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Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter Since 1995

Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

Since 1995

The NetLetter #1186

The NetLetter
 For Air Canada Retirees

 (part of the ACFamily Network)

 

November 5, 2011 - Issue 1186
 
First Issue published in October 1995!
(over 5,400 subscribers)
In This Issue
CAHS Upcoming Events
Pionair Meetings and Events
ACRA Upcoming Events
Our first 70 years
Reader's Feedback
Odds & Ends
Web Site Information

The NetLetter Web Site
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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
CAHS Upcoming Events - Compiled by Alan Rust
 
Pionair Meetings and Events - Compiled by Alan Rust

Pionairs LogoThe Air Canada Pionairs have ongoing Coffee Club Meetings in the following Districts; Vancouver Island, Vancouver, Okanagan, Edmonton, Calgary, Man-Sask, SW Ontario, Central Ontario, Ottawa, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia - P.E.I., Newfoundland, UK - E.C. and the USA - Caribbean. For full information, click here.

Meetings provide an opportunity to meet old friends, learn the latest news regarding Air Canada and your  pensions or hear a variety of guest speakers speaking on topics of interest to retirees.


From the UK Pionairs monthly newsletter -
UK Pionairs
Christmas Lunch
: 11th December Christmas Lunch at
Burnham Beeches Hotel
for 13.00 hrs sit Numbers are increasing daily. Our colleagues in Europe are of course eligible to come along too and will be most welcome. Anyone who has worked in the UK for TCA/Air Canada would be very welcome to attend. We have members attending our lunch who joined the Company in the l950's. We'll be very happy to see any of you on the day. There will be the usual free raffle with some great prizes and the whole event will be very Christmissy, so please consider coming along to join us for a fun time. We'd love to see you. At the lunch, Derek Buckell will be giving an update on the current pension situation.

Email to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
or phone 07801 249131 or you can mail it to -
7 Southwold Spur, Market Lane, Langley, Berkshire SL3 8XX U.K.
ACRA Upcoming Events- Compiled by Alan Rust

ACRA  LogoRetirees Welcome!

The following events are available for retirees through ACRA, the Air Canada Recreation Association.

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Our first 70 years - Compiled by Terry Baker

Trans-Canada  Air Lines/Air Canada

 

 

1957 - June - Installation of radar for the Super Constellation fleet  planned.
1974 - Sept - Installation of FIDS system at Winnipeg. The airline was the first airline in Winnipeg to use this technology.

 
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.
carryonluggage Left - from Paul Goodman YVRAP.
Not sure of date,sometime in the seventies. Paul Goodman, passenger agent showing passenger the dimensions of carry on baggage.

Roy Miles sends us this information -
Thank you for your recent newsletter 1183 re: Ruth Burton photo of the LAX staff.
Back row...the name Larry??....should be Larry Wert. Larry today is in a Long Term Nursing home in downtown Toronto. I worked with Larry in Toronto and also on his return back to Toronto from LAX. I have known Larry for over 50 years and I am now his POA. I also knew Ozzie Borden and Ruth Burton.Thanks for the memory's Roy Miles.

Roy Miles sends us this information - re photo on NetLetter #1183
Thank you for your recent newsletter 1183 with the photo of the LAX staff submitted by Ruth Burton.


Back row...the name Larry??....should be Larry Wert. Larry today is in a Long Term Nursing home in downtown Toronto. I worked with Larry in Toronto and also on his return back to Toronto from LAX. I have known Larry for over 50 years and I am now his POA. I also knew Ozzie Borden and Ruth Burton.Thanks for the memory's Roy Miles.

 

We have re-published the photo below and have also found a way to make it larger and clearer, so if you couldn't see the faces before, they should be clearer now.

 

Image Blank 200pxAnother follow-up from Myrna Lawrence with this information  - 
re: Photograph of Gord Gaffikin and staff submitted by Ruth Burton.

 

Back row- Ron Miles, Art Berger, Walter Murray, Andre Richard, Maynard Bartlett, Barrie Mercer, Larry Wert and Len Zak 

Front row - Barbara Pearce, Don Thomas, Fay Huntley Abdalian, ? , Myrna Lawrence, Kathryn Woodson, Gord Gaffikin, Ruth Carhart Burton, Mimi Parant, Austin (Ozzie) Bourdon, Sandy Wojcik, Elizabeth Biesty and Karin Morgan.  

