The NetLetter
For Air Canada Retirees
(Part of the ACFamily Network)
August 27, 2013 - Issue 1269
|
|
| |
|
First Issue published in October 1995!
(over 5,400 subscribers)
|
|
NetLetter Past Issues
|
 |
|
Donation Information
|
Send cheques payable to "ACFamily Network" to:
ACFamily Network
#800 - 15355 24th Ave, Suite 523
Surrey, BC V4A 2H9
|
|
Sponsors
|
 |
|
|
|
Greetings!
|
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
|
Upcoming Events
|
 The 37th Annual General Meeting for the Pionairs will be in Calgary from April 26th - 28th, 2014 They have selected the Fairmont Palliser Hotel. Stay tuned to the Pionairs web site www.pionairs.ca for details later this year. |
| Women in Aviation - Compiled by Terry Baker |
Earhart Reveals, No Relation To Famous Aviator
Amelia Rose Earhart, who recently appeared at a news conference at EAA AirVenture to announce a round-the-world flight in a Pilatus PC-12, said this week she has discovered she is not at all related to the original Amelia Earhart, whom her parents named her after. "After hiring a team of researchers, I learned today that though we share a name and a love of flight, the first Amelia Earhart and I are not from the same family," Earhart wrote in a Facebook post. Earhart also said she had hired a genealogist 10 years ago who confirmed that she "shared a distant common ancestry" with the famous aviator. The new knowledge won't affect her commitment to aviation, she said.
|
| 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. Historical Highlights
1948
- February G.R. McGregor appointed President.
- March Aircargo service established.
- May 1st inauguration of North Star service between Canada and Bermuda.
- June 1st a second daily North Star service across the Atlantic commenced.
- July 1st operation of transcontinental North Star service began.
1977
- Feb 1st - "milk run" Halifax - Moncton - Saint John - Fredericton - Quebec City - Montreal discontinued.
- April 30 - Introduction of service Gander - Stephenville - Montreal. EPA takes over responsibility for the service Gander - Halifax and Stephenville - Halifax.
|
|
|
| |
|
Issue dated - December 1977
Some items gleaned from the "Horizons" magazines.
|
 Nuts and Bolts Men
How many nuts and bolls pass through the hands of 19 maintenance men in 550 years? The question is too much even for today's most advanced computer. In 1977, the 19 Toronto Maintenance men pictured here achieved this service milestone before gathering with some 300 colleagues and spouses to celebrate their retirement in one grand swinging dinner party. Standing, from the left, are: G. Peck, D. Vye, W. Scott. T. Young, G. Myers, R. Healey-Ogden, D. Ballanger, M. Tromba, C. Arstad, W. Ford, E. Ogden, J. Walter and R. Williamson. Seated, from the left, are: K. Katchln, R. Jeffs, T. Murphy. C. Bell, T. Phillips and J. Stockman.
|
 Something to boast about.
A special reception was held at the Airport Hyatt Hotel November 24th., 1977 to honor 31 Vancouver based employees who had something special to smile about. Between them, they held a wealth of knowledge and time invested in the airline - 960 years of experience to be exact! Although they were all retired from the company by the end of the year, the memories they held of their part in the growth of TCA/Air Canada over the last forty years will always remain with them. Shown from the left are, top row: Art Howard, Earl Gerow Al Took, George Miller, Alex Stebner, Frank Shearer, Guy Cousins, Les Pearce, Don McKnight and Bill Rushworth. Middle row: Bill Rourke, Harry Davey, Gord Drysdale, Norm Hale, Bill Fairbairn, Ron Cundy, George Moody, Jim York and Graham Lancaster. Bottom row: Lorne Ross, Eddie Pisko, Sam McCrea, Roy Oliver, Jack Cooper, Bob McBain, Bill McEwan and Raul Suarez. Missing from the photo are: Don Forster, Ken Ligate, Frank Dunlop and Eddie Mann.
|
 A special retirement party was held for Al Took on December 10, the day he became the first employee in the history of the company to celebrate 40 years of service.
Vancouver Senior Flight Dispatcher Al Took cerebrates his 40th service anniversary with tea, pointing to his anniversary date, prior to his retirement at year-end 1977. Al is shown with fellow dispatchers from the left Keith Howard, pouring; Cliff Moen and Al Dickenson who was honoured earlier last year along with 30 other retirees.
Al Took was the company's longest serving employee and the only remaining one to have joined TCA in its first year of operation. Beginning his career in Winnipeg as a radio operator in 1937, he survived no fewer than 11 transfers around the system.
|
|
Issue dated - August 1983
|
 In June 1963, the airline held its first bilingual course for flight attendants and the 21 young women who participated came from around the world. When they were presented with their graduation certificates they marked the occasion with a photo taken in the lobby of the old Berkeley Hotel in Montreal.
