Flying Colours

Gordon C. Shaw is professor emeritus, Faculty of Administrative Studies,
York University.

Flying Colours provides a historical overview of commercial aviation in
Canada from 1909—the date of J.A.D. McCurdy’s first flight—to the
present.

Early chapters describe flights by McCurdy and others who worked with
Alexander Graham Bell at Baddeck, Nova Scotia; the early production of
aircraft; the training of airmen during World War I; and the role that
aircraft played in the 1920s in servicing remote communities in northern
and coastal Canada. Subsequent chapters describe the formation in the
1930s of Canadian Airways, the nation’s first coast-to-coast airline,
and of Trans-Canada Airlines (later renamed Air Canada), a
government-owned carrier; the formation of Canadian Pacific Airlines and
the growth of Wardair; and the experiences of Canadian manufacturers
with respect to the Arrow, the Dash–8, and the Challenger.

This well-written book provides a solid introduction to the history of
aviation in Canada.