 The NetLetter
For Air Canada Retirees
(part of the ACFamily Network)
November 26, 2011 - Issue 1188
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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
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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 |
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Pionair Meetings and Events - Compiled by Alan Rust
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 The 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.
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| Our first 70 years - Compiled by Terry Baker |
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1957 - July - New computer system to replace IBM 360-50's at Dorval signed with Honeywell.
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| 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 may have tucked away in a shoebox, we will consider them for publication in a future NetLetter. We prefer good quality airline related photos, with descriptive text included with the submission.
We received this information and photo from Ron Rhodes -
I was so pleased to find some photos ont he ACFamily Network Photo Gallery via the www.vickersviscount.net! It was wonderful to see the information (historical) and very interesting photographs. Many have now entered into my own archives. I am 62 and an avid TCA enthusiast. Over the years I flew on TCA Viscounts, Vanguards, Super Connies, North Star, Boeing 727, 747, 767, and 777. I even took an historic flight on AC's Lockheed Electra out of Toronto Island a few years ago! I have a nice collection of TCA photos and memorabilia. |
 As a start I am enclosing my favourite cabin Viscount photo taken in the 1960's by me. Does anyone recognizes the ladies at the back?
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 Here is a photo of a CP DC-8 at Windsor, Ontario during the 1960's.
One thing I am doing is researching my TCA flights in 1960. I am desperately trying to find out the exact aircraft that were used for the flights. Here are the details Prestwick - Toronto, August 27, 1960 Super Constellation flight TCA 507, Montreal - Toronto August 28, 1960 North Star flight TCA 703. I have a special interest in photos of the various cabins of the TCA aircraft over the years and am busy going through your archives.
My profession? Not a pilot (as I always wanted), but rather a high school teacher of French and German for 32 years. Presently I am retired and reviving my old hobby!
Regards
Ron Rhodes
Waterloo Ontario Canadian Researcher.
www.vickersviscount.net
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| 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 - August 1957
Garnered from the "Between Ourselves" magazine -
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 A UNIQUE convention was held recently by the Company at Quebec City, to discuss ways and means of increasing revenues from group and convention travel. In attendance were, Iron left to right: Adelaide O'Regan, Convention Representative, Ottawa; Lola Gibson, Convention Representative, Vancouver: Barb Whitehouse. Group Sales Assistant. Montreal, Val McGill. Convention Representative. Toronto; "Bus" Duhamel. General Supervisor, Group Sales; and Fran Belanger, Convention Representative, Montreal.
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 COMPLETING a five week Super Constellation Endorsement Coutse at Dorval these men pose before returning to their respective stations. This was the 10th training course of its kind for employees. Front row. L. - R.: H. G.Flock, UL; E. M. Kesseler, UL; C. Bishop, QX; S. J. Bzdera, UL; J . G. E. Portelance , UL. Second row: W . H Evans, UL; J. D. McClue, YZ; R. Healey-Ogden, YZ; R. A. Stewart, UL; C. A. MacWilliams, UL. Third row: G. Hamel {Instructor, UL), J. Birrell, VR; C. E. Thomas. UL; J . S. Rhodes, UL; J . A. D. Saller , UL; M. T. Burke. UL.
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 TCA Malton Airport employees have an entry in the West Toronto Industrial Baseball League this year. So far, the team has maintained a tight hold on second place, winning 4 and losing 2 games.
From left to right, kneeling, are: Bob Burle, Jim Currie, Russ Smith, Bill Mason.
Back row:Jack McClenaghan, Irv Reief, Bill Pappas, Frank Win and Dan Wilkes. The team has six other players who were absent at the time of the photograph.
(Or perhaps they had been benched - eds)
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 WHEN DAD, Captain A. R. Edwards, "pinned wings" on daughter, Stewardess Janey Edwards, it marked TCA's first father and daughter air crew team.
Captain Edwards has been a TCA pilot for more than 18 years, while Janey graduated as a TCA stewardess last month. Watching the proceedings are: Herb Seagrim, Vice President, Operations, and W. L. Fabro, Director of Passenger Service.
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Issue dated - December 1974
Captured from "Horizons" magazine -
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 Side by side typifies the cooperative norOntalr-Alr Canada service for Ontario's northland. Station Agents Aurel Chartrand and Maurice Donnelly of Sault Ste. Marie are seen with Twin Otter pilots First Officer Carl Langille, left and Captain Larry Taymond, rIght. |
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 Here we have a photo of the first ten winners of the Merit Award launched by Yves Pratte. We do not have them identified, but know why they got the award. Tommy Cawson, Spike Turner, Marty Davey, Gord McNeil and Paul Karadi for the courageous act of extinguishing a fire aboard DC-9 being serviced at YVR on August 3rd.
