Working at the Waterloo Air Show yesterday I had a chance to meet Bjarni Tryggvason, former Canadian astronaut and pilot of the replica Silver Dart that will be coming to the Canadian Air & Space Museum later this year.
Bjarni flew on the space shuttle STS-85 as a payload specialist from August 7-19, 1997 where he conducted fluid dynamics experiments designed to examine sensitivity to spacecraft vibrations. He flew 4.7 million miles in 284 hours and 27 minutes.
This year, Tryggvason has been travelling quite a bit slower. The Silver Dart replica has been flown 4 times. In between, he’s been flying as part of the Harvard team and teaching at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario.
To Bjarni’s left is Rod Jones, a member of the museum’s Board. We talked for a few minutes about the flying conditions and some ideas about how to coordinate all the events across Canada like the Waterloo show and our own Wings & Wheels.
Thanks to Bob Bourke, fellow volunteer, for taking the photo and sharing it with me.
EyeNo "Canadian Air & Space Museum", Space, aviation history Canada, Travel
The Boeing KC135-A tanker completes its first flight. Still in service today, the KC135 is the primary refueling platform for the US Air Force.
EyeNo aviation history aviation, aviation history
Air France, France’s national airline, is formed. Today Air France and KLM are both part of a European holding company making the it the largest airline company in the world.
Photo taken at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. I’m onboard an Air France A340 as another one waits.
EyeNo aviation history aviation, aviation history
The Memphis Belle is, arguably, one of the most famous aircraft in the world. A B17 bomber, she was the first American bomber of WWII to complete 25 missions.
The original aircraft is still undergoing restoration but the movie stand in still flies and made an appearance today at the Waterloo-Wellington air show outside Toronto.
I’m working here all weekend helping to man the museum’s booth but I, of course, had to duck out to get a chance to see this famous plane.
Seeing her up close was great but watching her glide through the air was amazing. This is one graceful airplane and the crew put on a great show with plenty of low speed passes and tight turns.
The air show organizers have put on a terrific event and I’ve been taking some notes now that we’ve starting preparing for next year’s Wings & Wheels festival.
(click on a picture to enlarge)
EyeNo Flying Is Fun, aviation, photo Toronto
A Canadair Sabre-5 flies 2,740 miles in five hours and thirty seconds (Vancouver-Gimli-Halifax).
Photo is of the restored Sabre-5 from Vintage Wings of Canada taken at CFB Trenton.
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The first ambulance flight in Northern Canada takes place when W.R. Maxwell in a Curtis HS-2L flew J.W. Thompson from Moose Factory to Remi Lake (near Cochrane) Ontario.
Photo taken at Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa showing G-CAAC, which flew the first ever “bush flight” in 1919.
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Take a Finnish novelty rock band, THE Red Army Choir Ensemble and good old American Rock and Roll. Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Leningrad Cowboys.
Weird but fun.
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First flight of the Boeing Vertol CH-46C Labrador helicopter.
This aircraft is a twin-engine, tandem-rotor search and rescue (SAR) helicopter used by the Canadian Forces from 1963 until 2004. It was a variant of the Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight designed and built in the United States. A search and rescue version was purchased by the Royal Canadian Air Force in the early 1960s and became known as the Labrador. Soon after, the Canadian Army acquired a troop and cargo version known as the Voyageur. In the mid-1970s, these army machines were replaced by CH-147 Chinook heavy lift and transport helicopters and the Voyageurs were transferred to the air force when Air Command was formed in 1975. They joined the Labradors on search and rescue duties and all were modified to a common search and rescue standard.
Picture above was taken at the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa. From their website :
Labrador #301, the first to enter service with the Canadian Forces and the last to retire, was delivered to the Canada Aviation Museum in July, 2004 and marked the retirement from active service of the illustrious Labrador fleet. Its place in Canada’s national aeronautical collection is a tribute to the men and women of the Search and Rescue community who risk their lives on a daily basis to save others.
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Nothing to see here citizens, move along
avro arrow
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The Anik D1 satellite is launched by Telesat Canada to provide television signals across the country. A Hughes Aircraft HS376, Anik (which means “little brother” in Inuktitut) D1 was retired in 1991.
Telesat Canada launched a number of Anik models between 1972 and 2007 with 3 still in operation. Launch vehicles included Delta, Ariane and Proton/Breeze-M rockets and 4 were launched from the Space Shuttles – Discovery, Challenger and Columbia.
EyeNo Space, aviation history aviation, aviation history, Canada
Working at the Waterloo Air Show yesterday I had a chance to meet Bjarni Tryggvason, former Canadian astronaut and pilot of the replica Silver Dart that will be coming to the Canadian Air & Space Museum later this year. 
