 The NetLetter
For Air Canada Retirees
(part of the ACFamily Network)
June 11, 2011 - Issue 1168
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First Issue published in October 1995!
(over 5,400 subscribers)
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Donation Information
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Send cheques payable to "ACFamily Network" to:
ACFamily Network
#800 - 15355 24th Ave, Suite 523
Surrey, BC V4A 2H9
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| Greetings! |
We welcome you to allow the NetLetter to be your platform, and opportunity, to relive your history while working for either TCA, AC, CPAir, CAIL, PWA, AirBC, Wardair. etal. and share your experiences with us!
The NetLetter is an email newsletter published every weekend and contains a mixture of nostalgia, current news and travel tips. We encourage our readers to submit their stories, photos and/or comments from either days gone by or from present day experiences and trips. If we think that the rest of our readers will enjoy it, we will publish it here
We also This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in regard to anything we post here. Many readers have commented with additional information, names and personal memories from the photos and articles presented here.
The NetLetter, which is free, is open to anyone that wishes to subscribe but is targeted to retired employees from Air Canada, Canadian Airlines and all the other companies that were part of what Air Canada is today. Thanks for joining us!
Terry & your NetLetter Team
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| CAHS Upcoming Events - Compiled by Alan Rust |
 We have a listing below of all the CAHS (Canadian Aviation Historical Society) upcoming events that we are aware of. If you are at all interested in Canadian aviation history, then we encourage you to attend a meeting or visit their web site at: www.cahs.ca |
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CAHS National Convention
Edmonton - June 22th to 26th - Mark your calendars for the CAHS 48th annual convention where they will explore the rich aviation history of Edmonton, the province of Alberta, and Canada's North.
Presentations will range from civil and military aviation topics, to how regional heritage institutions are promoting this fascinating history, to creative ways authors are bringing these subjects to new audiences.
See: www.cahs.ca/events/convention.html for complete details.
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 Vancouver Chapter
Date: Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Time: 1900 hrs
Guest Speaker: For the June meeting, I have asked local CAHS Member Harry Hardy, DFC, to come and give us his presentation on flying the Hawker Typhoon in Europe. Harry flew 96 sorties with 4 different Typhoons between the Normandy Beachhead and the Rhine Crossing. He wore out the first one, force-landed the 2nd one when the entire squadron got lost on a move to a new base, parachuted out of the 3rd one when he was shot down, and turned the final aircraft, "Pulverizer IV" over to a new pilot when his tour ended.
This is the last Vancouver meeting for the summer, meetings resume again on Tuesday, September 13, 2011.
For more info call Jerry Vernon at (604) 420-6065 or visit the Chapters website by clicking here.
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ACRA Upcoming Events- Compiled by Alan Rust
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 Retirees Welcome!
The following events are available for retirees through ACRA, the Air Canada Recreation Association. |
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Where: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
When: Thursday, September 29 to Saturday, October 1, 2011
For more inforation visit: www.acrabadminton.org.uk
Retirees Welcome!
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 Are you aware of an ACRA Event that is open to retirees? Please use the online form by following this link to submit your ACRA Event. (ACRA Events only please)
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| Our first 70 years - Compiled by Terry Baker |
1958
- June 13th - New Windsor terminal officially opened.
- July - Installation of Bendix weather radar installed in Viscount aircraft.
- Permission by DOT obtained to extend Dart engine to 2,000 hours.
1984 - Sept - "Silver Dart Sailing Challenge" series inaugurated by Air Canada to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Canadian powered flight.
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| Air Canada Related News - Compiled by Terry Baker |
 B767-300ER c/n 33423 has been leased from AWAS ex Hawaiian Airlines.(source Sky News June 2011) |
| Reader Submitted Photos - Compiled by Terry Baker |
 Reader Submitted Photos - The photos and information below was sent to us by our faithful readers. If you would like to send us some old photos you have lying around. we will consider them for publication in a future NetLetter. We prefer good quality airline related photos, with descriptive text included with the submission. |
 Betty Morgan has sent us this photo of a group in the Atlantic Region taken circa 1973.
