Timeline
10 April 1919
Canadian Aviation Events
The first airplane flight in Newfoundland takes place.
15 May 1919
Canadian Life
The Winnipeg General Strike begins.
20 May 1919
Canadian Aviation Events
Close to forty German military aircraft are shipped to Canada as war trophies after the end of First World War.
6 June 1919
Canadian Aviation Events
Parliament passes the Air Board Act, creating a body to oversee aeronautics across Canada.
6 June 1919
Canadian Life
Parliament passes the creating Canadian National (CN) Railways.
14–15 June 1919
Science & Technology Milestones
John Alcock and Arthur Brown make the first non-stop transatlantic flight, between St. John’s, Newfoundland and Connemara, Ireland.
7 July 1919
Canadian Aviation Events
For the first time in Canada, a forest fire is spotted from the air—by Stuart Graham and W. Kahre, aboard a Curtiss HS-2L.
7 August 1919
Canadian Aviation Events
Ernest Roy makes the first flight across the Canadian Rockies, in a Curtiss JN-4 “Canuck.”
9 August 1919
Canadian Life
Canada’s first public exhibit of military aircraft to include German aircraft and war trophies opens as part of the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto.
9 September 1919
Science & Technology Milestones
Alexander Graham Bell’s hydrofoil, powered by two Liberty aircraft engines, sets a world speed record of 114.04 km/h (70.86 mph) near Baddeck, Nova Scotia.
October 1919
Canadian Aviation Events
Stuart Graham and W. Kahre carry out the first aerial photo survey operations in Canada.
28 October 1919
Canadian Life
The United States passes the National Prohibition Act.
1920
Canadian Life
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is established.
1920
Canadian Life
A group of self-proclaimed modern artists form the Group of Seven.
16 January 1920
Canadian Life
In Paris, the League of Nations Council holds its first meeting.
24 January 1920
Canadian Aviation Events
James Stanley Scott, Controller of Civil Aviation, is awarded the first Canadian private pilot’s licence.
18 February 1920
Canadian Aviation Events
The Canadian Air Force is formed at Camp Borden, Ontario.
20 April 1920
Canadian Aviation Events
The first civil aircraft, a Curtiss JN-4 “Canuck” G-CAAA, is registered in Canada.
20 May 1920
Canadian Life
The Montreal-based radio station XWA makes the world’s first commercial broadcast and starts regular programming.
10 July 1920
Canadian Life
Arthur Meighen becomes Prime Minister of Canada.
7–17 October 1920
Canadian Aviation Events
The first trans-Canada flight—between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Vancouver, British Columbia—takes place.
1921
Science & Technology Milestones
Canadian Frederick Banting and his team of University of Toronto researchers discover insulin as a treatment for diabetes.
1921
Science & Technology Milestones
Canadian federal government researchers develop a wheat variety that is resistant to rust disease, saving wheat farmers millions in lost crops.
1921
Canadian Life
To date, Canada has 171 licensed private pilots and 109 registered aircraft.
1921
Canadian Life
Population of Canada: 8 800 249.
24 March 1921
Canadian Aviation Events
Imperial Oil uses the René and Vic, two Junkers JL-6 aircraft, to register mineral claims in the North-West Territories.
5 May 1921
Canadian Life
Chanel releases its world-famous No. 5 perfume.
29 December 1921
Canadian Life
William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Prime Minister of Canada.
1922
Science & Technology Milestones
At the age of 15, Joseph-Armand Bombardier (from Valcourt, Quebec) makes the first propeller-driven sled (powered by a Ford Model T motor).
November 1922
Canadian Life
The tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen is discovered in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.
1923
Canadian Aviation Events
Canadian Vickers Limited establishes an aircraft production division.
1 January 1923
Canadian Life
Canada’s Department of National Defence is established.
9 January 1923
Science & Technology Milestones
Spain’s Juan de la Cierva flies his first autogiro, the Cierva C.4, for the first time.
16 February 1923
Canadian Life
Foster (“He shoots, he scores!”) Hewitt makes one of the first radio broadcasts of a hockey game in Canada.
24 October 1923
Canadian Life
National Transcontinental Railway Act is passed.
25 October 1923
Science & Technology Milestones
Canadian Frederick Banting and John Macleod receive the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their discovery of insulin in treating diabetes.
