 per cent of serviceable trainers in the United States were Canucks. By mid-summer American experience indicated that Canucks were more likely to break up in a crash than the US-made JN-4D models although there were no failures in the air. American authorities attributed this to the use of brush wood in the Canuck's construction and limited the use of the machines to advanced students who were deemed less accident prone than beginners.
   It has not been possible to determine the exact quantities of JN-4(Can)s made by Canadian Aeroplanes but it is estimated at 1,210 complete aircraft plus spare parts equivalent to about 1,600 more machines. However, a figure of 2,900 aircraft has been widely and misleadingly quoted which represents an approximate total of complete aircraft and equivalent in spare parts.
   The first JN-4(Can) was accepted by RFC (Canada) on 22 February, 1917, at Long Branch Aerodrome and two more were accepted on the 27th. The first military flying in Canada also took place on 27 February at Long Branch with the beginning of flying instruction. On 2 April flying started at Camp Borden, Ontario, with 19 aircraft on hand. This was the first of the new military fields to become operational in Canada. On 8 April, at Camp Borden the first military flying fatality in Canada occurred when Cadet J. C. Talbot died following an accident.
   In the winter of 1917-18 the 44th Wing RFC (Canada) remained at Armour Heights and Leaside Aerodromes on the outskirts of Toronto to experiment with winter flying. It undertook the first ski flying in Canada. The first skis tried were of a very rudimentary design but soon developed into a quite satisfactory ski. F. G. Ericson claimed credit for the ski design but ‘cut and try’ efforts were required and there is little doubt that the personnel of the 44th Wing contributed considerably to the development of the final design. Along with the skis, winter flying clothing had to be devised and miscellaneous cold weather flying techniques developed. This was done and, had the war continued, training would have been done at all Canadian aerodromes during the winter of 1918-19. It was also intended to equip each aerodrome with an ambulance version of the JN-4(Can) which could land near crash sites and quickly transport any injured personnel for medical attention.
   In June 1918 mail was carried by air for the first time in Canada but just how this came about is not entirely clear. Capt Brian A. Peck had arrived at Montreal on 21 June, 1918, from Toronto after an overnight stop at Deseronto, Ontario, apparently to aid in a recruiting drive; but it was also known that some whisky was badly needed for a forthcoming wedding in dry Ontario. He was accompanied by mechanic, Corporal E. W. Mathers, in JN-4(Can) C203. After their arrival the Montreal branch of the Aerial League of Canada quickly arranged a mail flight. An attempted flight back on 23 June had to be called off due to heavy rain. They got away on the 24th, and the case of liquor, the full long-range fuel tank, and the sodden state of the aircraft from the rain necessitated flying under the telephone wires on the field boundary. Leaside was reached that day after two stops and the approximately 125 letters carried have become collectors items.
   The RAF (Canada) conducted four round-trip airmail flights from 15 August to 4 September, 1918, between Toronto and Ottawa. Canucks C280 and C282 were used and Lts T. Longman, E. C. Burton and A. Dunstan were the pilots.
   After the Armistice the RAF (Canada) ceased operations almost immediately. All the aircraft were disposed of to a syndicate assembled by F. G. Ericson except for 53 retained at Camp Borden. Ericson later operated under the name of Ericson Aircraft Ltd at Toronto. In 1919 the aircraft were put up for sale for civil use by Ericson in Canada and by companies associated with him in the United States. They became the most commonly used type of all the Canadian barnstormers and were also in extensive use in the United States. Probably because of their ailerons on both wings the JN-4(Can)s seemed to be the preferred type when carrying a stuntman, which was a great attraction of the time and stimulated the sale of tickets for joy rides.
   In July 1919 an expedition headed by Capt Daniel Owen left Halifax to make a photographic survey of timber in Labrador. It had its own steamship, three JN-4(Can)s, and two ex-USN pilots, W. S. Cormack and W. P. Smith, who did the flying. This was the first aerial survey in what is now Canada and undoubtedly one of the first, if not the first, in the world. The aircraft were fitted with radio and were used as landplanes from a temporary aerodrome established on the banks of the Alexis River. Altogether some 15,000 photographs were taken and the survey was successfully completed, an achievement requiring considerable courage and initiative considering the conditions under which they were operating.