Twenty years later, in 1983, 15 members of the original group met at a reunion in the Sheraton Centre, Montreal. The reunion was arranged thanks to Claudette Dumas-Bergen, public relations manager for the hotel. Conversation around the table at the reunion revealed that six were still flight attendants, and two were passenger agents, one in Dorval, the other in Frankfurt. Also in the group is a decorator, French psychologist and a retiree.
20 years later - Standing from the left are: Shirley Cormier, Laurette Desmarchais, Joyce Hansen, June O'Connell, Madeleine Millette, Grace Therrien, Louise Lavoie, Lucille Carriere and Kay Mcintyre. Sitting from the left are: Jocelyne Rouleau, Claudette Dumas, Nicole Rochon, Gertrude Muller, Madeleine Proulx and Nicole Geoffrion. (Photo from the 10th reunion were printed in NetLetter nr 1099 July 1973 - eds)
|
| Alan's Space - by Alan Rust |
Yak130 RC Model
The aircraft in the photo below is actually a fully functional, highly detailed RC model. If you're interested in modeling you will enjoy this video. Even if you're not interested in RC models, take a look, the level of detail that the builder has put into this model is truly amazing.
The cockpit even has back-lit lighting for the panels, the gears retract, gear doors, struts and actuators are miniatures of the real thing. It has a HUD and the pilots movements are even synched to the flight controls.
Click on the image to view the video.
|
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 its "ancestry" of contributing airlines. |
|
Issue dated - May 1984
Items from the "PWA Flightlines" magazine -
|
 Pacific Western Entertains Royalty
Pacific Western's Charter Department once again came through with flying colors and landed a contract to carry Royalty on March 14th,. 1984. The department arranged a V.I.P. Charter for King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain, along with various Governmental officials from Canada and Spain from Ottawa to Montreal and back to Toronto.
Dave Walker and Bryce Paton of the Vancouver Charter Department acted quickly in ensuring the Monarch aircraft was ready for the occasion, including V.I.P. seating, china, crystal, and of course special catering requirements. The in-flight crew offered not only three languages on all announcements, Spanish, English and French; but also invited the King to visit the cockpit, which he did with much interest and enthusiasm. Bob Oldham of the Security Department, and Dennis Erickson of Toronto Charter Sales accompanied the Charter to ensure all went well.
Here we have the photograph of the crew of captain Mike Lynch, captain Vic Sideroff, purser George Peggi and flight attendants Yvonne Stinka, Meria Brathwaite, Lee Webber and Karen Reid.
|
 At the 8th Annual Yellowknife Flite Nite on April 14th (left to right): Paul Steeves, YZF; Judi Ross, YZF; Charlene Hanson, YYC; and Rod Brind, YYC.
|
 Twenty-Five Year Employee Dinner
Thirty-two company employees who completed twenty-five years of service with Pacific Western were honoured at a dinner given on June 13. at the Della Bow Valley Hotel, Calgary.
Pictured here are the thirty employees who were able to attend the ceremonies. Back row (left to right): Johannes Veen, YYC; Bill Porter, YVR; Aubrey Petit, YYC; Murray Olson, YXD; Peter Lema, YXD; Don Hardy, YVR; Ken Gray, YXD; Gordon Petri, YVR; Arthur Bar, YWG; Tom Ross, YYC. Middle row (left to right): Scotty Schira, YVR; Wendell Clark, YVR; Adolph Frebrowski, YYC; Eldon Morton, YYC; Louis Eigner, YYC; Joyce Goodall, YVR; Wally Klassen, YWG; Dennis Merrigan, YYC; Mike Cwitrun, YVR; Bob Otto, YXD; Ken Williams, YVR; Front (left to right): Fred Macphail, YVR; Emma Haight, XYO; Dave Oxley, YXD; Betty Peebles, YVR; Helmuth Fester, YXD; Joan Andries, YWG; Jim Anderson, YVR; Jan Vinke, YYC; Bill Milne, YVR. (Absent from picture are John Hedemark and Margaret Demars.)
|
| 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.
Alan Evans responed to the information in NetLetter nr 1267 by Jack Stephens regarding Camp Conol - Boy we are digging into old memories. Yes off course if my memory is correct there was the El Dorado mine on the South of Great bear. It was also an initial experimental navigation station for Loran systems. The pictures of Canol camp are very real but in my time they were more active with a lot more personnel and vehicles on the grounds. The last time I saw it was in 1967 with PWA we lost an engine there on the DC 6. So I don't recall the Imperial oil era. I was also in Gjoa Haven, King William island, Victoria Island, Coppermine, Hall Beach, Resolute and Bay Chimo. I was the copilot with Darrel Brown on the DC-3 that took the Government personnel to Resolute to start the independence of the new state. His wife was the hostess. Daryl was an ex PWA pilot with a long and interesting history. There was also Don Braun who was with Wardair. Ptarmigan Airways was in existence flying a gull winged Beech. All just memories right now, but it was an interesting time in my career, especially being a South African. I was also the pilot who went to Perry island to fetch the Perry island killers; does anyone remember that? I was at Coppermine when the test pilot for the newly produced Hercules attempted to show what they called a military landing. We called a short field landing. The procedure was to almost touch the runway then go into full reverse, expediting a very short abrupt landing. He did this in a mild deep winter white out but was about 20 feet in the air. The Herc crashed down smashing all the rears door area. This was done on sea ice and from where I was standing one could hear the crash as the aircraft impacted the ice. It was secretly flown to Yellowknife, a covering was placed over the damage and it departed for the USA/ I never heard of this incident in any of their promotional stuff. Cheers, Alan |
Odds and Ends.