1924
Science & Technology Milestones
The Wright J-4 Whirlwind air-cooled, radial aircraft engine is introduced.
1924
Canadian Life
George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue premieres in New York City.
1 April 1924
Canadian Aviation Events
The Royal Canadian Air Force becomes a permanent force.
23 May 1924
Canadian Aviation Events
Laurentide Air Service Limited establishes the first regular passenger service in Canada between various Quebec goldfields.
1925
Canadian Life
F. Scott Fitzgerald publishes The Great Gatsby.
1925
Canadian Life
Canada’s first tuberculosis vaccination clinic opens, in Montreal.
1925
Science & Technology Milestones
The Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar IV(s), the world’s first supercharged engine specifically designed for operation at high altitude, is produced.
1925
Science & Technology Milestones
18/8 austenitic grade steel is introduced; it is later used in the production of jet engines (during the Second World War).
1926
Science & Technology Milestones
The U.S. Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company produces the first Wasp engines.
26 January 1926
Science & Technology Milestones
Scottish engineer John Baird gives a public demonstration of the world’s first working (mechanical) television system in London, England.
16 March 1926
Science & Technology Milestones
American Robert Goddard launches the first liquid fuel rocket.
29 June 1926
Canadian Life
Arthur Meighen returns as Prime Minister of Canada.
5 September 1926
Canadian Life
The Ford Motor Company introduces the forty-hour work week.
25 September 1926
Canadian Life
William Lyon Mackenzie King returns as Prime Minister of Canada.
1927
Canadian Aviation Events
“Elsie” MacGill graduates from the University of Toronto, becoming the first Canadian woman to earn an electrical engineering degree.
1927
Canadian Life
The National Museum of Canada is established.
20–21 May 1927 - Charles Lindbergh
Canadian Life
On 20 May 1927, twenty-five-year-old American Charles Lindbergh, a former aerial stuntman and airmail pilot, took off from New York City, New York. Just over thirty-three hours and 5 800 kilometres later, Lindbergh landed his Spirit of St. Louis in Paris, in France, where the exhausted pilot was mobbed by a huge crowd of cheering admirers.
In 1919, a New York City hotel owner had promised a large sum of money to the first aviators to fly non-stop between New York and Paris. By May 1927, four aircraft had crashed during trials or failed attempts, killing six people. Lindbergh’s specially designed airplane had been purchased with the help of businessmen from St. Louis, Missouri. He flew alone and without a parachute.
Lindbergh’s success made the “Lone Eagle” a world celebrity almost overnight, and interest in aviation soared. He went on to take part in numerous events promoting flight, including Canada’s celebrations surrounding the sixtieth anniversary of Confederation, which were held in Ottawa, Ontario, in July 1927.
29 June 1927 - The Variable-Pitch Propeller
Science & Technology Milestones
A prototype of a variable-pitch propeller designed by Canadian engineer W.R. Turnbull was flight tested on 29 June 1927. This type of propeller went on to play a crucial role in the growth of commercial and military aviation during the 1930s.
Early powered aircraft were fitted with propellers whose blades could not rotate to maximize efficiency during take-off, level flight and landing. Thus, even the best of these fixed-pitch propellers was a poor compromise. As aircraft performance improved during the 1920s, it became obvious that a means of adjusting the blades of a propeller in mid-air was needed, to do for aircraft what transmission had done for automobiles.
Following the success of Turnbull’s prototype, Curtiss-Wright launched an electrically operated propeller (based on Turnbull’s design) in 1934. Another example was the oil-operated design by the well-known U.S. company Hamilton Standard Propeller, which was flight tested in 1932 and later equipped the Boeing 247, the world’s first modern airliner.
12 July 1927
Canadian Aviation Events
For the first time in Canada, airplanes are used to dust crops with fungicide to control wheat rust.
17 July 1927
Canadian Aviation Events
The Hudson Strait Expedition leaves Halifax, Nova Scotia.
23 September 1927
Canadian Aviation Events
The Canadian government announces terms of assistance for flying clubs in Canada.
6 October 1927
Canadian Life
The Jazz Singer, the first “talkie” (a full-length film with sound) is released.
1928
Science & Technology Milestones
Canada’s Dr Archibald Huntsman develops a process for freezing fish, becoming the first in North America to freeze food commercially and market frozen fish.
1928
Science & Technology Milestones
American Edward Albert Link introduces the first electro-mechanical flight simulator used to train pilots: the Link Trainer.
