Monday is National Aviation Day in Canada and Cape Breton has much to celebrate! From the Files this week, a compilation of Silver Dart stories not often shared, some great quotes and a bit of Dart trivia!   “You ask me why we thought of ‘Silver Dart’ as a name for aerodrome no. 4.  Well, the surfaces are silvered on one side, that suggested the ‘Silver’ and the word ‘dart’ will explain itself.”  - JAD McCurdy in a letter to Mabel Bell, August 1908.   The first flight in Ca

The Silver Dart on Baddeck Bay, February 1909. with JAD McCurdy at the controls (Library of Congress) On March 23, 1909, one month after the first powered flight in Canada, JAD McCurdy stood before a hometown crowd and described the nation’s earliest experiments with powered flight.   This speech is in McCurdy’s own words and gives us a unique first-hand view of the Aerial Experiment Association’s work as they explored manned flight. It is full of his own personal experiences

Chebucto Street in the 1930's. An unidentified man walks toward the photographer. In the background on the left an unidentified restaurant and the White Store. Across the street, Ballachy's Store (building with people standing in front). (Author photo) In 1900, Baddeck postmaster Robert Elmsley compiled a list of local businesses in his diary. He lists over 85 businesses that he can recall in the sixty years since he arrived in Baddeck in 1840. Back in 1840, there were only