We are missing the identities - anyone? |
 Jannet Tricarico, Air Canada Pionairs National President, has sent some photos of those who attended the Up Island Pionairs luncheon held at the Fairwinds G.C. Nanoose, B.C. on June 2nd 2011, at which she was the keynote speaker. |
| TCA/Air Canada People Gallery - Compiled by Terry Baker |
 Musings from the "Between Ourselves" and "Horizons" magazine, an Air Canada publication from years gone by, and various in-house magazines.
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Issue dated - May 1958
From the "Between Ourselves" magazine
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 St. John's was Newfoundland newest district office in TCA system on May 1st. A party was held on April 25th at the Newfoundland Hotel to celebrate the opening and the introduction of Viscount service. Here is a photo of some employees - From the left - Anthea Marshall, Mary Royle, John Rankin (YHZ), Mabel Sparkes. Front row Angela McCrudden, Lucy Heffernan. |
 A mailing to over 100,000 people received the new timetable and a direct mail piece inserted by these ladies. They mail more letters in one day than many individuals receive in a lifetime.
From the foreground they are: Gloria MacDowell, Betty Purcell, Margaret MacLennon, Rollande Raymond, Barbara Morrison, Jean McKernan and Alva Walker. Standing in the background is Lead Mail Clerk Bertha Boucher.
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 Here we have the crew of the first Viscount which introduced prop-jet service to Sydney January 31st. The photo shows the crew while on the set for a TV show "People and Places".
From the left F/O Charlie Simpson, Captain Jack Muir, Lloyd MacInnes (commentator), Stewardesses Yvonne Mehlenbacher, Helen MacInnes. |
 Northeasterers in the south - Last St. Patrick's Day seven mechanics from Dorval arrived in Barbados to change an engine in a North Star aircraft. Here they are complete with the latest headgear for 75 degrees above weather just after the job had been completed.
From the left, standing are Phil Fregeou, Charlie Schmidl, Joe Crawley, Marcel Archambault, Marcel Desormeaux, John Smith, Bernard Tilbrook. Extreme right is Murray Short Manager Barbados.
The two lads sporting TCA headgear are employees of Gardner-Austin the Company's Agents in Bridgetown. |
 Lisa Eriksen, Vancouver-based stewardess was a semi finalist in the Miss International Airline Stewardess contest held in Miami June 1st. Here she poses next to a Viscount aircraft. |
 Six new ambassadors who recently graduated from training school in Montreal helped to publicize the inauguration Viscount service between Calgary and Edmonton late in April.
All the girls are based in Calgary and work Calgary- Edmonton service. From the left they are: Corral Luzine, Toronto; Rosemary Halstenson, Calgary; Jeannette Casavant, Calgary; Catherine O'Reily, County Mayo, Ire!and; Barbara Robson, Fort William; Carrol Schell, Regina. |
 EIGHT MEN, vitally interested in the power plant that will soon he placed in the first DC-8 to be delivered to the Company, are shown standing in front of the power plant mock-up at the Douglas Aircraft plant, Santa Monica recently.
Shown from the left are: Wally Orcchieson, maintenance technician; Fred Moore, project engineer; Ralph Drabinsky, ground equipment engineer; Phil Whittingstall, power plant engineer; Jack Mitchell, electrical engineer; "Mac" MacLeod, development engineer power plant; and Ken Rutledge, contract representative; Santa Monica. |
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Issue dated - July/August 1958
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 New overhaul base at Dorval will have the longest cantilever roof of any structure in North America. At a cost of ca$20 million the facility will be built on an 80 acre site.