   In August 1919 the Canuck C222 of the Aerial League of Canada made the first crossing of the Canadian Rocky Mountains by air. The luck of the draw selected Ernest C. Hoy as the pilot and, on the first attempt on 4 August, he left Vancouver at 3.40 a.m. only to be forced to land at Chilliwack, BC, by fog. On the 7th Hoy started again at 4.13 a.m. and flew to Vernon, BC. Having refuelled he started again for Grand Forks, BC, and then another hop took him to Cranbrook, BC. The next leg was the most difficult and Hoy took the Canuck up to its ceiling and barely scraped through the Cranbrook Pass with 150 ft (45 m) to spare and flew on to Lethbridge, Alberta. He then flew the last hop to Calgary and landed at dusk at 7-55 p.m. The elapsed time for the trip was 16 hours 42 minutes.
   The Hoffar brothers of Vancouver were the British Columbia sales agents for the Canucks being sold by Ericson and they built for the type a single-float installation patterned after that used on the Hoffar H-1. The first trial was in July 1919 by a Capt Rogers of the Aerial League of Canada. The installation was successful and several were used in Canada, three were reported as being exported to the Philippines and one or two to the United States. In the following year Yarrows Limited, Victoria, made a twin-float installation for the Canuck, which apparently was not as successful.
   Ericson Aircraft produced a three-seat version of the JN-4(Can) known as the Ericson Special Three in the summer of 1919 which, of course, was a modified surplus machine. After Ericson had disposed of the surplus stocks of Canucks he started to make more of them. It is believed he made all the wooden parts, but probably most of the metal parts came from surplus stocks. These were sold both in the United States and Canada and it seems about 37 were made altogether by Ericson Aircraft. At this time Ericson Aircraft was the only company listed as an aircraft manufacturer in Canada.
   In 1920 the Canadian Air Force was formed and the British Government gave to Canada the 53 JN-4(Can)s in storage at Camp Borden, which were additional to the 114 aircraft shipped from Britain as the Imperial Gift aircraft. Eleven of the 53 were accepted by the C AF and ten of these were issued G-CY registrations and the 11th kept for spares. The remaining 42 were sold to Bishop-Barker Aeroplanes Ltd, Toronto, who sold them in Canada and the United States. In the CAF, as the more powerful Clerget-powered Avro 504Ks were available, not much use was made of the Canucks. This was the only postwar military use made of the Canuck and the last of the them were struck off strength in January 1923.
   A single Canuck in Canada, G-CAAT, (ex C628) was fitted with a 150 hp Wright-built Hispano Suiza engine to provide more power for towing advertizing banners, and probably other installations of this engine were made in the United States. The Ericson-built. US-registered C42 (later 2785) was flying with a 100 hp Curtiss OXX-6 engine and probably other OXX-6 installations were made.
   During the 1920s several monoplane conversions of the Canuck were designed in an effort to improve its performance and increase its life. Unfortunately, the performance achieved by these conversions is not known. They were all designed in the United States and only one Canadian registered Canuck, G-CAJL, was converted. Possibly the most interesting of the monoplane conversions was that designed by Harlan D. Fowler and Miller Corp, New Brunswick. NJ. on which development work started for what later became the well-known Fowler flap.
   In Canada the largest civil user of the type was J. V. Elliot Air Service Ltd. Hamilton, Ontario. Introduced originally to aviation by F. G. Ericson, Elliot set up a general air service and achieved considerable publicity by carrying on a short-lived air service with Canucks from Hudson. Ontario, to the Red Lake district in the late winter of 1926. He conducted a flight and ground school at Hamilton and students, as part of their instruction, built JN-4(Can)s. As in the Ericson Aircraft machines, the wooden components would be built complete but surplus metal fittings were largely used. Some of the Elliot-built Canucks were licensed as three-seat machines at a loaded weight of 2,087lb (948 kg).
   Two Canucks exist in Canada. One is in the Reynold Museum at Wetaskiwin. Alberta, and is G-CATE, formerly G-CABX, but its original RAF serial is unknown; the other is in the National Aeronautical Collection at Ottawa and was originally US Signal Corps 39158, then the US civil 111, and it is now displayed as C227 of the RAF (Canada). Three Canucks are undergoing construction/reconstruction in private hands in the United States. No Canuck is known to be in an American museum at present.


