History of aviation in Canada

The history of aviation in Canada begins with the first manned flight in a balloon at Saint John, New Brunswick in 1840. Development of the aviation industry in Canada was shaped by the interplay of Canadian national ambitions, national and international politics, economics, and technology. Experimental aviation started in Canada with the test flights of Bell's Silver Dart in 1909, following the epochal flight of the Wright Brothers in 1903. The experimental phase gave way to use of aircraft in warfare and many Canadians served in the British Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force during the First World War.

After the war, aircraft turned from an expensive novelty into a vital transportation tool, particularly useful in exploration and development of Canada's North. Canadians who had served with the RAF put their acquired aviation skills to peacetime use. Aviation was applied to the task of tying together far-flung communities in the North, and to gather information on the natural resources of the country. Aircraft were as important to opening up the North as the railway was to opening the West in the previous century. Between the wars many small airlines were founded, including the ancestors of Air Canada,(the current national carrier), with rapid growth in passenger and air freight traffic.

World War II forced more technological development and brought Canadian industry into the vanguard of aircraft manufacture. Canadian airspace and facilities provide training for more than one hundred thousand Commonwealth aircrew, and the wartime facilities supported growing commercial aviation.

The Jet Age brought air travel into the lives of many Canadians, displacing passenger rail. Deregulation of airlines with less government control brought forth new competitors to the prewar airlines. Thin operating margins and aggressive competition led to periodic booms and failures.

Today aviation is an integral part of the Canadian economy. Scheduled airline passenger service, air mail and air freight connect Canadian cities and cities around the world. General aviation provides medical evacuation, air photography, and support for resource development.

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