Student Essay

Alexandra Mills
This essay was written by an M.A. student in a Museum Practice seminar in the Department of Art History, Faculty of Fine Arts, Concordia University. The seminar was taught by Dr. Loren Lerner with the assistance of Dina Vescio, a M.A. graduate of the program.

Introduction

Bush planes have an important place in Canada’s national narrative. Their historical significance has been well recorded. Bush planes have played an immeasurable part in Canada’s economic growth by opening up once unthinkable areas to exploration and development. They have also participated in the mapping of remote regions and extended the reach of surveyors throughout Canada, resulting in the construction of roads, railroads and transmission lines.¹ These ideas were well summarized in 1930 by John Hamilton Parkin, the aeronautical engineer who built the University of Toronto wind tunnel in 1917 and later helped establish the National Aviation Museum (now the Canada Aviation Museum), who noted: “regions formerly regarded as inaccessible and otherwise doomed to remain forever undeveloped are now not only being explored, but are actually in the process of development wholly by means of aircraft.”²

Given their tremendous impact on Canadian society, most notably Northern and rural communities, bush planes have become objects from which arise deep cultural attachments. As a consequence the bush plane has become an important signifier of life outside large Canadian cities.

Bush Planes and Canada’s National Identity

Philip Spencer, associate dean in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Kingston University (United Kingdom), and Howard Wollman, head of the School of Psychology and Sociology at Napier University (United Kingdom), suggest that the construction of national identity “draws on deep reservoirs of feeling [and] on a sense of identity that has a long history.”³ This idea can be applied to the connection between bush planes and Canadian identity. Jonathan F. Vance, professor and Canada Research Chair in Conflict and Culture at the University of Western Ontario asserts in High Flight: Aviation and the Canadian Imagination (2002) that: “the airplane had the potential to complete the work of the Confederation by transforming a nation of scattered provinces into a single community.”⁴ Their ability to navigate in various geographic regions and climates allows them to act as lifelines for isolated areas and as links between geographically severed communities. Connecting communities across the country was one of the desired effects of the nation’s founders; bush airplanes have the ability to turn this into reality, thus improving the social and cultural life of Canada.⁵

It was believed that the ‘fractiousness’ of Canada would be “replaced by a powerful unanimity that renders possible great social movements,” due to the prevalence of airplanes across the country.⁶ Airplanes were seen as forces of societal change and connotations of progress were often steeped in the romantic rhetoric of nation building.⁷ Bush planes were immersed with social responsibility from the start, thus establishing a profound connection between the bush plane and Canada’s national narrative. Throughout the 20^th into the 21^st century this relationship has been visually documented in all types of media. The visual representation of bush planes advances a strong sense of a shared national identity that defies regional borders akin to the aircraft themselves. The impact of bush planes is far reaching; their expansiveness is reflected in their representation in Canadian art and media. They have been illustrated by artists, the products of which have been widely distributed to the Canadian population in forms of popular media such as newspapers, coins and stamps. In particular, the art of Robert William Bradford (b. 1923) illustrates the connection between bush planes and Canada’s national narrative. Bradford’s works have been widely distributed, most notably in the form of stamps issued by the Canada Post Corporation (fig. 1). The circulation of his aviation artworks throughout the country highlights the importance of these airplanes in the Canadian consciousness.

Stamps and the Distribution of Robert William Bradford’s Artistic Property

With enthusiasm, leadership and consummate dedication and outstanding knowledge of aviation history, [Robert William Bradford] realized a vision for a national consciousness of Canada’s aviation heritage, so that all Canadians may enjoy and benefit from this well-preserved heritage for generations to come. -Induction citation, 1996, Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame ⁸

Robert William Bradford, inducted into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame in 1996, is an important contributor to Canada’s aviation history. After enlisting in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) at the age of 18, his career in aviation began as a staff pilot. After the Second World War Bradford worked as an illustrator, first for A.V. Roe Canada Ltd. (1949) and later for de Havilland Aircraft of Canada (1953). He also pursued numerous artistic endeavors. At this time Bradford attracted the attention of Ken Molson, the first curator at the National Aviation Museum, now the Canada Aviation Museum. He was commissioned by Molson to create 18 artworks depicting aircrafts and events significant to Canada’s aviation history for the museums collection. In 1966 Bradford became the assistant curator at the National Aviation Museum (now known as the Canada Aviation Museum) and in 1967 he became chief curator, succeeding Molson. In 1982 he became the acting director of the National Museum of Science and Technology (now the Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation) and returned to the National Aviation Museum as associate director in 1984. Bradford became a member of the Order of Canada in 1989.⁹

In 1978 Robert William Bradford was commissioned by the Canada Post Corporation to design a series of 16 stamps depicting significant aircrafts in Canadian history. The series, released from 1979 to 1982, was issued in groups of four. Each year revolved around a different theme: flying boats (1979), military aircraft (1980), transport and training aircraft (1981), and bush aircraft (1982) (fig. 2).¹⁰ The stamps are based on a selection of Bradford’s paintings featuring Canadian aircraft. The designs and typography of each stamp were prepared by Jacques Charette.¹¹ The series as a whole played an important role in the democratization of aviation in Canada.

