Replica of flight
Other than a series of Revell models, painstakingly glued together and never painted, I’ve not had much experience in building replicas of things. The Revell period of my life happened long before I even owned a bicycle, so I guess I needed something to fill time. Give credit to their engineers; if I ever have to assemble a rocket and capsule in the order necessary for launch my training phase is complete. But, let’s get on track here, because the idea of building a replica is in the news.
On my first visit to Cape Breton just after graduation from UPEI, I visited the museum at Baddeck. One room was filled (is filled) with a huge contraption known as the Silver Dart, and it serves as a reminder that even Canadians have a history of flight. Nothing to do with Air Canada. For the life of me, I don’t know if this was the original, or a careful reconstruction, but the lack of broken stays and torn aircloth is probably a tribute to the technicians of Parks Canada. I accept on good faith that the wonderful flying machine is there to help me remember the birth of manned flight here in Canada.
Time goes by quickly; flies by, if you will. The centennial of McCurdy and Bell’s great moment at an altitude of “three to nine metres for nearly a kilometre” is just weeks away. Up in Ontario (oh, that hurts!), a team is at work on their replica, and last Friday they flew! Not far, not fast; wobbling instead of streaking. Just a test, before the trip down to Baddeck for a true ceremony. Somehow, even with all the advances in technology over the past few decades, we need something like this to help us recall the times before “Please remove your shoes for the mandatory security inspection” that now preface commercial flight.
