The NetLetter
For Air Canada Retirees
(Part of the ACFamily Network)
October 13, 2012 - Issue 1225
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First Issue published in October 1995!
(over 5,400 subscribers)
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NetLetter Past Issues
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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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Sponsors
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Greetings!
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Welcome to the NetLetter!
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!
Terry Baker and the NetLetter Team
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| Our First 75 Years - Compiled by Terry Baker |
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 1941- TCA issued their route map. Here is the front. |
And this information inside.
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 From the Collector's edition and Souvenir copy of "enRoute" magazine. |
 Front covers of "Between Ourselves" magazine issue
nr 13, Jan 1944 through #23,
Dec 1944. |
1947 - April 15th - North Star aircraft entered Atlantic revenue service between Montreal-Prestwick-London Eng.
1987 - April 27th - New booklet format introduced for the timetable. |
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| Star Alliance News |
 Passengers traveling on Star Alliance flights want the convenience of checking in once at the start of a journey, and receiving their boarding passes for each leg without having to check in again no matter how many legs they fly on.  Newark International Airport's (EWR) Seamless Hub project gained more efficiency in September with the addition of transfer bus service to Terminal B. This is a big benefit for customers transferring from United in Terminals A and C, and Air Canada in Terminal A to LOT, Lufthansa, SAS, Singapore, SWISS and TAP flights in Terminal B because connecting passengers no longer have to re-enter security. The bus operates daily between 2 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. (Source www.starallianceemployees.com) |
| Air Canada News |
 The airline has decided to suspend the Vancouver to San Diego route for the winter schedule period (Oct 28 to Apr 30th). This route is currently flown once daily using an Embraer 190 jet. Route is expected to resume on May 1, 2013. ( source www.yyznews.com) |
| Reader Submitted Photos - Compiled by Terry Baker |
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 Reader Submitted Photos - The photos and information below have been submitted to us by our faithful readers.
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Betty Draper has sent these two photos which are of Barbara Ann Scott, Canada's gold medal winner, arriving at Regina airport. The date shows as November 1948.
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 We have added the front cover of "Between Ourselves" issued February 1947, which has a photo of Barbara Ann Scott. |
 As well as on the back cover of "Between Ourselves" issued April 1947, two additional photos. This one shows Barbara receiving her Honorary captains wings from F.M. McGregor, Operations Manager, Atlantic Service. Barbara's mother looks on. |
 In this photo, honorary captain Barbara Ann Scott receives some cockpit drill from captain J. Finical.
Barbara Ann had hoped to gain her private pilot's license. Sadly, Barbara Ann passed away on September 30th 2012.
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| TCA/Air Canada People Gallery - Compiled by Terry Baker |
 Below we have musings from the "Between Ourselves" and "Horizons" magazine, Air Canada publications from years gone by, as well as various in-house publications. The NetLetter has been fortunate enough to have our readers donate vintage Trans-Canada Air Lines and Air Canada publications from as far back as 1941 to share with you. These have been scanned and are being prepared for presenting in a special area of the ACFamily Network for archival and genealogy research.
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Norman Hogwood in New Zealand has very kindly relinquished his copy of the "TCA DC-8 JetLiner Souvenir Package" issued in 1960. Norman collected it on my first-ever airplane ride on May 28th, 1960. If you have the exact date that DC-8 was in the UK doing those crew familiarization flights, so much the better.
 Here is the front.
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 The front of the inserted brochure.
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 Postcard that was included with the brochure.
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 On the reverse of the Souvenir is this picture of a crew.
If these are employees, can anyone give us some identities?
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 Laurie McCaffrey sent us this photo of some Air Canada Finance retirees & C&SS retirees that met in Carl Starodub's backyard on June 6, 2012.
