­
Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter Since 1995

Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

Since 1995

The NetLetter #1180

The NetLetter
 For Air Canada Retirees

 (part of the ACFamily Network)

 

September 24, 2011 - Issue 1180
 
First Issue published in October 1995!
(over 5,400 subscribers)
In This Issue
Save Canada's Aviation and Space Heritage
Our first 70 years
Reader Submitted...Photos
TCA/Air Canada People Gallery
Alan's Space
Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc
Reader's Feedback
Odds & Ends
Terry's Trivia
Smileys
Web Site Information

The NetLetter Web Site
www.thenetletter.org
Donation Information

Send cheques payable to "ACFamily Network" to:

ACFamily Network
#800 - 15355 24th Ave, Suite 523
Surrey, BC V4A 2H9
or
Pay by Credit Card
Donate to the NetLetter

Sponsors
ACFamily Network
ACFamily Links
ACFamily Airlines
Air Canada
Trans-Canada Air Lines
Jazz
Zip
Tango
Air Alliance
Air BC
Air Nova
Air Ontario
Northwest Air
Canadian Airlines
Canadian Air Canada
Inter Canadian
Time Air
Canadian Pacfic
CPAir
Pacific Western
Transair
Austin Airways
Eastern Provincial
Nordair
Quebecair
Wardair
 
Greetings!
Terry Baker

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

Save Canada's Aviation and Space Heritage- Compiled by Alan Rust

"History may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme a lot. " Mark Twain...

 

The Canadian Air & Space Museum in Downsview Ontario is where Canada's space program was born. The building is unprotected and is about to be knocked down and replaced with a hockey rink. The Mosquito, the Chipmunk, the Beaver and the Tiger Moth were built there. It is the only place in the world to see a full-size Avro Arrow fighter interceptor. Save the Museum. Save the Building. They need your help.

 

Click on the videos below for information on how you can help. We think that most of our readers would be willing to support this museum as most of you are very interested in aviation history as you are a part of it.

 

Save Canada's Aviation and Space Heritage


 

Save Canada's Aviation and Space Heritage Pt 2
Save Canada's Aviation and Space Heritage Pt 2

 

Canadian Air and Space Museum
Canadian Air and Space Museum
Our first 70 years - Compiled by Terry Baker

Trans-Canada  Air Lines/Air Canada

 


1948
- May 1st - North Star service to Bermuda inaugurated. 

 
Reader Submitted Photos - Compiled by Terry Baker
Readers PhotosReader 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.

cfthsywg Robert Arnold in Winnipeg sent us this memory -
This photo was taken back in July 1984. I was asked to move the aircraft out of the Western Canada Aviation Museum's hangar in Winnipeg so we could rearrange the hangar display area and prepare for the Queen's arrival on October 7, 1984.  

The ramp area was starting to get a bit crowded as we shared an active ramp with Air Manitoba DC-3's and Perimeter Airlines DC-3's and Metroliners along with The Province of Manitoba's CL-215's and Cessna Citation Air Ambulances, and if I remember correctly two DC-4's belonging to Aero Trades Western Ltd. Our two largest aircraft at the time were the Viscount and Bristol Freighter. With the shortage of ramp space it was time to be creative in aircraft placement. I found this piece of partially paved and unused section of tarmac, secured the necessary permission for use and ended up with what you see below. Thats my story of how this photo came to be my Kodak Moment "The Bold And The Beautiful".
The End


I am glad I signed on to the Netletter. Lots of history here! There have even been a few people I was able to recognize and identify, like Tony Morien in the photo of the Viscount Spar Modification Crew. I volunteered for over 25 years with Tony while he was Chief of Restoration at WCAM. Keep up the great work.
Regards Robert.


teckgroup This from Ralph Nevers -
Here's a photo taken in the early 70's of the Technical Support Group for CP Air.  I am on the far left crouching down with white shirt and stripped tie.  I know most of the folks in the photo, but can't remember all of their names and of course, some of them have passed on.  

