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Student Activity Kit for Ages 4 and Up

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Student Activity Kit for Ages 4 and Up CANADA AVIATION MUSEUM Student Kit We are pleased to offer you the enclosed Student Activity Kit for ages 4 and up. For information on our school programs revisit our Web site at www.aviation.nmstc.ca or call us at 1-800-463-2038. The Canada Aviation Museum is grateful to the Federal Aviation Administration (US) for their permission to adapt some of their activities. Aircraft of the Collection To Start 1920s and early 1930s, the pilots flying Moths spread the word of aviation throughout Canada. Make two photocopies, on thick paper, of both At air shows and special events, Moths approach sheets illustrating sixteen aircraft of the from the horizon and for many Canadian of the Museum’s collection (see appendix) and cut era, it is the first aircraft they’ve seen. out the 32 cards. Canadair Sabre 6 How to Play In the mid 1950s, This is a memory and association game. You Royal Canadian Air have 32 cards facing down. The objective of Force (RCAF) pilots the game is to associate two cards with the helping to keep the name and drawing of a same aircraft (they are peace in Europe aircraft in the Museum’s collection). become the envied elite flying force of the West. The reason: their Canadian-built Canadair Sabre Each participant must, one after the other, flip fighters powered by the Canadian Orenda jet two cards. If the two cards correspond to the engine. The Sabre is the first swept-wing fighter same aircraft, the participant scores a point. If built in North America, and quickly gains a the drawings on the two cards do not reputation as “a pilot’s plane”. A single-seater, correspond to the same aircraft, the cards are the highly manoeuvrable Sabre is the first flipped face down again. The next participant fighter that can routinely exceed the speed of then tries to do the same. sound in a dive. Though it represents a giant step forward in military aviation, it still has one The following consists of historical information foot in the past. For unlike all other advanced regarding the 16 aircraft found on the cards. fighters that follow it, the Sabre is still a manual aircraft. Early Sabres had a successful career at de Havilland D.H. 60X Moth war— tipping the balance against the Russian- built MiG 15 during the Korean War — and on The romance with peacekeeping missions around the globe. powered flight is really starting to take off in Canada McDowall Monoplane during the mid It is 1910, and Robert 1920s. Suddenly, there is wide demand for an McDowall, a municipal aircraft that is affordable, reliable, easy to fly engineer from Owen and easy to maintain. The de Havilland Moth Sound, Ontario, is flies in to fill that need. The Moth quickly becomes vacationing with his the airplane known for “putting the fly in wife in Paris. The couple decide to visit a flying”. With its reliable engine, superb controls, Parisian display, and it is there that McDowall and efficient air frame, the Moth is economical falls in love again—this time with aviation, for and highly manoeuvrable. During the late 1 Aircraft of the Collection on display is the famous Blériot XI, which in fact, a small, sharp stone placed under the 1909 became the first airplane to cross the highly volatile fuel tank of the Komet at the English Channel. Back in Owen Sound, Canada Aviation Museum is clear evidence of McDowall’s second love gets the best of him, the sabotage that threatened the aircraft. and he sets to work on his own version of the Blériot. But alas, man cannot fly on love alone, Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow and despite its builder’s dedicated efforts, the McDowall Monoplane never truly flies. Though The explosion of its design is not aerodynamically sound, the the first Soviet McDowall Monoplane nevertheless does atomic bomb, in represent the pioneer spirit and ingenuity that September 1949, sustained the early development of aviation. sends shockwaves And after being restored by the Canada throughout the Aviation Museum in 1987, it finally claimed its Western world. That same year, preliminary rightful place as the only surviving Canadian design studies for a supersonic bomber pioneer aircraft. interceptor begin in Avro Canada’s design office. In April 1953, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) submits a specification for an Messerschmitt Me 163B-1a Komet extremely powerful and superbly equipped In 1944 the Allies twin-engine two-seat aircraft. Avro Canada’s have clearly proposal is accepted. The Arrow is born. The gained an upper first aircraft is presented to the public in October hand in the war 1957. On the same day, the USSR launches the with Germany. world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, an