|
|
 Sometimes we receive articles and information that just doesn't fit in our other areas. This is where it goes!
|
Robert Arnold has sent us this information of his involvement with this recovery project - The famous Canadian Lodestar CF-OZO. While serving with Geoterrex, in 1985, it was damaged while landing at Nanisivik. Later it went by sea to Mulgrave, Nova Scotia, then to Montreal. It continued up the Great Lakes to Thunder Bay aboard the laker Kingdoc, arriving in November 1986. Finally, a team from the WCAM in Winnipeg made arrangements to haul C-FOZO the 490 odd miles from Thunder Bay to Gimli by road to be stored by the WCAM.
There were four of us on that trip. John Davidson, Vic Poole, John Datzkiw, and myself. We were all in charge of different aspects of the trip. My concern and responsibility was the actual transportation of the aircraft since it was my vehicle and I was doing the actual towing. This made me responsible for the load and any city and inter-province permitting required along the way. I organized police escorts for Manitoba and John Davidson organized the Ontario OPP escorts from Thunder Bay to the Manitoba border. As far as organizing the trip itself, I believe it was John Davidson that did most of the arrangements.
  |
 
|
Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
|
|
 Brian Walsh alerted us of this:
Since I spend so much time away, I am very conscious of ensuring that I fulfill the minimum time required "in province." Seven Month Absence in a Calendar Year for Longer Term Vacationers: Amendments have been made to the maximum period of time a resident can stay out of the province and continue to maintain Medical Services Plan (MSP) coverage. This change allows BC residents who are outside Canada for vacation purposes for six months, to have an additional one month absence per calendar year for a total of up to seven months and still remain eligible for MSP coverage. The change is effective January 1st, 2013. Ontario has instituted a similar change. I have created a simple spreadsheet to track the time away, which you can download from my web site.
|
|
Some of the many deals offered by PERX Interline -
The Bohemian - 10 Day VIE/BUD - Oct 4 from $1725
Magical Switzerland - 8 Day ZRH/GVA - Nov 23 from $2009
Easy Pace Italy - 11 Day FCO/VCE - Oct 19 from $2229
Coastal New England & Canada's Maritimes - 13 Day BOS r/t - Sep 27 from $2755
Highlights of Europe - 17 Day LON/CDG - Sep 25 from $3645
Alaska
Carnival Cruise Lines Carnival Miracle 7-night Alaska - Seattle round-trip
* Sep 03, In/ Out/ Bal/ Dlx $ 599/ 649/ 799/ 1869 [Tracy Arm Fjord, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, Victoria]
or 7-night Alaska - Seattle to Vancouver
* Sep 10, In/ Out/ Bal/ Dlx $ 459/ 509/ 799/ 1639 [Juneau, Glacier Bay, Skagway, Ketchikan]
Australia/New Zealand/South Pacific
Holland America Line Oosterdam 14-night Australia/New Zealand/South Pacific - Auckland to Sydney
* Nov 10, In/ Out/ Bal/ Dlx $ 899/ 999/ 1199/ 1899 [Tauranga, Gisborne, Napier, Wellington, Akaroa, Port Chalmers, Fiordland National Park, Hobart, Melbourne]
Mediterranean
Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Constellation 12-night Mediterranean - Istanbul round-trip
* Oct 31, In/ Out/ Bal/ Dlx $ 729/ 879/ 1199/ 1649 [Kusadasi, Bodrum, Rhodes, Marmaris, Santorini, Piraeus, Mykonos, Chania (Souda)]
or 12-night Mediterranean - Istanbul to Civitavecchia * Nov 12, In/ Out/ Bal/ Dlx $ 699/ 859/ 1119/ 1649
[Kusadasi, Bodrum, Marmaris, Rhodes, Santorini, Piraeus, Mykonos, Naples]
All rates listed are per person ($USD). For cruises, government taxes & fees are additional. All rates listed are for new bookings only. Proof of employment and/or relationship to employee is required.
GET YOUR PERX ON by calling us @ 800-200-7170 We're here Monday to Friday, 8 to 8; Saturday 9 to 5; Sunday 9 to 2 (All Central Time) or 24/7@ http://www.perx.com.
|
| 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.
|
|
|
 Our cartoon appeared in the "Between Ourselves" magazine issued May 1955 and is by Carlin (ORF), with the caption "Well, what are you waiting for"?
Start playing
|
|
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
|
|
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.
|
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.
|
|
| |
|