Sorry, I cannot make out the face of the man next to me.  Myrna

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 - June 1957
Found in the "Between Ourselves" magazine -
Image Blank 200px NO TIME on their hands was experienced by these two Boston gals. While winning first prizes in two separate sales contests of Boston recently. Passenger Agents Emily*Ann Lucas and Nadine Johnson "hold the clocks" on Sales Representative
Leo Paquette (left) and City Ticket Office Supervisor Bill Quartermain, chairman of the contests.

Issue dated - May 1957
Image Blank 200px ON ARRIVAL at Yarmouth Jimmy Ames, left, newly appointed Station Manager, is presented with a four-pound live Nova Scotia lobster by Acting Station Manager Gordie Hykle. Gordie has been appointed Station Manager at Swift Current.
Image Blank 200px ATTENDING A recent Boston Sales Meeting are, From left to right, front row: Toni Aucella, Florence King, Hortense Chagnon, Mary Sullivan , Elizabeth Kennedy and Emily Ann Lucas. Back row: John Wade, John MacCarthy, Lenore
Cirilano, Nadine Johnson, G. J. Churchill, Mary Graceffa, Leo Paquette, William Quartermain, Keifh Staples and Walter McGrath.


Issue dated - September 1974 
This from "Horizons" magazine -
Image Blank 200px Quick thinking and team work by Vancouver employees brought a potential large-scale fire under control. Tommy Cawson, Paul Karadl, Spike Turner and Marty Davey extinguished a blaze aboard a DC9 caused by an electrical short circuit. Not In the picture Is Gordy McNeil who also played a role In putting out the fire.

Image Blank 200px The inquisitive mind of Bronno van Beekum, Buyer, Dorval earned a $569 payoff for him from the suggestion award program. He Is shown, left, receiving the cheque from Roy Olson, Manager, Airframe Spares Procurement.

Image Blank 200px Long service employees of the Central & Southern Region were honoured at a reception and dinner given by Jack Callen, Vice President. Most were observing 25 years of service, with six employees marking their 30th anniversary and one, his 35th. Seen with Chairman Yves Pratte and their host are: Scotty MacGregor (Montego Bay); Gord Phillips (Toronto); Pat Tapson (London); George Clarke (London); Bud Pearce (Toronto) ; Earl Goddard (Toronto) ; Don Connelly (Toronto); Freddie Mark (Toronto); Howle Steen (Toronto) ; Jack Taylor (Toronto); Jim Aikins (Toronto); Don Morrison (Toronto); Len Sampson (Toronto); Vere Brooks (Freeport); Al Walsh (Toronto); Ken Hall (Toronto); Tony Blencowe (Toronto) ; D'Arcy McLeod (Windsor); John Sinden (North Bay); Norma Montgomery (Toronto); Chris Fisher (Toronto) ; Eileen Shanks (Toronto); Val Esson (Toronto); Len Beilharz (Sault Ste. Marie). Unable to attend the gathering were Irene Newton, George Brammer, Lloyd Constable and Jack McPherson.
 
Montreal Interline Club (MIC) held their First International Fall 100 car rally and festival on October 10th-13th.
Alan's Space - by Alan Rust
Alan's Space
Alan Rust
Pittance in Time
Written by Terry Kelly
 
They fought and some died for their homeland
They fought and some died now it's our land
Look at his little child, there's no fear in her eyes
Could he not show respect for other dads who have died?
 
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It's a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It's a pittance of time
 
God forgive me for wanting to strike him
Give me strength so as not to be like him
My heart pounds in my breast, fingers pressed to my lips
My throat wants to bawl out, my tongue barely resists
 
But two minutes I will bide
It's a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who went over
In peace may they rest, may we never forget why they died.
It's a pittance of time
 
Read the letters and poems of the heroes at home
They have casualties, battles, and fears of their own
There's a price to be paid if you go, if you stay
Freedom is fought for and won in numerous ways
 
Take two minutes would you mind?
It's a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls all over
May we never forget our young become vets
At the end of the line it's a pittance of time
 
It takes courage to fight in your own war
It takes courage to fight someone else's war
Our peacekeepers tell of their own living hell
They bring hope to foreign lands that the hatemongers can't kill.
 
Take two minutes, would you mind?
It's a pittance of time
For the boys and the girls who go over
In peacetime our best still don battle dress
And lay their lives on the line.
It's a pittance of time
 
In Peace may they rest, lest we forget why they died.
Take a pittance of time
Remembrance Day Video - Terry Kelly
Remembrance Day Video - Terry Kelly "Pittance in Time"
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.

