ConfedCollege Hits 50! November 17 – 19, 2023 was a grand weekend to be in Thunder Bay. How so? It was the 50 th anniversary of Confederation College, one of Canada’s most renowned aviation training centers. Since its inception, “Confed” has graduated commercial pilots and air engineers who since 1973 have helped keep Canada’s aviation industry in peak form. Hundreds of graduates turned up for this wonderful event, many a bit shattered to realize how those 50 years had sped by and how the aging process is no joke! Regardless, it was a fantastic weekend of reminiscing and seeing how the college ..read more

Hello to all our great CANAV Books blog fans. Apologies … I know you haven’t noticed anything new for months. Why? I’ve been swamped working on CANAV’s centennial history of the RCAF. That’s been taking up every working hour, 7 days a week for the last 5 years. Crazy, eh! But that’s the aviation history and book biz for you — if your plan is to get out the best such book possible. By sticking at it, I’ll be publishing the book later in the fall. Not a huge deal when you consider that our monumental RCAF 60th anniversary book (Sixty Years: The RCAF and CF Air Command 1 ..read more

Welcome one and all to the CANAV Books Blog for Fall 2023. It’s another fascinating offering of solid reading and amazing photos for serious aviation history fans. Pratt & Whitney Canada Here’s an important bit of Canadian history, a landmark 60th anniversary. On December 23, 1963, P&WC of Longueuil, Quebec shipped its first production PT6 to Beech Aircraft in Wichita. Beech and P&WC already had flown the PT6 on an experimental Beech NU-8F Queen Air in the previous May. Now, Beech (on a huge gamble) was starting production of its new King Air series using the PT6 (first flight Janu ..read more

450 Squadron CH-147F Chinook 147213 on the ramp at CFB Petawawa on June 7, 2023. Then your always keen-to-fly publisher during one of our landings in the field that day to train medical personnel on Chinook operations. Finally, here I am firing a C-6 machine gun in the 450 Squadron simulation centre operated by CAE Inc. RCAF Centennial Book on the Go Welcome back to the CANAV Books blog. Too bad how it’s been dormant for so many weeks, but I’ve been swamped getting our grand RCAF Centennial book researched, written, edited and (now) into layout. As with earlier CANAV projects, this one has ent ..read more

YYZ Surprise … Greater Toronto Airport Authority History Room For an exotic little piece of air transport history, find this item via the search box. You won’t be disappointed. I haven’t been to YYZ T1 for a long time. Is this important display still open? Wild ‘n Crazy Stunt Flying … have a look at this Cub landing on a sky-high, 27-meter helipad. Come on, once in a while you can be frivilous! #bullseye #redbull #givesyouwiiings February 23, 2023 … Flight of the Silver Dart Anniversary Today marks the 114th anniversary since the first flight in Canada and the British Commonwealth of a po ..read more

2022 Canav-Booklist 1-canav-booklist-fall_winter-2022Download One of history’s all time great airplanes is the Cessna Ce.172. First flown on June 12, 1955, into 2022 more than 45,000 have been produced. One of the  claims about this very pretty, lovely-to-fly 4-seater is that it is the most successful airplane in world history. Confederation College at the Lakehead recently re-equipped with 5 new “172s”.   In 1955 the fly-away price for a new Ce.172 from the factory in Wichita (initial 1955-56 production run totalled 1178) was $8750. Here’s a photo of Canada’s very first Ce.172, CF-I ..read more

BC Aviation Museum News Have a quick look here https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/bc-aviation-museum-lands-both-a-retired-air-tanker-and-its-long-time-pilot-5865648 for news of the Convair 580 acquisition by the BC Aviation Museum. Then look in our search box for Following the classic Convairliner This item will fascinate any Convair or Propliner fan. Much history included about Canada’s own many Convairs since the 1950s, beginning with Imperial Oil’s CF-IOK. For more about the BC Aviation Museum (its Lancaster project, etc.) see bcam.net The Last 617 Squadron “Dam Buster” Passes On ..read more

Remembrance Day 2022 was well celebrated from coast to coast in Canada. This year I attended the service at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, the final resting place of many Canadian aviators. The service centred on the mausoleum where Canada’s great W/C William G. “Will” Barker, VC, DSO, MC and 2 Bars, is entombed. A wide spectrum of Canadians attended to honour Canada’s veterans from wars down through the generations, including the Commander of the RCAF, LGen Eric Kenny, and other dignitaries, to a Guard of Honour from 16 Wing Borden, and Air Cadets from 330 and 631 squadrons. On the dot a ..read more

RCAF 435 Squadron C-130H 130336 on the ramp at 17 Wing Winnipeg on September 28, 2022. This is one of the “H-models” delivered in 1986 as aerial tankers, but also to do the other many duties demanded of Canada’s Herc fleet. This day ‘336 was slated for a search and rescue training exercise in the Lake Winnipeg area. Also shown is the crew for the day. 435’s five Hercs have logged more than 100,000 flying hours, including 27,000+ for ‘336 when I photographed it this day. It’s been so long since we’ve had the time to post anything new. Finally, here’s a bit of an update. First of all, I hope you ..read more

RCAF 100th Anniversary Project + The Great George Fuller Passes + Nostalgia Time & Commentary + A Few Old Milberry Pix + Rants + Leslie Corness Classic + Old Malton Airport Scene + De Havilland Open House: End of an Era + Cemetery Studies + Blogs of Years Gone By + “Ghost Canso” Update + Aviation Adverts from the Early 1950s + Order your Autographed Copy of Air Transport in Canada  + Obituary … Last Survivor of Japanese Prison Camps in Taiwan Just so you have your copy and haven’t missed anything, here’s our current main booklist: x-canavbooklist_2022_lowresDownload Part of the s ..read more