On March 25, 1910, 3,500 curious Vancouverites crowded the stands of the Minoru Park race track in Richmond, British Columbia to see a tiny Curtiss pusher biplane sputter into the air over Lulu Island. Charles Keeny Hamilton – an American aviator aka “the crazy man of the air” took off from Tacoma, Washington, and crossed the border to become the “First Air Visitor to Vancouver.” The next day he topped his earlier efforts by flying to New Westminster and back, a total distance of 20 miles. The flight took only 30 minutes.

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