1928
Canadian Life
At the Amsterdam Olympics, women are allowed to compete in track and field events for the first time.
4 February 1928
Canadian Aviation Events
W.T. Reid forms the Reid Aircraft Company in Cartierville, Quebec.
March 1928
Canadian Aviation Events
De Havilland Canada is established in Toronto, Ontario.
13 March 1928
Canadian Aviation Events
In Hamilton, Ontario, Eileen Vollick becomes the first Canadian woman to receive a pilot’s licence.
May 1928
Canadian Life
Walt Disney introduces Mickey Mouse for the first time, in the animated cartoon Plane Crazy.
1 May 1928
Canadian Aviation Events
The Toronto Flying Club is established.
28 August - 9 September
Canadian Aviation Events
Clennell Haggertson “Punch” Dickins makes an exploratory trip over Northern Canada and is first to fly over the Barren Lands.
September 1928
Science & Technology Milestones
British bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovers the antibacterial properties of a mould, and goes on to develop the first antibiotic, penicillin.
28 November 1928
Canadian Aviation Events
The Hudson Strait Expedition concludes with the arrival of ships and crew in Quebec City.
1929
Canadian Aviation Events
At the University of Michigan, “Elsie” MacGill becomes the first woman to earn an MSc in aeronautical engineering, making her Canada’s first female aeronautical engineer.
2–3 January 1929
Canadian Aviation Events
Wilfrid Reid “Wop” May and J.V. Horner make an emergency flight from Edmonton, Alberta to the small community of Fort Vermilion, to deliver a much-needed diphtheria antitoxin.
10 January 1929
Canadian Life
Hergé’s Tintin makes his first appearance, in a Belgian newspaper comic strip.
28 January 1929
Canadian Aviation Events
A Canadian branch of the U.S. Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company is established in Longueuil, Quebec.
10 May 1929
Canadian Aviation Events
Fairchild Aircraft Limited is founded in Longueuil, Quebec.
29 May 1929
Canadian Aviation Events
Boeing Aircraft of Canada is incorporated in Vancouver, British Columbia.
July 1929
Science & Technology Milestones
The aeronautics section of Canada’s National Research Council is established under the direction of J.H. Parkin.
August 1929
Science & Technology Milestones
The first diesel-electric locomotive in Canada, built by Canadian Locomotive Co. of Kingston, goes into service between Montreal and Toronto.
24 October 1929
Canadian Life
“Black Thursday” begins the initial crash of the U.S. stock market, and triggers a worldwide economic collapse: the Great Depression.
November 1929
Canadian Aviation Events
The Canadian Flying Clubs Association is established.
1930
Science & Technology Milestones
Sliced bread and packaged frozen food are introduced onto the market in North America.
1930
Science & Technology Milestones
A young scientist at 3M invents Scotch® tape.
1930
Science & Technology Milestones
Theodore von Karman (originally from Hungary) begins work on the supersonic theory, which made it possible to design aircraft that could break the sound barrier.
January 1930 - The Birth of the Jet Engine
Science & Technology Milestones
In January 1930, British officer cadet Frank Whittle became the first to register a jet engine patent. Two years before this, as part of his Royal Air Force College curriculum, Whittle had submitted his graduation thesis entitled Future Developments in Aircraft Design, which demonstrated that aircraft would need a new type of engine to achieve very high speeds. From this, Whittle developed the idea that led to his patent. His first engine ran on a test bed on 12 April 1937.
Just weeks before, a jet engine designed in Germany by Hans von Ohain had undergone initial testing. The German air force and aircraft maker Ernst Heinkel assisted Ohain in his work and, as a result, an experimental aircraft—the world’s first jet airplane—was able to take off on 27 August 1939, just days before the start of the Second World War. The second jet-powered aircraft flew in the United Kingdom on 15 May 1941. A new age of flight was under way.
25 March 1930
Canadian Aviation Events
Fleet Aircraft of Canada Limited is incorporated at Fort Erie, Ontario.
15 May 1930
Canadian Life
In California, Ellen Church, a pilot and nurse, becomes the world’s first female flight attendant.
27 June 1930
Canadian Aviation Events
Canadian Airways Limited is incorporated.
1 August 1930
Canadian Life
The R-100, an airship from Britain, crosses the Atlantic Ocean and arrives at St. Hubert, Quebec.