(The above is also an item from September "Horizons" in NetLetter nr 1186 - eds)
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 Jim Bowie for his contribution to the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. Reg Little for advancing word processing throughout North America, Maurice Allan for his contribution to amateur sports. Art Barnett for community work. Clint Ward for contributing to the emergence of water-skiing as a major amateur sport and world event. |
 A special cake was presented to Prince Anne and Captain Phillips during their flight to Canada last month. The cake, shown with other goodies in the photo below, was baked by Company chef Roy Ledgerwood and John Graham at London Airport. (LHR) Roy is shown flanked by Commissary personnel who are, from the Ieft: Betty Hay, Lucy Futter, Anne Chandler, Lillian Jankowski, Shirley Edmunds and Ann Shields. |
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 Passenger Agents in the U.S. Region had the opportunity to participate in a contest to promote and sell the "Summer Leisure" program. The "Time to Tune-In" promotion contributed greatly to the good boarding and revenue results in the region this year.
The New York District produced ten winners. Each received a Panasonic AM/FM clock radio. Second from the left in the photo is Reservation & Sales Office Manager Ray Steven who made the presentation to Vincent Chiarello, Ed Frazier, Theresa Chen Eileen CampbeII , Elzbieta Rafalski, Alex Holub, Doreen O'Connor and Zofia DiRocco. Not present for the photo were Henri Delmar and Lucie LaPalme-Ball.
(Who, we assume, had already clocked-off - eds)
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| Alan's Space - by Alan Rust |
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| Alan Rust |
Photos from Life Magazine - 1968 - (Part 2)
The new Pan Am Series has been on the air for about 2 months now and it looks like it's quite a success. For me, as I mentioned previously, it started out slow, but therer has been more action lately. I think those of us that worked closer to the aircraft side of things are amused when we see how "Hollywood" portrays our industry. For those of us that actually worked in the industry in the 60's it would bring back fond memories.
The last eposide I saw had their 707 divert to Haiti and on the ground they only had airstairs, no power unit, no air conditioning, no air starter to leave, etc. But I still enjoyed that eposide. You can read what others have to say by following this link.
Below we have the remainder of the photos from Life Magazine circa 1968 that mirrors this series (showing Sunday nights on ABC).
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A Proper Goodbye
Dropping a friend or family member off at the airport was an adventure in itself. People would actually park their cars, escort their traveler to the departure gate,
and watch the plane until it was just a tiny speck in the sky.
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Dressed to the Nines
Forget the T-shirt and sweatpants - flying was a formal occasion.
Pictured: Gossip columnist Cindy Adams and her husband, comedian Joey Adams, are dressed to the nines as they board a flight to Indonesia, 1966.
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Going Up
In 1970, an air hostess greets a passenger before heading up to an upper deck lounge.
That's right: an upper deck lounge.
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Customs? Relatively Calm!
No X-ray machines, no metal detectors, no taking off of shoes: Customs purely served as a luggage check. Hard to believe, but this is a 1964 photo of the customs area at the New York International Airport (the madhouse known today as JFK).
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From Aisle to Runway
Going through security check in a wedding dress today would prove to be a nightmare,
but back in 1965, a newlywed London couple wastes no time heading off to their
honeymoon after tying the knot.
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Superstars Mingled With Us Common Folk
In the days before the influx of private planes, even the Beatles traveled on commercial flights.
Plus: fun, unconvincing costumes! (That's George Harrison pushing John Lennon, in 1965.)
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Roomy!
On a 1968 Boeing 747, passengers could stand tall without ducking, have decent legroom, and sink into plush seats.
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A General Excitement About the Future
Way back when, it seemed anything was possible in air travel - including a superfast transatlantic jet.
Pictured: In '69, a French model wears a hairstyle and makeup in tribute to the Concorde, which has now been retired.
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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.
- Canadi>n was awarded a $24 million 5 year contract with the U.S. Air Force to overhaul the engines from four B747 aircraft.
- Canadi>n is the first airline in Canada to offer customers in all fare types the opportunity to select their seats in advance when making reservations.
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Issue dated - May 1980
Acquired from the "CPAir News" magazine
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 WINTER COATS for male and female are modeled by Brian Odey, flight attendant Toronto, and Leslie Lundahl, flight attendant Vancouver. The hat is optional for northern and eastern Canadian regions. Coats can be worn belted or unbelted. The carry-on bag and attaché case are Just right for one-day turnarounds - and at last we have something that the men can carry. |
 CELEBRATING over the successful creations are, from left, designer Hugh Garber, models Tracy Clark, Luce Coutu, Leslie Lundahl and Brian Odey, Montreal committee chairman Carmen Froment, uniform consultant Norma Jenkins, Toronto committee chairman Dyan Stanford, Vancouver committee chairman Julie Parker, flight attendants director Claus Ritter and Mike Twiss, CP Air senior buyer purchasing. The uniforms they worked to develop will be introduced in April 1981. |
 FIZZ KIDS-Harry Hargadon, Manager UK and Ireland, does the honors with a bottle of bubbly on hearing that his team achieved highest revenue figures In the European sector for February. It's the first time that an offline station has taken the top sales slot In Europe. The celebrants standing left to right are Ken Swan, Dominique LI, Dave Wheeler, Anne Walker, Harry Ashcroft, Harry Hargadon; Ian Glass, Greg Evans, Seated are left, Carol Fllscher, and Maggie Coombe. |
 The year 1980 was the 50th anniversary of flight attendant service in the airline industry, and CP Air celebrated it by locating one of the first two flight attendants hired by the company in 1941. This photo of Jewel (Butler) O'Hanlon working on a Lockheed Lodestar in 1941. |
 Here is Jewel (Butler) O'Hanlon , shown on a B737 flight on July 7th handing out carnations to the passengers with Lise Eneborn assisting. |
 SECOND ANNUAL PIONAIRS luncheon held in Vancouver was attended by some 650 retirees and spouses from across Canada and as far away as Denmark, England and Australia. Word got around about last year's event because attendance was up by about 100 and together years of service of this year's group totaled 9,037 years. Among participants are from left, Mel Stackhouse, Ruth and Gordon Stock, Florence Fraser, Pat Semple and Ken Fraser. |
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Issue dated - May 1992
Extracted from "Info Canadi>n" magazine -
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 To show support for the company's most aggressive TV advertising "The Wing Walkers",the Marketing Communications Dept. created buttons reading "Wing walkers welcomed here". Here are several Calgary airport service employees displaying the buttons. Left to right Elaine MacKinnon, Cindy Chrunyk, Stephanie Wise, Barb Scott.