The Four Bush Planes

All the airplanes included in the bush aircraft series played a significant role in Canadian history. The four bush aircraft included in the final series, the Fairchild FC-2W1, the Fokker Super Universal, the Noorduyn Norseman, and the de Havilland Canada Beaver were chosen in order to symbolize the diversity of Canadian bush flying and because of their individual impacts on communities across Canada.¹² Each airplane illustrated has a unique story. Roméo Vachon’s Fairchild FC-2W1 was the first aircraft to deliver airmail to Sept-Îles, which was dropped by parachute.¹³ Clennell Haggerston ‘Punch’ Dickins piloted his Fokker Super Universal, registered G-CASK, some 6,400 kilometers in an aerial exploration of Canada’s northern territory without a proper map or radio communication (much of the map indicated that the land was terra incognita, thus requiring him to navigate using lakes and mountains as landmarks, and there was no radio communication beyond Fort Churchill).¹⁴ The Noorduyn Norseman, designed to fit the requirements of Canadian operators, was owned by the Saskatchewan Government Air Ambulance Service and was used for navigational training and for search and rescue missions (fig. 3).¹⁵ Lastly, the de Havilland Canada Beaver was the most produced bush aircraft in Canada; bush pilots were consulted to determine the most appropriate design for the aircraft. The Beaver illustrated on the stamp is currently in the collection of the Canada Aviation Museum.

Stamps and the Canadian Consciousness

Scholar Donald M. Reid describes postage stamps as “excellent primary sources for the symbolic messages which governments seek to convey to their citizens and to the world.”¹⁶ He further states that stamps illuminate official viewpoints, act as “bearers of symbols, as part of a system of communication,” and function as signifiers of cultural ideology.¹⁷ The Canadian postage stamps featuring the paintings of Bradford are no exception.

The stamps function as documents of the aircrafts themselves as well as define, celebrate and record their places in the Canadian imagination. They act as visual specimens of the airplanes themselves along with providing insight into Canadian culture. As Canadians we should ask ourselves: what was it about the bush plane that merited such cultural reverence that they are to be included in postage stamps that circulated throughout the country?

The depiction of these aircraft on Canadian postage stamps for a period of four years is an indication of the impact these airplanes had upon the collective consciousness of the country. The stamps were inescapable; anyone who received mail during 1982 would have encountered one of Bradford’s illustrations of Canadian bush planes. Each stamp was printed in the millions: the stamps featuring the Fairchild FC-2W1 and the de Havilland Canada Beaver were printed in runs of 12,250,000 while the Fokker Super Universal and the Noorduyn Norseman were printed in runs of 7,900,000.¹⁸

The widespread distribution of Bradford’s images necessitated a comprehensive understanding of his images as representative of an important aspect of Canada’s heritage. Through their dissemination, the Canada Post Corporation was confirming the importance of the bush plane in Canadian society (fig. 4). In 1990 Pierre Berton, former editor of Maclean’s magazine, broadcaster and Companion of the Order of Canada, indicated that postage stamps are “great milestones of the past” in which Canada’s history is “recorded in miniature.”¹⁹ The representation of bush planes on Canadian stamps demonstrates a varied understanding of Canada as a nation. Further, as Charles Comfort, a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters, suggested in 1947: stamps are a “valuable instrument of discreet national publicity,” and “a well-designed stamp does more than show that the sender has paid the prescribed rate of postage. It brings to the recipient, whether at home or abroad, something of the character, the national dignity, the contemporary awareness of the state in which it has its origin.”²⁰ The illustration of Canadian bush planes on postage stamps aids in the creation of Canada’s national identity – their depiction illustrates both the importance of bush planes in Canada, the significance they hold in the country’s collective consciousness and their contribution to Canada’s visual culture. Robert William Bradford images are evocative of Canada’s heritage and are illustrative of the social and cultural life of the country.

According to David Frank, professor of history at the University of New Brunswick and project director for the New Brunswick Labour History Project, transportation is a prevalent theme in Canadian postage stamps. I believe that representation of bush planes is an extension of this idea. Images of canoes manned by Canadian voyageurs and images such as the Chasse-Galerie have been illustrated on Canadian postage stamps as depictions of Canada’s folklore.²¹ The portrayal of bush planes on postage stamps is an illustration of the country’s modern mythology.