event But the Germans that will have serious consequences for the have yet another secret weapon up their future of the CF-105. The Arrow flies for the sleeve— the Messerschmitt Me 163B-1a first time in March 1958 but, already, costs Komet. The Komet is a short-range rocket- are soaring. In September, a newly elected powered interceptor designed to blast off high government terminates its fire control system into the sky and intercept incoming Allied and missile. In February 1959, the entire project bombers. The Komet is very fast, enabling it to comes to a end. In the ensuing furore, the launch lightning attacks on Allied planes. government is harshly criticized. Even today, Trailing a long rocket exhaust tail, it stuns and the entire affair retains an almost mythical surprises Allied airmen. But in the end, the status. Few Arrow artifacts have survived and highly advanced Komet is a dangerous aircraft the Canada Aviation Museum is fortunate in that to operate and it claims more German than it has a forward fuselage, two wingtips, an Allied pilots— built by enforced labour, the Iroquois engine and other components. Komet is the victim of frequent sabotage. In 2 Aircraft of the Collection de Havilland Canada Beaver Allied control over the skies. But immediately following the war, there are other plans in store In the mid 1940s, for the SPAD VII that today is on display at the de Havilland Canada Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa. After is wondering what serving a stint in the U.S. Army, the SPAD VII features Canadian stars in “Wings”, the very first film to win an bush pilots want Academy Award. most in a new aircraft. So the company undertakes one of the first comprehensives market research surveys. The resulting aircraft Supermarine Spitfire L.F. Mk. IX —the Beaver—quickly becomes a testament to It’s July, 1942. the importance of research and development. For almost a year The Beaver’s ability to adapt to any type of now, the Germans landing gear, its power and manoeuvrability, have enjoyed aerial and its “short takeoff and landing” (STOL) combat supremacy with their sleek Focke Wulf capabilities, quickly make it a favourite on 190 fighters. In response, the Allies have every continent of the world. During the designed an improved version of the legendary Korean War, it becomes known as the Supermarine Spitfire, the Mk IX. The new “General’s Jeep”, because it is the chosen craft Spitfires roll of the assembly line and streak off of commanding officers travelling from one the runway in rapid succession. With its more combat zone to the next. As the generals find powerful engine, the new Spitfire can hit out, it can outperform the helicopter in every speeds upwards of 650 km/h. In all areas of category except straight vertical lift. In civil combat performance, the Mk IX meets or beats service, the Beaver becomes a renowned bush the Fw190. The balance is restored. The plane, and many continue in service today. The Supermarine Spitfire and the men who flew Beaver was chosen in 1987 by the Engineering her are legends. Centennial Board as one of the country’s outstanding engineering achievements. Bell HTL-6 SPAD VII As the 1950s get under way, the helicopter is As World War I enters becoming increasingly its third year, the visible in North America. German-built Albatros One of the organizations is having a field day intrigued by its potential is the Royal Canadian with the less- advanced Navy (RCN). For its first helicopter, the RCN aircraft of the Allies. But France has had chooses a proven American design, the enough, and so along with Britain, begins Bell Model 47, first flown in 1945 and the production of the superior French-designed first helicopter to be commercially licensed, SPAD VII. With aces like Canada’s A.D. Carter in 1946. After an incredible career on every at the controls, the SPAD VII helps reassert 3 Aircraft of the Collection continent, with more than 6 400 Model 47s A.E.A Silver Dart built by Bell and its licensees in Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, production ends around It’s February 23, 1977. The RCN acquires half a dozen HTLs, the 1909. On the ice of U.S. Navy designation of the Model 47. Nova Scotia’s Bras However, most Model 47s in use in Canada d’Or Lake, a small today are civilian. The Museum’s HTL-6 flew crowd has gathered to watch the Silver Dart with the RCN between 1955 and 1966, when it prepare for flight. At the controls is J.A.D. was retired to the Canada Aviation Museum. It McCurdy, designer of the Silver Dart, and a served in many roles over the years, including Canadian. The engine stutters, the balloon ship-based survey work along Canada’s fabric wings flutter, the craft skims along the coasts and in the Arctic.
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