From a special issue of "Info Canadian" dated Sept 1990 announced the withdrawl of the service to Amsterdam effective November 15th after 35 years of service.
 
From an "Info Canadian" issue dated October 1990, it was announced that B737 service to Kelowna, Fort St. John, Sandspit and Smithers will be withdrawn and replaced by turbo-prop service by Time Air. Service to Kelowna will commence January 13th  and the other three locations in April .

From the "Info Canadian" issue dated May 1988 celebrated the first anniversary April 26th marking the new identity of Canadi>n Airlines.

Issue dated - December 1987
An extract from "Info Canadian" -

Image Blank 200px I viva la expansion !
Lima staffers show outstretched hands signify the airline. expansion to five South American flights
weekly to and from Canada.

The occasion was a visit by president Murray Sigler (upper left) Who has been on an inspection tour of company bases.

Lima staffers in the photo are - Angel Bracesco, Arnaldo Pacora. Jorge Cases Sarria, Margarita Valerga, Chabuca Thorne, Alberto 0'Neill, Florencia Li, Juan Orozco. Felix Yep, Becha Jimenez, Rodolfo Roggero, Harumi Deyagui, Lalo Basurco. Cecilia Grau,  Florentino Rojas, Jorge Arias, Mari Diaz, Lucrecia Ali, Manuel Rondon Jorge Villalobos, Nike Abugattas and Cesar Bastida.

 

Also in the photo are Jack Miles, DC- 10 Capt. Bill Green, first officer Bill Brooke and flight attendant Adrianne Damgaard.

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.

Ken Pickford sends us this information -
My eagle eyes caught a couple of very minor glitches in issue #1184.
The copy of the flight plan for the January 1, 1967 "Centennial" flight was actually from YVR to YUL (not YYZ), with a stop at YWG.

Also, the reference to "Intercontinental" in the accompanying text should read "Transcontinental", as typed at the top of the flight plan (i.e. "Transcon").
Moving to PWA, the date in the caption at the bottom of the photo of the Grumman Mallard, with the story of PWA's involvement in the Alcan project at Kitimat, reads 1984. I'm guessing it should probably read 1954.

(On checking the PWA web site, we note that the Mallard CF-HPU was received in 1960 - eds)

Regards,
Ken

Jim Griffith sends us this information -
Here is a story I am trying to market. It has to do with back in the daze.

September 7th, 1908, Orville Wright was on a sales promotion of his airplane, a Wright Flyer, demonstrating its turning capabilities near Dayton Ohio. Flying in circles might have dithered his thinking for he spotted a flock of birds and decided to chase them. Catching up with the flock he whacked one on the head with his left wing and killed it. A sort of man bites dog story.

In the early sixties with the introduction of turbo-props, planes got faster and there were more of them so conflicts with birds, the associated damage costs and threats to life became a serious issue. The Canadian regulator of the day, the Department of Transport, (DOT), took notice and as a result bird control was undertaken at Canadian airports. Some of the control measures were bizarre if not downright barbaric consisting of smashing eggs, destroying nesting areas, fireworks, bird bangers and training raptors to hunt the birds down and kill them. Perhaps the most inhumane was the recording of birds screaming as they were callously being torn apart alive and broadcasting their torment over loudspeakers at various airports.

Flying Viscounts on the foothills for Air Canada in the late sixties up and down and back and forth between Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge was anything but boring. What with the choking heat of summer, vicious thunderstorms, spooky mountain waves, numbing winter cold, wildly fluctuating Chinook temperatures with resulting wild wind shears it could be quite interesting. For some reason perhaps because of the Calgary Stampede or Edmonton's Klondike Days there was a decided upswing in Viscount tom-foolery in summer. The DOT Bird Control campaign for small airports added further frolic for the foothill pilots.

Pilots often wonder which came first. Were airports built near garbage dumps or were garage dumps built near airports? Either way the common denominator is the ubiquitous seagull, (genus larus). A deep three hundred foot coulee or if you prefer the eastern more PC term, gully, was situated at the end of runway 23 in Lethbridge. A gravel road led up to the lip of it providing a convenient garbage tip for local folks. As a source of government revenue the infield of the airport was leased to local farmers and fresh grain further tempted the local gulls adding protein and roughage to their diet giving a distinctive bouquet to the resulting disgusting guano.
(More next time - eds)
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!