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 1 Robert William Bradford
(designed by Jacques Charette), Fairchild FC-2W1, © Canada Post Corporation {1982}, Reproduced with Permission.(Photo: POSTAL 0926 Canadian Postal Archives Database)

Fig. 2
Robert William Bradford (designed by Jacques Charette), Fokker Super Universal,
© Canada Post Corporation {1982}, Reproduced with Permission. (Photo: POSTAL 0929 Canadian Postal Archives Database {http://data4.collectionscanada.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=0929&l=20&d=POST&p=1&u= http%3A%2F%2Fwww.collectionscanada.ca%2Farchivianet%2F020117%2F020117030302_e.html&r=1&f=G&SECT3=POST})

Fig. 3
Robert William Bradford (designed by Jacques Charette), Noorduyn Norseman,
© Canada Post Corporation {1982}, Reproduced with Permission. (Photo: POSTAL 0928 Canadian Postal Archives Database {http://data4.collectionscanada.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=0928&l=20&d=POST&p=1&u= http%3A%2F%2Fwww.collectionscanada.ca%2Farchivianet%2F020117%2F020117030302_e.html&r=1&f=G&SECT3=POST})

Fig. 4
Robert William Bradford
(designed by Jacques Charette), de Havilland Canada Beaver, © Canada Post Corporation {1982}, Reproduced with Permission.(Photo: POSTAL 0927 Canadian Postal Archives Database)
Image Source

NOTES

1. Larry Milberry, Aviation in Canada (Toronto and New York: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited, 1979) 25-26. For further information, see: Frank H. Ellis, 50 Years of Adventure and Progress in Canadian Skies (Toronto: The Ryerson Press, 1959); J.A. Foster, The Bush Pilot: A Pictorial History of a Canadian Phenomenon (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1990); and Peter Pigott, Wings Across Canada: An Illustrated History of Canadian Aviation (Toronto and Oxford: A Hounslow Book, 2002).
2. John Hamilton Parkin, “Solving the Problems of Aviation in Canada,” Industrial Canada 30.9 (Jan. 1930): 118, qtd. in Jonathan F. Vance, High Flight: Aviation and the Canadian Imagination (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2002) 138.
3. Philip Spencer and Howard Wollman, “Introduction,” Nations and Nationalism: A Reader, ed. Philip Spencer and Howard Wollman (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005) 4.
4. Vance, 160
5. Vance, 160
6. Ralph Centennius, The Dominion in 1983, 11, qtd. In Jonathan F. Vance, 161.
7. Vance, 180.
8. Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, “Robert William Bradford,” They Led the Way: Members of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, 25^th Anniversary – 1973 to 1998 (Alberta: Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, 1999) 30.
9. For more information on Robert William Bradford, see: Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, 30.
10. See Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Postal Archives Database (1 Oct. 2009) {http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/postal-archives/080608_e.html}. The stamps issued for each year were: 1979: Curtiss HS-2L, Canadair CL-215, Consolidated Canso A, Canadian Vickers Vedette; 1980: Avro Lancaster, Avro Canada CF-100, Curtiss JN-4 Canuck, Hawker hurricane; 1981: de Havilland DH-82C Tiger Moth, Canadair CL-41 Tutor, Avro Canada C-102 Jetliner, de Havilland Canada DHC-7; and 1982: Fairchild FC-2W1, Fokker Super Universal, Noorduyn Norseman, de Havilland Beaver.
11. Canada Post Corporation, Postage Stamp Press Release, 1982. For an excerpt, see: {http://data4.collectionscanada.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=0928&l=20&d=POST&p=1&u= http%3A%2F%2Fwww.collectionscanada.ca%2Farchivianet%2F020117%2F020117030302_e.html&r=1&f=G&SECT3=POST}.
12. Canada Post Corporation, Postage Stamp Press Release, 1982. For an excerpt, see: {http://data4.collectionscanada.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=0928&l=20&d=POST&p=1&u= http%3A%2F%2Fwww.collectionscanada.ca%2Farchivianet%2F020117%2F020117030302_e.html&r=1&f=G&SECT3=POST}.
13. Library and Archives Canada, “Postage Stamp Press Release,” Canada Post Corporation (1982) 1 Oct. 2009 {http://data4.collectionscanada.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=0926&l=20&d= POST&p=1&u=http%3A%2%2Fwww.collectionscanada.ca%2Farchivianet%2F020117%2F020117
    030302_e.html&r=1&f=G&SECT3=POST}.
14. Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, “Clennell Haggerston (Punch) Dickins,” They Led the Way: Members of Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, 25th Anniversary – 1973 to 1998 (Alberta: Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame, 1999).
15. Library and Archives Canada, “Postage Stamp Press Release,” Canada Post Corporation (1982) 1 Oct. 2009 {http://data4.collectionscanada.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s1=0928&l=20&d= POST&p=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.collectionscanada.ca%2Farchivianet%2F020117%2F020117030302
    _e.html&r=1&f=G&SECT3=POST}.
16. Donald M. Reid, “The Symbolism of Postage Stamps: A Source for the Historian,” Journal of Contemporary History 19.2 (Apr. 1984) 223.
17. Reid, 225.
18. For information concerning each individual stamp, see: Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Postal Archives Database, 4 Oct. 2009 {http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/postal-archives/080608_e.html}.
19. Pierre Berton, “Foreword,” Images of Canada: A Nation in Postage Stamps, ed. Gordon Donaldson (Toronto: Éditions Grosvenor, 1990) 7.
20. Donald W. Buchanan and Charles Comfort, “Wanted! Better Designs for Canadian Postage Stamps,” Canadian Art 5 (Oct./Nov. 1947): 24, qtd. in David Frank, “The Labour Stamp: The Image of the Worker on Canadian Postage Stamps,” Labour/Le Travail 39 (Spring 1997) 180.
21. 21 Frank, 185.