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| 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.
Conclusion of the story sent in by Jim Griffith and started in NetLetter nr 1186 -Aside from the noise of shooting holes in the sky the effectiveness of bird control at small Canadian airports does not appear to have been evaluated, nevertheless, the aforementioned methods except for the recordings produced results and are still in use today. Cal Rodgers, the first pilot to fly across the USA, was flying his Wright Flyer B at Long Beach California in 1912, when he hit a seagull in the front-mounted, pointy landing skid, birdie bits jammed the control cables, the plane crashed and Cal became the first bird strike fatality in history... and he wouldn't be the last. To date there have been 288 bird strike fatalities. The greatest single loss of life due to bird strikes occurred on October 4th, 1960, when an Eastern Airlines, Lockheed Electra turbo-prop flew into a flock of starlings on take-off at Boston, killing 62 of the 72 people on board. That greatest single bird strike death toll would have been more than doubled when US Airways, flight 1549 January 15th, 2009, ran into a flock of Canada Geese on take-off at LaGuardia Airport and was ditched in the Hudson River. It was only thanks to the experience- honed skills of the pilots and professionalism of the entire crew that everyone was safe. The two pilots of the Lethbridge massacre probably had the fate of a United Airlines Viscount in mind when they set out to mercilessly kill and maim as many gulls as they could. That Viscount on November 23rd, 1962, had its tail knocked off by a swan killing all 17 on board. Perhaps they can be forgiven for their bloodthirstiness by thinking that any one of the birds they killed or crippled might just have wound up being the one to put them into the coulee at the end of runway 23 later that day ... or were they just having fun? Jim Griffith
Regarding the photo titled "Last CP F/A class" in NetLetter 1182, Lorne Key sends this suggestion - There may be a misprint in the dates in the article titled CP final flight attendant course Sep 1988.
The shares of CP Air crossed the floor of the TSX on Dec 2, 1986. On the spring schedule change (April 1987) the merged entities of CP Air and Pacific Western took flight as Canadian Airlines. Canadian Airlines flew until the year 2000 when Air Canada took over. The Netletter caption "The Last Graduating class of Canadian Airlines Flight Attendants September 1988. There was another group after but they never became employed..."
The date Sep 1988 would seem to be impossible. Thanks and any clarification would be helpful.
Lorne Key - Retired in Calgary
and from Vic Rivers on the same subject -The article noted above says the last class of Canadian Airlines F/A was in 1988! We operated for the next 11 years without training another class? Maybe she really meant 1998. Vic Rivers.
The submitter - Juanita Ollivier - sends this information. Shelley is her daughter.
I have not had a definite response from Shelley. However, I do know we were living in Tsawwassen in 1988, when Shelley worked a flight to China & I have a picture of her in the driveway. We moved to Ladner in 1989 & by then our daughter was in Toronto. I think what Lorne is referring to was the headline, stating CP last grad class Sept '88...but as I said before when Shelley's class graduated the airline was called Canadian. The insignia is on a button & a scarf I have here. I just now looked at Shelley's file & her resume states that she was with Canadian Airlines International Sept 1988. Hope that clears things up.
Juanita
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Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
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| Terry Baker |
ZED E-Ticketing.Paperless ZED E-tickets are available on the Employee Travel Site. The carriers that currently accept ZED e-tickets are: Asiana Airlines (OZ). Air Creebec (YN), Bearskin Airlines (JV), British Airways (BA), British Midland (BD), Brussels Airlines (SN), Canadian North (5T), Central Mountain Air (9M), First Air (7F), South African (SA), Swiss (LX), Qatar (QR), United Airlines (UA), US Airways (US), Virgin Atlantic (VS), Royal Jordanian (RJ), LACSA (LR), TACA (TA) and Hawaiian Airlines(HA).
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Smileys - Compiled by Terry Baker
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As we surf the internet and back issues of airline magazines we regularly find airline related jokes and cartoons. Below is our latest discovery.
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 This Mathias cartoon is from "Between Ourselves" issued August 1957. |
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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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