The base will include overhaul and maintenance facilities for DC-8 and Vanguard aircraft with supporting shops, purchases and stores, boiler house, test house, office administration, simulators, combustible stores, data processing and a cafeteria. |
| Alan's Space - by Alan Rust |
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| Alan Rust |
The daredevil pilots of Colombia - (submitted by Brian Walsh) Pilots fly through storms over the jungle along one of the most perilous air routes in the world to deliver supplies. On a regular basis, Colombian pilots fly through storms in decrepit planes, over dense forests, to deliver food and goods to villagers isolated from the rest of the world. The jumping off point is Villavicencio, a city in the foothills of the Andean Cordillera. The destination is any one of the number of native Indian villages scattered throughout the jungle, cut off from civilization. The planes arrival in the villages is a major event. It stops here only once or twice a month, the cargo including vegetables, beds, dogs, chicken, and TV sets. In Colombia, DC3s operate more like rural buses. In the video below, somewhere over Colombia, high above the Amazonian rainforest near the borders with Brazil, an old DC3 is caught in a violent tropical storm. No visibility, no radio. Undoubtedly flight 30-37 is in trouble. Captain Raul tries to stabilize the twin-engine plane to bypass the worst of the storm. For more info, follow this link.
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| The daredevil pilots of Colombia |
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| Image Caption |
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Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc. People & Events
- Compiled by Terry Baker |
 News and articles from days gone by gleaned from various publications from C.A.I.L. and it's "ancestry" of contributing airlines. |
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Issue dated - October 1999
Extracts from the "Canadi>n Flyer" magazine -
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 On Sept 11-18 the Japan Mission transported Prime Minister Cretien, 8 Provincial premiers, territorial leaders and 200 business delegates from Vancouver to Osaka and Tokyo in a specially equipped B747 named "Rhys I. Eyton".
Here is a photo of the whole crew but, alas, no identifications - anyone? |
 The crew of the The Empress of Vancouver are greeted by the Consul-General for Australia prior to departing on the first scheduled flight to Australia on July 13, 1949.
Left to Right: Barbara Ayliffe, Stewardess; Capt., Archie Vanhee; First Officer, Craig Stevenson; Second Officer, Bruce Thompson; Navigator, Brian Hellings; Radio Officer L. Freeman and Margaret Linehan, Stewardess. |
 Hamming it up at a Sept. 15 pancake breakfast in Vancouver, held to kick off the Employee Charitable Donations Foundation Wests fall Fund-raising campaign, are (left to right): Charlene Zentner, Patrick Phang, Tony Baena, Susan Klein and Dennis Skappak. |
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Issue dated - December 1997
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 Canadian Regional Flight Attendants Louise Dunlop (left) and Kathie Taylor greet visitors at an 'open house' in Calgary on Oct. 18, 1997 held to display the new business class configuration of our F28 aircraft.
The F28s are being used on both the Western Shuttle and in Regional's markets. |
 Launching our Russian cosmonaut comrade Valeri Korzun to LON are (from left) Svetislav Plavsic, David Anderson, Julie Byrne-Howard, Marlies Coventry, Natalie Fischer, Dianne Lister, (Valeri), Kathleen Hallaran, Jeannette Panchuck, Heather Melidonis, Susan Lachance and Roger Matheson. |
| Reader's Feedback - Compiled by Terry Baker |
Every week we ask our readers for their stories or feedback on what they have read here in previous issues. Below is the feedback we have received recently.
Nobody loves us!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
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| Terry Baker |
The one and only Pionairs member in South Africa, Ed Mitchell, works for Rovos Rail, and has kindly offered Pionair members an AD 50% positive on Rovos Rail, subject to space being available. See www.Rovos.com
Ed can be contacted on e-mail at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (source Pionairs UK June newsletter) |
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Disclaimer: Please note, that neither the NetLetter or the ACFamily Network necessarily endorse any of the airline related or other "deals" that we provide for our readers. We would be interested in any feedback (good or bad) when using these companies though and will report the results here. We do not (normally) receive any compensation from any companies that we post in our newsletters. If we do receive a donation or other compensation, it will be indicated as a sponsored article or link.
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We hope you have enjoyed this issue of the NetLetter, see you next week!
Sincerely,
Your NetLetter Team
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First published in October, 1995
- Chief Pilot - Terry Baker, Nanaimo, B.C.
- Co-pilot - Alan Rust, Surrey, B.C.
- Flight Engineer - Bill Rowsell, Londesboro, Ontario
To contact us, send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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