Edmonton History

The first Canadian mercy flight is an Edmonton story. In January of 1929, Wilfred Reid “Wop” May and Vic Horner flew 600,000 units of anti-toxin to an isolated community in northern Alberta. Dr. Malcolm Bow, the Deputy Minister of Health, had received a telegram from Dr. Hamman in Fort Vermilion stating that a man in Little Red River had a bad case of diphtheria and urgently requested a plane. The Deputy Minister called the Edmonton Flying Club to find an airplane that could make the trip.

In spite of Milton Wright’s prediction that humans would never fly, an Edmonton carpenter and inventor took to the air on September 7, 1909. The headline on the front page of the September 8th edition of Edmonton’s newspaper, The Evening Bulletin, reads "Edmonton Carpenter Flies Airship of his Own Invention." The subheadings read; "Keeps Aloft for Half Hour, Flying at Will Over Roofs of Houses," Manufactured Own Monoplane," and "Had Been at Work on Problem Three Years, Engine Made from Own Model."