Kofi Annan - Born 8 April 1938

When Kofi Annan became the seventh Secretary General of the United Nations, on January 1, 1997, he was first to come to the job from within the ranks of the UN staff and was the first black African elected to the post. In 2001 both he and the UN were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "their work for a better organized and more peaceful world."

Thomas Jefferson

The third president of the United States and one of the country’s preeminent political philosophers, Thomas Jefferson played a significant role in drafting the Declaration of Independence. Highlights of his two-term presidency included the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The Snowbird CT-114 Tutor

The Snowbirds fly the CT-114 Tutor, a trainer jet built by Canadair in the 1960s, used for pilot training until 2000. A robust and maneuverable aircraft, the CT-114 Tutor jet is ideally suited to formation and aerobatic flying. With its relatively slow speed (maximum speed 412 knots), coupled with its maneuverability, the Tutor jet allows the Snowbirds to keep the formation flying directly in front of the spectators. Similarly, with regards to maintenance, the Tutor is a robust, well-built jet that is relatively easy to maintain, allowing the technicians to ensure that all jets are ready to fly an average of two missions daily.

The 7,170-pound Tutor jet is only slightly modified with a smoke generating system, a distinct red and white paint scheme and a highly tuned engine. The smoke generating system provides beautiful smoke trails, but, more importantly, allows the pilots to better identify the jets and their flight direction. The Snowbirds’ professionalism and skill, coupled with the Tutor’s maneuverability and reliability, make for a beautiful and exciting show.

Gold Medal Hockey

The first Olympic gold medal in hockey for Canada was won in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. The gold medalists were seven players from the Winnipeg Falcons.

The silver went to the United States and Czechoslovakia took the bronze. The other four teams entered in the inaugural Olympic ice hockey tournament where, France, Belgium, Sweden, and Switzerland.

D-Day

The term D-Day stands for the Designated Day for Operation Overlord, the code name for the Allied invasion of Northern France on June 6, 1944, during World War II.

Each major offensive during the war had a code name. For example - Operation Torch was the name for the Allied invasion of North Africa. Each Operation also had its own D-Day, the actual day on which the attack would begin. Within each D-Day, there was an H-Hour, designating the starting time for the attack, usually just before dawn at 0500 hours in military time, or 5 a.m. in civilian time.

Operation Overlord is now popularly referred to simply as D-Day, a practice begun by news correspondents covering the invasion, given the tremendous significance of the day in which the long hoped-for liberation of northern Europe finally began.

Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa is widely recognized as the most famous painting in the history of art. But did you know that X-rays of the Mona Lisa show that there are three completely different versions of the same subject, all painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, under the final portrait.

1912 Triumph Free Engine

Triumph, the quintessential British motorcycle, was actually founded by two German immigrants. Mauritz Sculte and Siegfried Bettman produced their first motorized cycle in 1902.

The “Free Engine” Model was a great technical advancement for its day. This was the first Triumph to have a clutch, allowing the engine to continue running while the machine was stopped – hence the name Free Engine.

Triumph motorcycles were sold in Alberta in 1912 by a dealer in Calgary by the name of Trail and Parr. They were also available through the T. Eaton Company catalogue.

As soon as 1912, Triumph had already achieved racing success and would go on to become one of the greatest names in motorcycle history.

This motorcycle can be found at the Reynolds-Alberta Museum

Chief Crowfoot 1830 - 1890

Crowfoot was born around 1830 near the Belly river in southern Alberta into the Blood tribe of the Blackfoot Confederacy, with the name "Astohkomi" or "Shot Close". After a raid on a Crow camp when he was a teenager he was given a hero's name, "Isapo-muxica" or "Crowfoot".

Crowfoot was a warrior who fought in as many as 19 battles and sustained many injuries. Despite this, he tried to obtain peace instead of tribal warfare. When the Canadian Pacific Railway sought to build their mainline through Blackfoot territory, negotiations with Father Albert Lacombe convinced Crowfoot that it should be allowed.

He died on April 25th, 1890, at Blackfoot Crossing, of tuberculosis.

The Hawker Hurricane

The Hawker Hurricane is generally recognized as being the lynchpin of the Commonwealth air forces during the early years of the Second World War.

The Hurricane traces its origins to the biplane Fury fighter. Initial plans were to redesign the Fury as a monoplane, but it quickly evolved into an entirely new eight-gun monoplane which first flew November 6, 1935. After testing, the RAF ordered the monoplane, now known as the Hurricane, into production. The first aircraft reached operational units in 1937.

Due to limited production capacity at Hawker, the decision was made to contract an outside manufacturer to manufacture the Hurricane. Hawker Aircraft awarded the contract to Canadian Car and Foundry Company Limited with plants in Fort William (Thunder Bay), Amherst, NS and Montreal.

Production of the Canadian-built Hurricane Mk I began in 1938 using components imported from the U.K. The first major modification was the usage of the Packard-built Rolls Royce Merlin engine, resulting in a new designation as the Mk. X.

Canadian Hurricanes continued development to meet the changing needs of the RAF and RCAF. The next evolution was designated the Mk. XI. It differed from the Mk X mainly in having RCAF supplied military equipment.

The final variant, the Mk. XII, was noted for having a “universal” wing capable of different weapons configurations and had the highest production of Canadian Hurricanes. Canadian production ended in 1943 after 1451 Hurricanes were built; this represented over 10% of all Hurricanes built.

One of the greatest Canadian fighter aces of the Second World War was Pilot Officer William “Willie” McKnight (an Alberta native) who was credited with more than 16 kills against Luftwaffe aircraft at the beginning of the war while flying a Hurricane. McKnight later disappeared while on a mission and was never seen again.

The importance of the Hurricane to the outcome of the war cannot be overstated. They saw action in every theatre the British were involved with and proved adaptable to many non-traditional roles including tank busting, anti-shipping and reconnaissance. It is this legacy that has assured its place in aviation and military history.