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UrbanToronto has partnered with Heritage Toronto to capture a moment in Toronto's past. On a weekly basis, we will both be highlighting a historic photo of the city's people, places and events, and will be telling the stories behind them. Many thanks to both Gary Switzer of MOD Developements and Eric Veillette of Silent Toronto for putting together the photos and research. This week's photo:
Oh those magnificent men and their flying machines. On August 3, 1911, mere days after completing a record-setting, thirty-five mile flight from Hamilton to Toronto, ace aviator J.A. (Douglas) McCurdy crashed his bi-plane off the runway of the Donlands aviation field near Todmorden Mills. It was Toronto's first plane crash. While the 7-cylinder Gnome engine bi-plane – the same used for his previous flight – was smashed to pieces, the aviator, who in 1909 had piloted Canada's first controlled flight in a “heavier than air machine,” was completely uninjured. Still, the Daily Star called it “a narrow escape from death.”
When the crowds who'd gathered at the International Aviation Meet to see him take off approached the wreck, McCurdy was “sitting down beside it, gazing ruefully” at his prized plane, then valued at $4000. As gasoline poured out of the tank, mechanics urged people to stand back as an unfazed McCurdy spoke to reporters. McCurdy had told reporters earlier in the day that the Donlands runway was better than the one found at Weston airfield. But he felt differently after the crash, claiming that the bumpy conditions of the runway made it impossible to render a proper take-off. Hitting a larger bump, the plane suddenly took to the air, swerved, then fell straight down. The fact that the runway also ran slightly uphill probably didn't help matters, either. His reputation intact, McCurdy walked away from the wreckage and further pioneered Canada's fledgling aviation industry, establishing Canada's first aviation school and managing the country's first airport, the Long Branch Aerodrome.
Sources:
Toronto Daily Star, August 3, 4, 1911.
The Last Word on the First Flight, Gerald Haddon: http://www.torontoaviationhistory.com/Authors/LastWord.htm
author:interchange42
posted:2010-11-08 13:12:51