Front Row: Ted Waytowich, Doug Cobb, Cliff Pearon, John Shead, Ord Mackintosh, Jack Podgurny, Carl Starodub. Back Row: Eldon Dimond, Dick Paulley, Wilf Jestadt, Brian Banks, Jim Renny, Dick Gunner, George Green, Bob Gravlin, George Barnet, Bob Cook, Frank Schnerch, Dave McBride, Ray Colley, Doug Davidson, Don Hargot, Lawrie McCaffrey, Barry Davenport, Art Penner, Ray Elson, Greg Connon, Brian Best, Barry Campbell.
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| Alan's Space - by Alan Rust |
 Alan is still on vacation!
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Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc. People & Events
- Compiled by Terry Baker
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 News and articles from days gone by gleaned from various publications from C.A.I.L. and its "ancestry" of contributing airlines. |
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Issue dated - August 1994
Found in the "Transition Times" magazine -
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Tour operator Canadian Holidays worked towards a smooth operator during November 1994 with the implementation of new software called Logitours which they hope will keep them ahead of the stiff charter competition.
 Here we have photos of some sales agents in training. From Cornwall, Ontario we have from the left: Celine Charlebois, Julie Bourget and Allison Morris.
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 From Vancouver, we have from the left: Nicola Marsh, Angela Soucie and Jill Barberie.
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Emergencies involving fire, hazardous materials, dangerous goods, earthquakes and floods could occur at any time and without warning and being unprepared for such incidents could result in injuries, death and damage.
Canadian Airlines and Canadian Regional Airlines established an Emergency Preparedness Program to ensure employees are prepared to handle emergencies physically and psychologically.
 Participants of the second of three emergency coordinator courses include, sitting, from left to right: Frank Arsenault, Gord Camp, Ron Johnsonl, Val Blackwell, Michelle Dabeau, Hoss Abbott, David James, Roger Harmon, Glen Powell, Rod Gyorkos, Darroch Quinn, Larry Johnson and Ken Dewerson. Also, standing, from left to right are: Juliet Marte, Geoff Hayes, Estelle Jacobsen, Rosanne Pruden, Joan Rudd, Rick Sedola, Kim Kilburrn, Ken Mario, Larry Syvret, Randy Abel, John Orso and Suzie London.
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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.
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Robert Arnold clarifies the future for CF-TCC. Having previously reported to us the retirement of CF-TCC, he sends us this information:
I have a bit of good news on the operation CF-TCC. I was at the WCAM the other day to do some research on Viscount CF-THS, and while I was there I discovered that TCC will not be grounded as was told by the local news on radio and TV. I wasn't able to get too many details other than she is still to be maintained in operational condition and will continue to fly for the various charities and the "Dreams Take Flight" program as before. During the winter months, the aircraft will be parked and on display at the Western Canada Aviation Museum.
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Graham Edwards sends us this comment after viewing the Air Rhodesia information in NetLetter nr 1221:
Thanks to Alan Evans for sending you the information on the Air Rhodesia Viscount Memorial in South Africa. It brought back memories of my years at Air Rhodesia (prior to these incidents) and after I had joined TCA/Air Canada. It was indeed a very sad situation, in that after the Viscounts were shot down, the terrorists went through the wreckage of the aircraft and shot to death anyone who had survived the crashes. Graham Edwards, Retired AC employee
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 Michael Smith sends us this information and photo:
Further to 'Whitehorse Greets its first Jumbo' Netletter #1220. Here is a photo of A/C 903 'Empress of Buenos Aires' actually 'Reaching for the Sky' at Whitehorse. Photo was taken by Max Freedman, CPAir Line Engineer. I thought that this would make a nice conclusion to it. Cheers, Michael
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Odds and Ends.
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 Sometimes we receive articles and information that just doesn't fit in our other areas. This is where it goes!