Thought some of the older CP Air Folks might get a kick out of this pic.  This picture was sent to me by Diane Olson a.k.a. DeeDee Millman, she is the only female in the picture. I've been retired from Air Canada since 2003 and will collect my Old Age Pension in January 2012.
Regards, Ralph E. Nevers.
(Anyone care to supply some identifications here? - eds)

TCA/Air Canada People Gallery - Compiled by Terry Baker
 
TCA/Air Canada  LogoMusings from the "Between Ourselves" and "Horizons" magazine, an Air Canada publication from years gone by, and various in-house magazines.
Issue dated - April 1st 1974
Extracted from "Horizons" magazine
suggestors Top suggestors are honoured at the luncheon held at Montreal's Bonaventure Hotel in March were, from the left, seated: Eric Ellison, Louis Berube, Gary Chapman, Derek Pearce, Jean St. Hilaire, Bob Haywood and Jack Ashby. Behind them, from the left, are their supervisors: Roy Sheffield, Bruno Fragasso, Gerry Boyle, Victor Findlay, Jack Gillings, Don Murphy and Bill Keys. Extreme right is President Ralph Vaughan.

editcentre The message edit centre on Front Street, Toronto at work. From the left, first row Don Fawcett, Message Edit Supervisor; Message lntercept Edit clerks Susan Wright and Jeannie Mello. Second row: Shirley Schacter and Lorraine Surette. Third row: Susan Cassidy and Ann Hope.

southernregion Eight Southern Region customer service employees are seen as they attended a two-day refresher course on tariffs in Toronto. Flanking Senior Instructor Pat Ford and Passenger & Cargo Sales Manager Harry Fase are, back row, from the left:
 

Rudy Chen, Sales Rep., Kingston; Don Aranha, A/Supervisor, Nassau; George Ward, PA, Freeport; Tony St. Hill, Reservations and Sales Office Supervisor, Bridgetown; Cordell Josiah; PA, Antigua; Dennis Rollins, Reservations and Sales Office Supervisor, Trinidad. Foreground are PAs Barb Petty of Bermuda and Frances Passailaigue of Montego Bay.


Issue dated - April 16th 1974

charbonneau L-1011 Captain Pierre Charbonneau, Montreal, left gives retired Company Captain George Lothian a tour of the TriStar flight deck before takeoff on a Toronto-Vancouver flight marking the 35th anniversary of transcontinental service on April 1. 

Times have changed since Captain Lothian flew the 10-passenger Lockheed 14-H2, the aircraft which made the first trans-continental flight 35 years ago. 

Aboard the L-1011 anniversary flight were news media representatives and three founding members of Trans-Canada Air Lines stewardess force - George's wife, Rose, Annette Brunelle Donovan and her sister, Geralde Brunelle Laurier.

maltonhouse The first administration building 'at Toronto Airport was a commandeered farmhouse, called Malton House set in the country. In those days TCA staff had to shepherd passengers across the virgin wilderness between farmhouse and hangar. By 1943 the farmhouse had been replaced by a specially designed administration building, a welcome sight to the people working at the airport.
Alan's Space - by Alan Rust
Alan's Space
Alan Rust
"PAN AM," NEW HOUR-LONG SERIES ABOUT THE ADVENTURE
AND EXCITEMENT OF THE JET AGE, PREMIERES SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 ON THE ABC TELEVISION NETWORK

In case you haven't heard, the new series, "PAN AM" starts tomorrow night (Sunday, September 25th, 2011) check your local listings for times. Below is the promo for it, both text and video. I hope it proves to be as good as it looks. I'm interested on how they portray the 60's and what they use for backdrops, etc. Should be interesting!
 
Passion, jealousy and espionage... They do it all -- and they do it at 30,000 feet. The style of the 1960s, the energy and excitement of the Jet Age and a drama full of sexy entanglements deliciously mesh in this thrilling and highly-original new series.

In this modern world, air travel represents the height of luxury and Pan Am is the biggest name in the business. The planes are glamorous, the pilots are rock stars and the stewardesses are the most desirable women in the world. Not only are these flyboys and girls young and good looking, but to represent Pan Am they also have to be educated, cultured and refined. They're trained to handle everything from in-air emergencies to unwanted advances -- all without rumpling their pristine uniforms or mussing their hair. There's Dean (Jonah Lotan) -- a cocky, charismatic and ambitious new pilot -- the first of a new breed not trained in the war. On the sly against company policy, he's dating Bridget, a stunning beauty with a mysterious past. A rebellious bohemian, Maggie (Christina Ricci) turns into a buttoned up professional for work so she can see the world. Rounding out the crew are flirtatious Collette (Karine Vanasse), the adventurous Kate (Kelli Garner) and, finally, Laura (Margot Robbie) -- Kate's beauty queen younger sister, a runaway bride, who recently fled a life of domestic boredom to take to the skies. 
Pan Am Series Premiere ABC Promo
Pan Am Series Premiere ABC Promo
Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc. People & Events
- Compiled by Terry Baker
CAIL TailsNews and articles from days gone by gleaned from various publications from C.A.I.L. and it's "ancestry" of contributing airlines.
Issue dated - January 1971
Extracts from the "PWA Keeping Posted" magazine

grandforks The Grand Forks Municipal Airport was officially opened on September 12, 1970, with an attendance of over 3,000 people.On September 14, 1970 PWA began regular schedule service into Grand Forks, B.C.. The terminal building is a former church, having been brought from Christina Lake . It is a pan-a-bode building. When PWA opened for business, Glen (Deacon) Carleton opened the station and began selling tickets.  

