Winged Messenger — an exhibition on the history of air mail at the new Canadian Postal Museum
Hull, Quebec, March 25, 1997 — On June 12, the Canadian Postal Museum opens permanent spaces at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. One of its inaugural exhibitions, Winged Messenger, presents a wide overview of air mail as an important means of communication.
On the same theme as the film Wings of Courage, showing at CINÉPLUS during the exhibition, Winged Messenger explores further the adventurous lives of the pioneers of aviation.
The international component of Winged Messenger recounts the heroic exploits of Guillaumet, Mermoz and de Saint- Exupéry. With pilots of such calibre, the Latécoère and Aéropostale companies of France developed routes in Europe, Africa and South America between the First and Second World Wars, opening intercontinental airlines. The U.S. established domestic airmail delivery during the same period.
The Canadian component of the exhibition shows how Canada, profoundly influenced by the U.S. and Europe, developed in parallel between 1918 and 1948, first with bush planes and, later, trans-Canadian links. The exhibition also examines overnight mail and looks at the pilots of that heroic era. Visitors can explore the numerous elements of Winged Messenger in a large hangar, presided over by an actual De Haviland 60 Cirrus Moth biplane, positioned on a landing strip constructed in the Museum hall. With this 1930s aircraft, the exhibition highlights the importance of airmail in the development of links between Canada's regions. A 1950s life-size bush plane will be installed on the Plaza at the entrance to the Canadian Museum of Civilization in mid-May in support of Winged Messenger and Wings of Courage.
Winged Messenger will be on view at the Canadian Postal Museum until September 30, 1998. The exhibition is sponsored by Air France.
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