7 August 1930
Canadian Life
Richard Bennett becomes Prime Minister of Canada.
9–10 October 1930
Canadian Aviation Events
J. Errol Boyd becomes the first Canadian to make a transatlantic flight, flying from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland to Tresco, Scilly Isles, England.
1931
Science & Technology Milestones
A team at the U.S. company DuPont produce synthetic rubber—neoprene.
1931
Canadian Life
Population of Canada: 10 376 379.
During this decade (between 1921 and 1931), the population becomes more urban than rural.
1931
Canadian Life
The Montreal Botanical Garden is founded.
1 July 1931
Canadian Aviation Events
The Trans-Canada Air Pageant, an air rally organized to promote flying in Canada and help flying clubs, begins.
25 July 1931
Canadian Aviation Events
Canadian John Webster wins thirteenth place in the King’s Cup Race in England, flying a Curtiss-Reid Rambler.
1932
Canadian Aviation Events
The Great Depression leads to the cancellation of many airmail contracts in Canada.
1932
Science & Technology Milestones
Canadian James Wright develops a Fire Danger Rating Index in Canada.
20–21 May 1932 - Amelia Earhart
Canadian Life
On 20–21 May 1932, exactly five years after Charles Lindbergh’s historic flight, American Amelia Earhart became the first woman (and second person) to fly solo, non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean.
Earhart’s fascination with flying had begun in early 1918 when, as a nurse’s aid working in a military hospital in Toronto, she visited a British military flying school near the city. She obtained her private pilot’s licence in 1922, and made headlines as the first female passenger to cross the Atlantic on board an airplane in June 1928. From then on, she was a media darling.
Determined to foster women’s involvement in aviation, in 1929 Earhart founded the “Ninety-Nines”, an international organization of female pilots. In fact, Canada’s first women’s flying club, the “Flying Seven”, was modelled on Earhart’s organization.
In 1937, Earhart embarked on her greatest challenge yet—a flight around the world. Her first attempt was unsuccessful but, determined, she set off once more in May. Leaving from California, in United States, Earhart and her navigator flew east. On 2 July 1937, they headed for a tiny island in the Pacific—and vanished. Admiration for Earhart’s accomplishments and fascination with her disappearance continue to this day.
Fall 1932
Canadian Aviation Events
The Canadian government sets up an unemployment relief scheme to construct a series of airports across Canada paving the way for a trans-Canadian airway.
1933
Science & Technology Milestones
The first Canadian experiments with television broadcasting take place.
1933
Canadian Life
Quebec author Claude-Henri Grignon publishes the classic Un homme et son péché (A Man and His Sin).
30 January 1933
Canadian Life
Adolf Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany and the National Socialist Party takes power.
8 February 1933 - The Boeing 247
Science & Technology Milestones
The world’s first modern airliner, the Boeing 247, made its maiden flight on 8 February 1933; passenger flights began in May.
In 1931, United Air Lines (UAL), a group of American airlines controlled by a conglomerate, had contacted a sister company to see if it could design a new airliner for them. Boeing Airplane Company’s initial proposals were, however, rejected. Boeing engineers then suggested that a high-performance airliner could be extrapolated from a bomber aircraft prototype that the company had test flown in April that year. Calculated performance of the new aircraft was such that Boeing convinced UAL not to build a prototype but, rather, to order it right off the drawing board.
The streamlined appearance and capabilities of the Boeing 247 were little short of revolutionary. Its layout and structural features set the norm for airliners until the introduction of jet-powered civil aircraft in the 1950s. Unwilling to order Boeing 247s because of the long wait and keen to remain competitive, Transcontinental & Western Air, Inc. asked Douglas Aircraft Company to design a competitor. Their DC-2 proved superior to its rival, paving the way toward the incomparable DC-3.
December 1933
Canadian Life
Prohibition ends in the United States.
1934
Canadian Aviation Events
Noorduyn Aircraft Limited is incorporated in Cartierville, Quebec.
1934
Science & Technology Milestones
American neurologist Dr Wilder Penfield establishes the Montreal Neurological Institute.
31 October 1934
Canadian Aviation Events
Fairchild produces the first aircraft designed specifically for bush flying in Canada: the Fairchild Super 71.
1935
Science & Technology Milestones
British scientist Robert Watson-Watt patents the first practical radar system in the United Kingdom.