The following is from material donated by Barbara Wood from the collection accumulated by her husband Douglas H Wood -

From the "Aerial Age Weekly" magazine issued May 24th 1920 -

The first aeroplane of the National Airway Service Company, was flown recently from Toronto. Canada, to the company's aerodrome, Wright Field, near Akron, Ohio, by pilots J. G. Layton and L. F. Ross. This machine has been put into operation for passenger-carrying. advertising/aerial photography and instruction work.

Aerial Taxicab Company formed in Canada.
Montreal - Seventeen aerial taxicab companies are being formed in Western Canada, and a number of these have already been licensed by the Air Board. Four commercial flying companies have been formed in Winnipeg, one will be floated in Brandon and an aerodrome is to be built in Virden. There is a company at Regina, another in Moose Jaw, two in Saskatoon, two in Edmonton, one in Hanna, Alta. one in Calgary, one in Lethbridge, one in Banff and two in Vancouver.
Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
Terry Baker
Terry Baker
Here are three tips from the UK Pionairs monthly newsletter -
  1. 1) As from the 1st of October this year new rules came into force concerning bringing into the UK tobacco from the EU. You will only be allowed to bring in up to 800 cigarettes (currently 3,200) and l kg of hand rolling tobacco (currently 3 kg). More information on www.HMRC.Gov.UK
2) Fly-Zed
This web site is very useful for anyone planning standby on trips around the world, and covers most airlines including Air Canada. first of all go into www.flyzed.com and in the user name box enter ACA and in the password box 014. You can then get details of flights once you have entered the information required.

3) LHR Airport Hotel Discount offered at Premier Inn:
The Premier Inn on Bath Road near LHR airport is currently offering a discounted rate of 45.00 GBP per room per night (subject to availability) for Air Canada employees. Please make your bookings on: www.premierinn.com/aircanada and show your valid Air Canada ID Card when checking in to obtain the discounted rate. (source Quebec Pionair Sentinel)
(Although retirees are not specifically mentioned - you have nothing to lose by asking - eds)
 
Norman Hogwood left TCA and LHR in the late '60's and now resides in New Zealand. He sends us this memory -
In 1959 I left Vickers and went to work for Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA, now known as Air Canada) at Heathrow and it was here that I first realized what "airline perks" were all about. At the time TCA operated Super Constellations (in my humble opinion easily the most beautifully aesthetic commercial airplane ever built) and had several routes to places in Europe via London and the London-based staff had virtually unlimited access to the continuation flights to such places as Paris, Dusseldorf, Vienna, and Zurich. Together with a mate, I took one or two of these flights and it was terrific just to pop over to one of those cities for a day over the weekend. In 1960 they introduced the DC-8 on those routes which was even better.

Anyway, in 1960 I decided to hop over to Dusseldorf to spend a week on a cruise on the Rhine. It rained for the whole week so I just saw a lot of the hotel in Dusseldorf! In order to get home, and because of route changes, I was obliged to fly to Prestwick in Scotland, then wait a couple of days before being able to pick up another TCA flight down to London. At Prestwick I found a Bed & Breakfast place close to the airport and wandered over to the terminal each evening for dinner.

In those days there was a main road running across the runway and although it had traffic lights at each end there was virtually nothing to control pedestrians. I guess people were expected to obey the lights. Anyway, one night after I had had dinner I set off back to my lodgings and was happily walking over the runway (I swear the lights were green when I set out) and the next thing I knew was this Police car pulling up alongside me and the driver asking me what I thought I was up to and couldn't I see the lights of "that aircraft up there" waiting to take off. I replied to the effect that I was sure the traffic lights were green when I started to cross the runway but he said I was stupid and to get a move on. With that, the car roared off at high speed and I was left with no option but to take to my heels and run for my life. Why the hell they didn't offer me a lift I'll never know. Anyway, the damned lights got closer and closer and just as I reached safety this beautiful Bristol Britannia became airborne right behind me! A close encounter I never wish to repeat.
Smileys - Compiled by Terry Baker
smiley

As we surf the internet and back issues of airline magazines we regularly find airline related jokes and cartoons. Below is our latest discovery.

 

Amongst the myriad of documents donated by Barbara Wood from those accumulated by her late husband Doug Wood, was a six page cartoons called "A Tweaking Anthology" or "Tweak his own", which he put together. These are them - enjoy.
(We are not sure what this technology is all about, but perhaps the front end crew will understand - eds)
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tweak2
Image Blank 200px
Image Blank 200px
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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.

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
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