Canada's First Airshow/Aviation 2010

[JohnReid]

As you guys from the modeling forum know ,I am planning to build a Bleriot diorama depicting the airplane that participated in the first airshow in Canada and the first to fly over the city of Montreal.
Here is a brief history of that event.The airshow/air meet was held in a rented farmers field in Pointe Claire, in what is now called the City of Montreal's West Island area, from June 24 to July 2 ,1910.The event was sponsored by the local Automobile and Aero Club.It cost $74,000 dollars to put on, of which only $50,000 was recovered in revenues.While not a financial success it was a huge success with the public.Fifteen thousand people(approx) attended the first day which was a large number at the time, considering the site is well outside the city limits of the day and aviation was but a curiosity at the time. to be cont....

[JohnReid]

They built a 1,100 X 40 foot high grandstand for the event,as well as a special railway platform to handle the crowd.Police and a squad of dragoons were required for crowd control.
Some of the events included flights by two small motor-driven dirigibles ,parchute jumps from balloons ,huge kites,and a mock bombing attack.The young pilot Walter Brookens of the Wright Brothers team,a pilot himself of only three months,dropped sand bombs from a 1,000 feet which "exploded with great noise" on a especially built fort in the middle of the showgrounds.Sir Frederick Borden declared that "this science will bring enormous change in modern military strategy.(how right he proved to be) to be cont......

[JohnReid]

[Maxim08]

John,
If you are not aware, the Canadian Aviation Heritage Centre in Ste. Anne de Bellevue QC is building a flying replica of Le Scarabée. Here's a link Bleriot.
Regards,
John

[Rod_Filan]

John,
You mention two airships at the Lakeside Aviation Meet. I record three.

It's quite clear that flights were made by Fred Owens and Robert C. Milliman although I don't have much in the way of specific ascensions. I've found anecdotal evidence that Cromwell Dixon was a participant but nothing photographic that verifies flights he may have made.
(I suspect Dixon was flying for United Airship Co. using the same dirigible he flew at the Boston-Harvard meet.)

Obviously you've done your homework concerning this airshow, so any information you've come across on any of these three aeronauts would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Rod

[JohnReid]

Originally Posted by Maxim08

John,
If you are not aware, the Canadian Aviation Heritage Centre in Ste. Anne de Bellevue QC is building a flying replica of Le Scarabée. Here's a link Bleriot.
Regards,
John

Thanks John,yes I was a member there for a couple of years.I plan to re-join them soon.

[JohnReid]

Originally Posted by Rod_Filan

John,
You mention two airships at the Lakeside Aviation Meet. I record three.

It's quite clear that flights were made by Fred Owens and Robert C. Milliman although I don't have much in the way of specific ascensions. I've found anecdotal evidence that Cromwell Dixon was a participant but nothing photographic that verifies flights he may have made.
(I suspect Dixon was flying for United Airship Co. using the same dirigible he flew at the Boston-Harvard meet.)

Obviously you've done your homework concerning this airshow, so any information you've come across on any of these three aeronauts would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Rod

Hi Rod! I'll be gettin' there.

[JohnReid]

On July 2nd two pilots made history at the airshow.Walter Brookens of the Wright team in his Wright airplane and Count de Lessops of the European team in his Bleriot XI monoplane.(who only a month earlier was the second pilot after Bleriot himself to cross the English Channel.)The Bleriot took off first,circled the field a few times and then headed down the river to Montreal,flew over Mount Royal and circled the downtown area,back over Lachine and made a perfect landing back at the airfield.Brookens took off and broke the Canadian endurance and altitude record of 45 mins and 22 sec and 3,510 feet.(A feat that remained unchallenged for two years.)He wished he could have stayed longer but at this altitude "I almost froze my ears."Earlier on June 27 Brookens had flown for only 9 mins and 50 sec.In all six pilots and eight airplanes participated ,four Wright biplanes,a McCurdy biplane and three French Bleriot monoplanes. By all accounts the show was a resounding success.

[JohnReid]

We are a volunteer steering committee that is part of Aviation 2010 which was organized to help stimulate interest and to organize events to commemorate the first international airshow held in Canada.As well as attend meetings ,I will be building a 1/12th diorama of the BleriotXI "Scarabee "airplane as it was at the airshow in 1910,to help publicize the event.

Why am I so interested in this? Well I must admit that it grew out of my own ignorance.I couldn't believe that I attended and taught woodcarving at a high school that now sits on the actual field from where this event took place.The hobby store that I frequent is just down the hill and I have lived only a couple of miles away from the site for many years.No one in my circle of aviation friends, and that goes back fifty years and more ,had never even mentioned this event.I have heard plenty about exploits just south of the border and in Europe during this era but nothing about this historical event that took place on my own doorstep.
I am not alone however,most Montrealers,in fact most Canadians are ignorant of their own aviation history.Our growing committee is hoping to change all that in the next three years.Montreal is and has long been the hub of aviation in Canada for a very long time.

[JohnReid]