1935
Canadian Life
Parker Brothers patent the board game Monopoly®.
1935
Science & Technology Milestones
A Delaware car manufacturer introduces flashing turn signals on automobiles.
30 September 1935
Canadian Life
In New York, George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess is performed for the first time.
23 October 1935
Canadian Life
William Lyon Mackenzie King returns as Prime Minister of Canada.
14 November 1935
Canadian Aviation Events
The prototype of the Noorduyn Norseman—the first all-Canadian designed and built bush plane—takes off for the first time.
1936
Canadian Aviation Events
Canadian Car & Foundry Company Limited aircraft manufacturing division is established in Fort William, Ontario.
1936
Science & Technology Milestones
The first commercially viable production of acrylic safety glass—Plexiglas®—begins. It’s later used as a substitute for glass in airplanes, automobiles and in the home.
1936
Canadian Life
The Berlin Olympics are the first to be televised.
18 July 1936
Canadian Life
The Spanish Civil War begins.
15 October 1936
Canadian Aviation Events
Seven women establish the Flying Seven, Canada’s first all-female flying club.
November 1936
Science & Technology Milestones
In the United Kingdom, the Royal Air Force performs the first successful radar-controlled interception of an airplane in flight.
2 November 1936
Canadian Life
Birth of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
1937
Canadian Aviation Events
National Steel Car Corporation sets up an aircraft production department.
1937
Science & Technology Milestones
American Wallace Carothers invents nylon.
1937
Canadian Life
J.R.R. Tolkien publishes his famous fantasy book and children’s novel The Hobbit.
10 April 1937 - Trans-Canada Air Lines
Canadian Aviation Events
Trans-Canada Air Lines came into being on 10 April 1937. At the beginning of the 1930s, Canada was one of the few industrialized countries in the world without a government-assisted national airline. As aviation developed in North America, there was concern within various circles that American airlines might gain control of many Canadian air routes. The country’s largest commercial operator, Canadian Airways Limited, was very interested in becoming Ottawa’s flag carrier and began discussions with officials.
In late 1936, the Department of Transport was created with C.D. Howe as minister, and brought new life to the trans-Canadian airline project. Abandoning the idea of a subsidized private company, Howe proposed a consortium involving Canadian Airways Limited, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and the Canadian National Railway (CNR), a crown corporation. Taken by surprise, Canadian Airways Limited and the CPR declined the minister’s offer. As a result, Howe set up Trans-Canada Air Lines as a subsidiary of the CNR on 10 April 1937. Passenger flights between Montreal and Vancouver began in April 1939.
12 April 1937
Science & Technology Milestones
Britain’s Frank Whittle makes the first successful bench test on the world’s first jet engine.
September 1937
Canadian Aviation Events
The University of Toronto offers aeronautical engineering classes for the first time.
1 September 1937
Canadian Aviation Events
Trans-Canada Air Lines makes its first official flight, from Vancouver, British Columbia to Seattle, United States.
21 December 1937
Canadian Life
Walt Disney’s movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premieres.
1938
Science & Technology Milestones
American engineer Roy Plunkett discovers Teflon®, which is later used on non-stick cooking pans.
May-June 1938
Canadian Aviation Events
“Elsie” MacGill starts work at Canadian Car & Foundry Company Limited in Fort William, Ontario.
June 1938
Canadian Life
Superman, the creation of Canadian Joe Schuster and American Jerome Siegel, makes his first public debut in the June issue of Action Comics.
1 July 1938
Canadian Aviation Events
Trans-Canada Air Lines becomes the first Canadian company to hire flight attendants.
30 October 1938
Canadian Life
A radio broadcast of H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds made by Orson Welles causes a sensation as many listeners believe that Martians really are invading the Earth.
17 December 1938
Science & Technology Milestones
German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann discover nuclear fission: a physical process used in the creation of the atomic bomb as well as nuclear power plants.
1939
Science & Technology Milestones
The first combine (thresher and reaper in one), built by the Canadian firm Massey-Harris, goes on the market.
1939
Canadian Life
The National Film Board of Canada is established.
12 August 1939
Canadian Life
The movie Wizard of Oz premieres.
27 August 1939
Science & Technology Milestones
The first sustained flight is made in a jet airplane, Germany’s Heinkel He 178.
15 December 1939
Canadian Life
The movie Gone with the Wind premieres in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.