Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

 

It's always fun to look into the lifecycle of an aircraft, especially if there is a bit of a challenge and some reader participation involved. In NetLetter #1553, David Hykle mentioned a B-727 that was parked outside the Air Canada Winnipeg hangar for a time in the 1990s. 

 

Dave thought that it may have been an ex-Wardair aircraft but we were quite sure that was not the case. We asked our readers for some help in identifying this particular aircraft. 

 

Alan Mulholland responded in NetLetter #1554, advising us that it was actually a Worldways aircraft but did not recall the registration or fin number. Air Canada had completed a 'D' check on the aircraft around the time that Worldways ceased operations and the aircraft was being held by Air Canada.

 

As mentioned in our 'Subscriber Feedback' section above, Robert Arnold not only identified the aircraft (C-GWGT) but supplied a photo taken at the time it was impounded at YWG.

 

Digging into its history, I found that it was built in 1967 (line #398) and delivered to TAP Air Portugal. It saw service with TAP's charter subsidiary, Air Atlantis, until returned to the mainline fleet in 1987.

 

It was acquired by Worldways in 1989 and appears to have remained there until impounded in 1991. In 1993, it was acquired by Express One, converted to a freighter, and operated by Roadway Global Air (Click Here for photo). It appears to have briefly returned to Canada under registration C-FACW and operated by 'All Canada Express' of Mississauga, Ontario during 1998.

 

It was deregistered in August 2001 and unconfirmed to be stored at Lockbourne Army Airfield at Columbus, Ohio. 

 

References: 

 

 

 

onespotter.com 

 

 

Photo by Pedro  Aragão

Faro, Portugal - 1986

Cliff Cunningham of the BC Aviation Museum has a favour to ask -

 

I am working on some charcuterie boards for the museum. We will be hosting tour groups from cruise ships this summer.
 
I need a really good resolution picture of a Trans-Canada Air Lines Viscount, preferably in-flight to be mounted in one of the boards. The others will have the Mars, the Lancaster and the Norseman.
 
Would it be possible to put a request in the next NetLetter asking if anyone can help. It could be from a timetable, poster or other advertising of the day that could be photographed. It needs to be very clear.
 
Thanks
 
Cliff

 

Submitted by Robert Arnold,
Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada

 

 

Submitted by Larry Gordon - 

 

Re: Issue #1554 - Wayne's Wings story regarding the history of Canso CF-CRR (RCAF 9767).

 

I read this article with much interest as my Dad, Ralph Gordon DSO, DFC, CD (2017-2005), was a pilot with 162 Squadron based in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 1943.

 

A quick check of his logbook revealed that he had flown this particular aircraft 4 times on operational sorties over the Atlantic. He was posted overseas for the remainder of the war in December, 1943 - just before the Squadron was transferred to Iceland.

 

However, prior to his departure, he had logged several flights with F/O T. Cooke - who was in command of this aircraft when it successfully attacked and sunk U-342 in April, 1944.

 

Larry Gordon
Halifax

 

Submitted by Eric Lunan -

 

Thanks for the fascinating article about Lethbridge and the Canadian Airways (NetLetter #1554) - I really enjoyed reading this!

 

I have a personal tidbit that others may find interesting. My father, Allan Lunan, had joined TCA in Winnipeg at the end of the summer in 1938 as a radio mechanic. Not long after that, he was assigned to the ghost service between Winnipeg and Montreal (St-Hubert). They stopped in all the intermediate airports to verify that the beacons and radios were all working well, as well as checking out other aspects of the run.

 

In 1987 he had flown to Timmins, Ontario and where I picked him up for a visit with me in Iroquois Falls. On our way we drove through Porquis Junction. He said that he had already been here, nearly 50 years ago - on one of the ghost flights!

 

So a quick trip to the local airport was in order. It has been maintained by a local group for general aviation, gliders and the occasional charter flight for the nearby paper mill. He remembered the blueberries along the runway - and they were still there! It was fun reminiscing about those flights!

 

Later he was transferred to St-Hubert, and then Dorval during the war, where he stayed until his retirement.

 

Eric Lunan

 

With reference to the request for information regarding the B-747 dance floor in NetLetter #1554 by Aron Charad -

 

Josefina Vergara remembers dancing in the skies -

Yes, I flew for the first time 1st class from YUL to LHR in 1973 and I remember dancing with some crew members, however, it was converted to 'J' class seats when I worked as a flight attendant in the 80’s.

 

Doug Olson sends this memory -
I never saw it on a flight, but I did see it in the hangar during lunch break one midnight shift.

 

Joe Richard recalls this -
I was on one in 1977 but it wasn't this fancy. There was a bar upstairs from what I can recall.

 

Our friend, Larry Milberry, has sent in a group of lists of available aviation related titles at the CANAV Books Blog

 

The Royal Canadian Air Force: 100 Years of Service

 

Spring 2025 - Titles as of March 2025

 

Bomber Command - Related books as per the USAAF in the UK

 

WWII Luftwaffe - Miscellaneous titles of German aviation history