Service into Grand Forks was discontinued effective January 28th 1971.due to inadequate and uneconomical traffic levels.
  

(This is the last copy of the "PWA Keeping Posted" magazine that had been donated - eds)


Issue dated - June 1983
From the "PWA Flightlines" magazine
pwaretirees On March 19th PWA inaugurated B767 charter service to Long Beach, California which marked the first ever landing of a B767 at this airport. Under the command of Capt. Bob Moul, the flight attendants on the flight were Deirdre Bacon, Pam Pfeifer, Karen Ditchburn, Annette Granbois, Janice Reynolds and Christine Theobald.
 
Inaugural meeting of the Pacific Western Airlines Retired Employees was held on Wednesday, March 9 in Vancouver Building 1 Boardroom. We can see by all the smiling faces, retirement becomes them. The charter members are from left to right: Brian Hall, Pro tern Chairman, Cam Baine, Bruce Thomson. Bill McPhee, Gerry Levers, Tony van der Pas, Gene Gauthier, Betty Peebles (guest), Art Ralphs, Roy Berryman, John Wynnyk, Bill Andrews, Bernie Bricklebank and Larry Gingras. The group plans to meet interested retirees and further develop communication ties with the Company and each other. Brian Hall has been the catalyst in forming a formal Retiree Club.
 
(We have no other information regarding this club - eds)

dumberger Last PW B737 flight to Uranium City, Saskatchewan October 28th 1982
Pacific Western started service in YBE in the summer of 1959 with DC-3 and C-46 aircraft. Service levels improved when DC-4, DC-6, Electra, Convair and B737 aircraft were introduced. Last June, when the Uranium Mine was closed, passenger and cargo levels dropped resulting in our departure from the community. A twice weekly DC-3 service from Fort McMurray is now in place. 

Mayor Rose Wasylenka was presented with a Pacific Western picture at the Uranium City Airport on October 28 when the last jet flight came in. On hand for the presentation (L to R) Captain George Dumberger, Purser Glynne Wilson, F/A Maureen Gorman, F/A Yolanda Spithoven, Mayor Rose Wasylenka, Peter Lema and F/O Hans Longerich.

yolanda Providing excellent service on the last Uranium City flight were F/A Yolanda Spithoven, Purser Glynne Wilson and F/A Maureen Gorman.
Reader's Feedback - Compiled by Terry Baker
Reader's Feedback
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.

The cartoon photo sent in by Jean published in NetLetter nr 1178 has prompted this memory by Marion Montgomery Hopkins - I remember that strike hanging over the heads of the "new hires".  My flying partner Velma Miller and I were working the last flight in that night to Toronto before the strike. Had we gone with the strikers, we would not have had our jobs. At the same time, facing  a line of strikers was not something we wanted to experience. You can imagine our relief when the captain informed us that the strike was settled.

Marion Montgomery Hopkins
 

A memory from N.jafri
Ref.NetLetter nr 1178.and those 2 B767-200.were bought by AC I remember working on those 2 with fin no 681 and 682.
N.jafri AC.retiree.

John Rodger sends us this information -
I've been asked by Stewart Grant's family if we could put his article out on the Netletter. Stewart is a spry 97 soon to be 98 years young. He wrote this a couple of years ago. His step-daughter is a good friend of my brother and his wife.

STEWART GRANT (Stew) Emp No: 36677  TCA / Air Canada 1944 - 1976
In early summer of 1944, while working in an engineering office of a manufacturing plant  in Toronto, I applied for and was hired by TCA Engineering Dept. However, the Government Manpower Department did not authorize my transfer to TCA until November since both jobs had similar war effort priority.

