Silver Collectors Coin. Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Flight.

Dreams take to the air- Celebrating the 100* Anniversary of Flight in Canada (1909-2009) The first known attempt to fly by jumping from great heights was recorded in 852 AD. It wasn't until the 13* century that a Franciscan monk in England came up with the idea of achieving flight by building a machine. The tinkering continued and some 200 years later, Leonardo da Vinci added fuel to the fire by sketching dozens of mechanical drawings for propeller-driven helicopters, parachutes and ornithopters, those crafts with flapping wings that propelled very little, except a smile from today's enlightened, airborne society. Year in and year out, despite failed take-offs, the dream to fly refused to stay grounded. In 1783, the first piloted balloon took to the air but these pioneers quickly discovered they were subject to the wiles of the wind; they needed control.