July 21, 1893: The first of Manitoba’s “birdmen” and “birdwomen” who carried out earlier experiments and demonstrations was Miss Louisa Bates who parachuted from a hot-air balloon at the Winnipeg Industrial Exhibition.

May 27-30, 1896: Professor H. Menier parachuted from a hot-air balloon at River Park, Winnipeg in four successive jumps.

June 2, 1900: Professor Thompson made a parachute jump from a hot-air balloon on at River Park, Winnipeg.

June 16 and June 29, 1900: Miss Adela Thompson made a series of further parachute jumps from balloons at the same location at River Park, Winnipeg, narrowly escaping drowning when she dropped into the Red River.

July 10, 1907: Professor Thompson made another parachute jump from a hot-air balloon at the Industrial Fair at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.

March 31, 1909: Hon. Sir Hugh John MacDonald formed the Aero Club of Canada inviting 25 enthusiasts to the Winnipeg Industrial Bureau on “to assist and promote practical aeronautics by encouraging Canadian Inventors.” The Aero Club of Canada established headquarters in Winnipeg and wrote a constitution to enable aeronautical research and support of individual projects.

April 6, 1909: Winnipeg inventor, Edwin E. Kelsey, working with the Aero Club of Canada, revealed the “Kelsey Helicopter” to the public. The “dirigible helicopter design was flown as a scale model.

July 14, 1909: William J. Robertson, one of the founding members of the Aero Club of Canada designed and built the first aircraft in Canada, the “Aero Car Canada” which was demonstrated publicly but never flown.

July 15, 1910: The first recorded powered flight in Manitoba took place when Eugene Burton Ely, demonstration pilot for Curtiss Aircraft, flew a 30 hp Curtiss pusher biplane at the western edge of Winnipeg. Although three flights were made on that date, the last resulted in a crash that disabled the aircraft.

1911: Standard Machine Works, a small repair and overhaul shop that served the automotive trade, located at 660 St. Matthews Avenue in Winnipeg, began business, later to become StandardAero, now one of Manitoba’s largest aerospace companies.

July 10, 1912: Exhibition pilot Georges Mestach, crashed his Borel monoplane during an attempted flight in Winnipeg.

July 15-17, 1913: Canadian-born Harold Wilton Blakeley, from New York, flew a Curtiss-type biplane at the Dominion Livestock Show and Fair, Brandon. During the more than 20 flights, he ascended to 5,500 ft. on July 17.

August 6, 1913: Pilot H.W. Blakeley made two flights at the Virden Fair after flying from Boissevain to Virden, Manitoba, a distance of 58 miles.

September 6, 1913: After flying 21 miles, from Brandon to Wawanesa, Manitoba, H.W. Blakeley flew a demonstration flight the following day.

July 1, 1914: Using a Curtiss “hydro aeroplane”, pilot Clair Horton carried single passengers at a rate of a “dollar-per-minute” on flights from Winnipeg Beach.

July 11 and 13-17, 1914: Famed exhibition pilot Lincoln Beachey in a Curtiss biplane made two flights a day at the Canadian Industrial Exhibition in Winnipeg. On the first day, he also demonstrated the “loop-the-loop.”

1914: The MacDonald Brothers (James, Grant and Edwin) established the MacDonald Bros Sheet Metal & Roofing Co. Ltd. with a shop on Aikens Street. The company was later to become involved with aircraft manufacturing and repair under the designation MacDonald Bros Aircraft Ltd., the predecessor of Magellan Aerospace (Bristol Aerospace), one of Manitoba’s premiere aerospace companies.

July 22, 1916: Miss Katherine Stinson flew a Partridge-Keller “Looper” at Brandon, Manitoba.

March 27, 1918: Stonewall, Manitoba resident 2Lt Alan McLeod became the youngest Canadian Airman to earn the Victoria Cross during a battle with members of Baron Manfred (the Red Baron) von Richthofen's squadron.

April 21, 1918: Lt. Wilfrid “Wop” May, born in Carberry, Manitoba, escaped death in an attack by the “Red Baron,” Manfred von Richthofen, who was subsequently shot down.

October 27, 1918: Dauphin resident Captain William George Barker, Canada’s fourth highest ranking “ace,” fought an epic aerial battle with 60 enemy aircraft, that resulted in the award of the Victoria Cross.

1920: Winnipegger Captain Frederick “Steve” Stevenson, a First World War ace, “barnstormed” through Saskatchewan and Manitoba with Frank H. Ellis, visiting numerous small communities.

July 27, 1920: Capt. M.G. Dover and Lt. C.P. Thompson flew the first freight flight, delivering 50 lbs of tobacco from Winnipeg to Dauphin, Manitoba.

October 15-17, 1920: Pilot Hector Dugal flew an Avro 504K trainer from Winnipeg to The Pas, carrying two passengers, the first air charter flight in Canada.

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