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Conclusion of the B17 saga sent in by Gord Croucher, from NetLetter nr 1224:
The turn back toward England had to be very slow to keep the tail from twisting off. They actually covered almost 70 miles to make the turn home. The bomber was so badly damaged that it was losing altitude and speed and was soon alone in the sky. For a brief time, two more Me-109 German fighters attacked the All American. Despite the extensive damage, all of the machine gunners were able to respond to the attacks and soon drove off the fighters. The two waist gunners stood up with their heads sticking out through the hole in the top of the fuselage to aim and fire their machine guns. The tail gunner had to shoot in short bursts because the recoil was actually causing the plane to turn.
Allied P-51 fighters intercepted the All American as it crossed over the Channel and took one of the pictures shown. They also radioed to the base describing that the empennage was waving like a fish tail and that the plane would not make it and to send out boats to rescue the crew when they bailed out. The fighters stayed with the Fortress taking hand signals from Lt. Bragg and relaying them to the base. Lt. Bragg signaled that 5 parachutes and the spare had been "used" so five of the crew could not bail out. He made the decision that if they could not bail out safely, then he would stay with the plane and land it.
Two and a half hours after being hit, the aircraft made its final turn to line up with the runway while it was still over 40 miles away. It descended into an emergency landing and a normal roll-out on its landing gear.
When the ambulance pulled alongside, it was waved off because not a single member of the crew had been injured. No one could believe that the aircraft could still fly in such a condition. The Fortress sat placidly until the crew all exited through the door in the fuselage and the tail gunner had climbed down a ladder, at which time the entire rear section of the aircraft collapsed onto the ground. The rugged old bird had done its job. |
 
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Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
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 Go AC Travel Period Extended
The travel period of our 2012 Go AC program has been extended from January 31, 2013 to March 31, 2013. The last day of using the 2012 Go AC codes to book remains December 31, 2012.
Remember that Go AC codes are only valid on Air Canada and Air Canada Express-operated flights, and that the codes must be input into the promotional code box on aircanada.com for the discounts to take effect! Complete details of the Go AC program can be found on the Employee Travel Site > Flights > Go AC. (source Pionairs newsletter)
Stephen Elmy sends this interesting url for those on standby and unable to get out and looking for alternative routings:
ROUTE MAPS TO ANYWHERE, EVERYWHERE - AMAZING! USEFUL
Hats off to whoever made this. This website is amazing. Select start and destination points, it will show you the way, by all modes of transport. The route with map, to any destination in the world by Air/Bus/Train. Just click on link below and proceed further.
Laszlo Bastyovanszky has come across this interesting information:
Facial scans- London's Heathrow Airport needed a security solution for its joint departure area, where passengers leaving on domestic and international flights both wait before being summoned to their gates. The airport worried that an international passenger might swap boarding passes with someone in the lounge and sneak onto a domestic flight, therefore evading an immigration check.
So starting in September, passengers at Heathrow's terminals one and five (which cover many, but not all, international flights), will have his or her face scanned for identification upon entering and leaving the departure area. For example, to go to a gate to catch a flight, passengers will step up to an automatic gate and wave their bar-coded boarding pass over a scanner. Then, an infrared light will flash across each flier's face, taking about five seconds on average to identify a person -- even a twitchy one -- from up to 3ft away. The machine will match the images of the passenger's face with the images in the database, recorded when the passenger passed through an earlier set of automated gates to enter the departure area. If the identity match is successful, the automated doors will open. But facial scanning can also be used to achieve other efficiencies. If successful, airports may use facial scanners to supplement other methods of verifying a passenger's identity, such as to detect who has permission to enter a first class lounge.
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| Smileys - Compiled by Terry Baker |
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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 A Dave Mathias cartoon from "Between Ourselves" magazine issued October 1943.
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The NetLetter is an email newsletter published (usually) once a week 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 welcome your feedback 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!
We hope you have enjoyed this issue of the NetLetter, see you next week!
Sincerely,
Your NetLetter Team
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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.
E&OE - (errors and omissions excepted) - The historical information as well as any other information provided here is subject to correction and may have changed over time. We do publish corrections when they are brought to our attention.
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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
- Stewardess - Lisa Ruck, Brooklin, 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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