By Jim Shilliday, author

A Vintage Wings treatment of an excerpt from my new book,
A Memory of Sky: A Pilot’s View of Canada’s Century of Flight, is available at http://www.vintagewings.ca/page?s=63&lang=en-CA . The last chapter treats Vintage Wings and Hawk One.

The book (200 pages, about 100 photos) is a basic history of Canadian flight, from 1909 on, with an extensive section on Canada’s Sabre squadrons during the early Cold War—an aviation story I believe has been too long ignored in mainline history books

A Memory of Sky was written to mark 2009’s 100^thanniversary of flight in Canada. The book toasts J.A. Douglas McCurdy, who made the first flight in Canada on Feb.23, 1909. It tips the hat to telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell who founded the Aerial Experiment Association that kick-started the aviation industry in both Canada and United States and made the Wright Brothers look like amateurs. And the book cheers the country’s advanced position today in aerospace. Canada is a heavy-hitter in the aviation world—it was a huge contributor to keeping the world free during the Cold War, an effort surpassed only by a magnificent effort in the Second World War; in civil aviation, Canada developed one of the most successful aircraft manufacturing companies in the world, Bombardier.

The book became available in October 2009. Orders can be made at Great Plains Publications, e-mail info@greatplains.mb.ca . It is also available at Amazon, or you can contact me at sabre6@mts.net.mb.ca

Cheers and good reading,

Jim Shilliday.