During the summer of 1945, The National Research Council in Ottawa supplied TCA Engineering Department with two prototype vertical gust recorder instruments with a request that we test-fly them in one of our aircraft.  I was delegated to manage the installation, and with another engineering representative, to monitor the instruments during the test flight flown by our engineering test pilot, Captain Ron Baker. The flight was made in one of our Lockheed 1408 Lodestar aircraft, and included three stall maneuvers, each one more severe than the previous one, with the last one resulting in a complete roll.  Thanks to Capt. Ron's ability he regained control.  We discontinued further tests.  No record was shown on either instrument so NRC cancelled further development of them.

In January 1946 I was transferred back to Winnipeg, and was advised not to make myself too permanent there, because within six months I would likely be transferred to Montreal, however that didn't happen until 1968.  During this period I represented the Engineering Dept. on two occasions where a Viscount aircraft had been damaged by accidents on the ground, one at Quebec Airport, and one a Fredericton Airport.

My most scary moment was standing beside the front of a perfectly airworthy Viscount as the mechanic started to cut the nose off for the first Viscount radar installation.  As well as that installation, I was also responsible for the structural work for the Viscount auto-pilot installation.  I was also involved in providing engineering assistance in the replacement of the lower wing spar boom on all the Viscount aircraft.  I also visited Vickers in England in connection with increasing passenger seating in the Viscount aircraft.

In 1968 I was transferred to Montreal where I was introduced to the DC-9 aircraft interior structures, and safety equipment on all aircraft.  In that regard, I represented the engineering department on a number of occasions at both Boeing and Lockheed during the final development of both the 747 and L1011 aircraft.  My biggest job while in Montreal engineering was the installation of the 'dance floor' in the upper deck of the 747.  This involved additional structural installation, and design and fabrication of some new furnishings and equipment.  Incidentally the 'dance floor; was a 'big 36 x 72' inches.  I believe that configuration was replaced with additional seats shortly after I retired in 1976.  Shortly before my 64th birthday.

In January 1967, while living in Winnipeg I bought a Cessna 172 aircraft and with the help of Charlie Graffo I learned to fly it.  In 1968, because of my transfer, I flew it to Montreal where I used it to commute frequently between Dorval and my original home area near Stratford, Ontario.  After moving to Guelph, I sold it in 1986, just 2 months short of 20 years since buying it.  I believe it is still operating in southern Ontario.

In 2002 we moved from Guelph to Cranbrook, B.C. where we are presently living.

The above are just a few of my incidents during my time at TCA-Air Canada.  During that time I have met a number of well-known people such as Jimmie Molison and Bruno Von Blaum and some of the pilots and mechanics who did so much to open up the Arctic.  I was also fortunate to be associated with such a great gang of employees that we had in TCA-Air Canada.  When I started, ten passengers was a full load!
Odds & Ends - Compiled by Terry Baker
 
Odds & EndsSometimes we receive articles and information that just doesn't fit in our other areas. This is where it goes!

Former Air Canada Viscount CF-TID is in the process of being dismantled at CYHU to be transported by road to the College Montmorency at Laval where it will be used for firemen training.

Fortunately, she will not be put in fire, but will be used  for escape exercises. See photos at http://pierregillard.zenfolio.com/aerovision or click on image below.
Best regards, Pierre Gillard.

Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
Terry Baker
Terry Baker
New US Dept. of Transportation (DOT) regulations aimed at providing "protections" for airline passengers went into effect last month, imposing a 4-hr. tarmac delay limit on international flights at US airports.

Airports Council International-North America President Greg Principato praised the new rules, stating that "all passengers" should be "protected against extended tarmac delays." Airlines, however, have opposed the regulations which they view as unwarranted government intervention in day-to-day business operations.

The rules establish "a hard 4-hr. time limit on tarmac delays for all international flights at US airports," DOT said. Domestic US flights are already governed by a 3-hr. limit before delayed aircraft must return to airport gates to allow passengers to deplane if they choose The new rules also extend the 3-hr. regulation for domestic flights from large- and medium-hub airports to include flights at small- and non-hub airports.

Smileys - Compiled by Terry Baker
Smileys
As we surf the internet and back issues of airline magazines we regularly find airline related jokes and cartoons. Below is our latest discovery.
 
mathiascartoon Yet another cartoon by Dave Mathias from the "Horizons" magazine issued January 1974.

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.

We hope you have enjoyed this issue of the NetLetter, see you next week!
 
Sincerely,

Your NetLetter Team
 
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.
 

NetLetter Subscription

Please fill in the form below to subscribe.
Airline
Referral

Thank you. We hope that you enjoy The NetLetter.
­