One 90hp Curtiss OX-2 or OX-5. Span, upper 43ft 7 3/8 in (13-29m), lower 34ft 8 5/16 in (10-57 m); length 27 ft 2 1/2 in (8-29 m); height 9 ft 11 in (3-02 m) approx; wing area 360-6sq ft (33-5sqm). Empty weight 1,390lb (631kg); loaded weight 1.920lb (872kg). Maximum speed 74 mph (120-7 km/h) approx; cruising speed 60 mph (96-5 km/h) approx; climb 2,500 ft (762m) in 10min; ceiling 11,000ft (3,353 m).

Felixstowe F-5-L

   By late winter 1918 Canadian Aeroplanes Ltd were finishing the US Signal Corps orders for the Curtiss JN-4(Canadian), and the RFC(Canada) had ample stocks of the type together with spares on hand for its training programme. The USN had selected the F-5-L, with its promised increased range and capacity, to replace the Curtiss H-16 as its long-range flying-boat. To fill out CAL’s production programme an order for fifty machines was placed, along with larger orders for the type to the Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Corp. Buffalo, and the Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia.
   The F-5-L was a modified version of the F.5 which was the last of the family of large First World War flying-boats that stemmed from the Curtiss America. It was developed by Curtiss in the USA and by Squadron Commander J. C. Porte at Felixstowe in England, with Porte being responsible for the great improvement in hull design. The F.5 was converted to the F-5-L by the Naval Aircraft Factory and the major changes were the installation of Liberty engines in place of the Rolls- Royce Eagle VIIIs; a new hull including planking, step and internal structure; and new balanced ailerons as drawings for the F.3 style ailerons had been supplied from England. Other changes were largely to suit American standards and practices. However, the elevators remained unbalanced as on the F.3 although the British installed balanced elevators on the F.5.
   The F-5-L was a large, twin-engined, biplane flying-boat of wooden construction intended primarily for anti-submarine patrol and normally carried a crew of four. The USN planned a special fighter version fitted with ten Lewis guns for use against enemy seaplanes but none was made. The USN also planned a special version of the F-5-L fitted with a special geared model of the Liberty engine. This was intended for overseas delivery by air and at least one was tested, but no CAL-built F-5-L is believed to have been so fitted.
   CAL started F-5-L production on 22 April, 1918, which was only five weeks after the USN received the British drawings. The early production F-5-Ls by CAL were more similar to the British F.5 in some respects than the American-made F-5-Ls and it is thought that the revised NAF drawings may not have been available in time to have the changes made. Later production machines are believed to have followed the NAF practice more closely.
   The first CAL-built F-5-L was completed on 15 July, 1918, the same day that the NAF prototype was first flown, but was not crated and shipped to the NAF until 30 July. It was tested in late August or early September and a report on it was issued on 17 September. The differences between it and the NAF-built F-5-L were noted and the performance of the aircraft was said to be ‘practically identical’ to the NAF-built machine.
   The second CAL-built F-5-L was not shipped until 3 September but thereafter production speeded up, and the last three of the order, which had been reduced to thirty following the Armistice, were shipped on 21 January, 1919, giving an average production rate of approximately 1-3 a week. None of the flyingboats was test flown in Canada before shipment to various U SN bases and depots.
   The USN was almost immediately dissatisfied with the directional stability and control provided by the original F.5 style fin and rudder and by February 1919 a new enlarged vertical tail had been tried with good results. This was incorporated on all F-5-Ls. Other modifications installed in service were an improved oil system, new and more elaborate wing walks for maintenance, and the flying wires were bound together for streamlining. CAL-built F-5-Ls served at USN bases on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as well as at Pensacola Air Station on the Gulf of Mexico. One aircraft, A3336, was pressed into service to deliver a spare engine starter to the NC-4 which was crippled with an engine failure at the start of its historic Atlantic flight. The last of the CAL-built F-5-Ls, A3360, was struck from USN records on 26 November, 1926, at Pensacola. None of the CAL-built machines was sold and converted for civil use.
   Ten of the CAL-built machines, A3340-43, A3345-46 and A3348-51, were transferred to the US Army. The Army used them, still with their USN numbers, along with some Curtiss HS-2L flying-boats, for a short time after the war at its insular bases such as Hawaii. They were intended to patrol the shore to provide advance warning of enemy naval forces and to spot for shore guns.

   Two 360 hp Liberty 12. Span, upper 103 ft 9 3/4 in (31-62 m), lower 74 ft 3 7/8 in (22-66 tn); length 49 ft 3 11/16 in (15-03 m); height 16ft 9 1/4 in (5-11 m); wing area 1,397sq ft (129-78 sq m). Empty weight 8,250lb (3,745kg); loaded weight 13,000lb (5,902kg). Maximum speed 87mph (139-98km/h); climb 2,625ft (800m) in 10 min; service ceiling 5,500ft (1,676m).

Wright Model B Biplane

   In 1911 a Wright Model B biplane was made in Winnipeg by William Percy Alexander Straith. The construction of Wright aircraft by amateurs was unusual partly because there were simpler types to build and partly because of fear that the Wrights might take legal action against the builder.
   Bill Straith was born in North Keppel, Ontario, near Owen Sound, on 9 November, 1891. In 1908 he and Reginald Hay constructed a glider which he first flew on 8 September. 1908, but it is believed that only limited success was achieved. He moved to Winnipeg in December 1910, began his aeronautical experiments there the following year, and in about 1931 wrote of his first machine as follows:
   'Just prior to this time [July 1911] two machines were in the course of construction in Winnipeg. One by a young mechanic [Straith] in the employ of the Otis-Fensom Elevator Co. This machine was a warping wing Wright Type B (The original Wright Model B appeared early in 1910 and did not have the forward elevator of the earlier Wright aircraft. It was powered with a vertical four-cylinder Wright engine of 30 hp.) and was powered with a 4-cylinder, 2-cycle Elbridge [of 40/60 hp which was originally] a marine engine but modified and lightened for aircraft use. [This] machine made a good number of flights from one to six minutes during the year it was in operation. It was then dismantled with the idea of building a more modern plane'.
   Further details of Straith’s aviation activities appear in the sections on the Straith Biplane, Bleriot-type Monoplanes and the Canadian Aircraft Mallard. He went to the USA in January 1931, flew as a captain with Northwest Airlines, worked briefly for TACA, and returned to Canada to become one of the first TCA pilots. He was killed in an accident in New Mexico on 4 April, 1947.

   One 40/60 hp Elbridge engine. Span 38ft 6in (11-7m); length 28 ft 11 in (8-81 m); height 7 ft 4in (2-23m); wing area 500sqft (46-45sqm) approx. Loaded weight 1,270lb (577kg) approx. Performance details are not known.
   Specification from original Wright Model B but loaded weight adjusted for heavier Elbridge engine.