Wings Across Canada: An Illustrated History of Canadian Aviation

Patricia A. Myers is a historian at the Historic Sites and Archives
Service, Alberta Community Development. She is the author of Sky Riders:
An Illustrated History of Aviation in Alberta, 1906–1945 and
Preserving Women’s History.

Peter Pigott has been writing books about Canadian aviation for several
years. By his own admission, he’s fascinated with the subject, and
goes so far as to call this book a love affair with aircraft.

That would have been a better title. Readers hoping to find a history
of Canadian aviation will be disappointed. Instead, Pigott features
mini-profiles of 51 aircraft used by Canadians during war and in peace.
It’s an eclectic selection, with Pigott admitting “there is no
particular logic to the choice of lineup.” Each two- to three-page
profile features a brief text with a large color photo of the plane, and
often a historical photo or two of the plane in action. There are all
sorts of planes, from bush planes and passenger transports to fighters.
Selections include the Armstrong-Whitworth Siskin, the Lockheed Hudson,
the Canadair Sabre, and the CP-140 Aurora.

The texts include information about the planes’ history, production
and technology, and usage, and even some gossip about predicaments some
of the planes and fliers got into. There is no bibliography or
footnotes, so the sources of the anecdotes and other information are
unknown. Historical photographs appear throughout the book, but the
locations and the people in the pictures are often not identified.

While this book in no way provides a history of aviation in Canada, it
does give us glossy photographs of 51 planes, and for a picture book,
that may be enough.