Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

Vern Swerdfeger has sent us these comments referring to the Canso article by Bill Cameron in NetLetter # 1378.

I don’t agree with some of the dates shown, I was a radio-operator and weather observer for the DOT at YZP in 1952 and I’m darn sure the Canso was flying at that time and the
DC4 from YVR to YZP. Because as junior man-on-base I got to hold the pole at the tail of the 4 when it started up. Lots of sand.

Vern

Bill Cameron continued the dialogue with the following -

About dates for Canso operations:

Yes, there was a CPAL Canso in operation between YPR and YZP in 1952 when you were based at YZP as you noted. And, the DC-4 operated between YVR and YZP, with payloads exchanged at YZP.

It was Canso CF-CRV that was in operation between YVR and YZP - In 1952 when you were at YZP with the DOT. That aircraft was written off in an accident on the Harbour at YPR in 1953.

Captain was H. Clegg, and F/O E. Abbey - a stewardess and a passenger lost their lives. But in my article, the date of 1954 is given for the operation of Canso CF-CRP, the aircraft that had been transferred from the Quebec District.

In 1955 the other remaining Canso CF-CRR was also moved from the Quebec district, and based at YPR. There were two Canso aircraft there until 1960.

CF-CRP is now in the Atlantic Aviation Museum in Gander, Newfoundland. CF-CRR was last noted as in-storage at an airfield in France.

The fourth Canso that CPAL acquired in 1946 - CF-CRQ, was written off in an accident at Osisko Lake, Ontario in 1949. (No fatalities)

Bill Cameron

In a further e-mail from Bill Cameron was the following information:

Attached is a short history of the four Consolidated 28A-5 Canso aircraft in CPAL service, 1946 to 1960. This information is included in the two PDF documents below.

As you will note, the Canso service YPR-YZP began in late 1949 or early 1950 – with Canso CF-CRV...

Sadly, many of the colleagues/friends that we worked with, or that flew those great airplanes are no longer with us...

Cheers, Bill Cameron

Having read the article regarding the Viscount in NetLetter # 1379. Clint Ward sent us this information.

It is a very important aircraft in my career because it’s the one I got promoted on and I flew it for almost 12 years before I embraced the jet years.

There are three important airplanes for me - the very first I ever touched the controls on, the Harvard,  then the Viscount for the reason already stated and finally the 747 which I was lucky to be on in my last 12 years. 

I have written a Memoir called “On All The Other Days.” The title is from a Peanuts cartoon where Charley Brown and Snoopy are sitting a dock looking out on a lake. Charlie breaks the silence, “Someday we will all die, Snoopy.”

“True,” Snoopy replies, “but on all the other days we will not.” They are words that daily inspire me because several years ago, I was within a close death and was very fortunate to survive so all the other days have great meaning. There is second interpretation as well. I was a professional pilot but on all the other days I managed to indulge in many things, flying, sports, theatre, music and film. Writing occupied my spare time and it is all covered in the book. It is available on Amazon in colour or black and white.

More about Captain Ward:

“On All The Other Days” is a memoir of the multi-dimensional renaissance journey of author, Clint Ward. It is a rare glimpse “behind the curtain” of a life well-lived, interwoven with epic proportions of high flying adventure, sportsmanship and world travel. After high school, a short stint in Canada’s Royal Canadian Air Force set him on his vocation as a professional aviator.

Throughout a career that spanned nearly 40 years with Trans-Canada Air Lines and Air Canada, he piloted seven different aircraft, including 12 years as a captain on the Boeing 747.

Click Here for his Facebook page.