New exhibit at Hangar Flight Museum spotlights Canada's amazing aviators

The Hangar Flight Museum in Calgary.

The Hangar Flight Museum and Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame are hosting a new exhibit called Amazing Aviators.

It is to be the first in a series spotlighting hall-of-fame inductees and their stories, and it takes off this week with Wilfred Reid May and Marion Orr.

May, 1896-1952, was described in a release issued Wednesday as "a First World War flying ace and prominent Albertan bush pilot involved in establishing air service in Edmonton, founding Edmonton's first airport and pioneering airmail service to northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories."

"His accomplishments include the first winter voyage to the Arctic, delivering diphtheria anti-toxin to an isolated community of Little Red River and the first police use of aircraft to locate the 'Mad Trapper'," the release said.

Orr, 1918-1995, was described in Wednesday's release as "a pioneering female pilot, who ferried aircraft for the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War."

"After the war, she was a flight instructor and the first woman to run a flying school in Canada," the release said. "She was also the first woman in Canada licensed to pilot helicopters."

An opening reception is set for Thursday at 1:30 p.m., at 4629 McCall Way N.E.