The Canada Aviation and Space Museum’s First World War aircraft collection is considered among the best in the world. It includes multiple one-of-a-kind and rare period planes. [Stephen J. Thorne/LM]

Rare birds: The Canada Aviation and Space Museum’s WW I collection

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Just a decade after the Wright brothers achieved history’s first powered flight, the airplane had become a weapon of war and the focus of an arms race.

Warplanes started out as rudimentary aircraft with open cockpits and limited instrumentation. Pilots, quite literally, flew by the seat of their pants—without parachutes.

The aviation industry was in rapid growth, in constant evolution, improving designs and performance.

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• In days of yore: How WW I rivals revived chivalry in war
• Klondike Joe and the Yukon Motor Machine Gun Battery
• In defence of cat ladies, and gentlemen: The tale of Unsinkable Sam and other seafaring felines

Jules Paivio, the last Canadian veteran of the Spanish Civil War, was granted honourary citizenship by Spain in 2012. [TheBeretProject]

My son in Spain: Canada’s last combat veteran of the Spanish Civil War

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

What began beside a family cabin in Sudbury, Ont., appeared to be ending against the bullet-ridden wall of a faraway Spanish farmhouse.

Jules Paivio, a 20-year-old Finnish Canadian of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion (the Mac-Paps), watched on as his Italian captors, aligned with the enemy’s Nationalist forces, prepared a firing squad. Together with other prisoners, the 15th International Brigade volunteer pondered his fate.

His birthday was at the end of the month—on April 30, 1938—but he couldn’t imagine living to see it. Such was the brutality of the Spanish Civil War.

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More from Military Milestones

• Oakville’s Gamble: A Canadian Corvette vs. U-94
• When Harry met Winnie: The WW I story behind a classic children’s book
• The Siege of Detroit

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