From the eccentric Fairey Battle to the lethal-looking CF-18, from modern airliners that have no defects (and no character) to the classic North Star (which had both), here is the ultimate line-up of the aircraft that have served Canadians in the last century. With over one hundred photographs of fifty historic planes, Wings Across Canada is a retrospective of Canada's aeronautical technology. This book does not compare the planes, nor claim that all are "classics" in the traditional sense of the word. Instead, it is a celebration of a love affair with aircraft that all served a purpose in their own time.

Author Biography

Peter Pigott works for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa. His first book on aviation was written in 1988 while on posting to Hong Kong, where at the request of its government he wrote a history of aviation in the Colony. After postings in Vienna and The Hague, he returned to Canada with his family. In 1994 he had a collection of aviation biographies, Flying Canucks: Famous Canadian Aviators, published by Hounslow Press. The following year he went back to Hong Kong to research Hong Kong Rising: The History of a Remarkable Place which was well received by the public and the press. He is also the author of Gateways: The Airports of Canada, a study of what he calls one of this country's most entertaining and historic places - the local airport. Mr Pigott was born in Britain in 1947, and educated in India, Canada, the United States, and Britain. He is currently working on a comprehensive history of commercial aviation in Canada. Peter believes his passion for aviation can be traced to the 1919 family memory of when a Vickers Vimy bomber on a record-breaking flight from Britain landed in the fields of his grandfather's farm at Safrajung, Delhi making it the first airport in India.