­
Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter Since 1995

Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

Since 1995

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |\^/| _| TCA |_ _|\| AIR |/|_ N E T L E T T E R > CANADA < B E T W E E N O U R S E L V E S >_./|\._< for P I O N A I R S | Your crew is: Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson Chief Navigator - Terry Baker tm number 114 date January 12th 1997 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . Welcome to Don Dowie still in Montreal and can be raeched at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Graham Williams who is in London, Ontario, try This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Keith Hatfield can be emailed at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ~-=o0o=-~ . Norm Stoddard tells us - If you have a Ham Radio receiver available you can also find the Air Canada Hams on the air every Tuesday morning on 14133KH at 10:00PST. ~-=o0o=-~ . The year 1997 marks the 60th year for Air Canada and, no doubt, there will probably be some type of celebration arranged by the company to mark this event. Air Canada nee Trans-Canada Air Lines first revenue flight was Lockheed 10A CF-AZY, an ex Canadian Airways airliner, which operated from Vancouver (YVR) to Seattle (SEA) on September 1st 1937, piloted by E.P.H.Wells and F.M.McGregor. Trans-continental passenger service was started April 1st 1939, inaugurated between Montreal (YUL) and Vancouver (YVR) using a Lockheed 14 aircraft which took all of 16 hours and 5 minutes flying time having made stops at North Bay, Kapuskasing, Winnipeg, Regina and Lethbridge. A 34 hour delay was experienced at Lethbridge due to weather. Service was extended to Moncton February 1940 and Halifax in 1941. July 23, 1943 saw T.C.A. begin to operate the Canadian Government Trans Atlantic Air Service (CGTAS), flying mail and priority passengers between Canada and Britian. A number of Lancasters were 'civilianized'. The first was an ex R.A.F. Lancaster serial R5727 and re-registered as CF-CMS. . Jim Little forwarded the following reminiscences by his wife - Back in 1941 I was secretary for Heck McKenzie and for Walt Fowler when he became Operations Supt for the Eastern Region in Moncton. I attended the second Personnel Training School in Winnipeg, taught by Allan Godbold. D.R. MacLaren was Supt. of Passenger Service. Ruby McMurdo attended the first Personnel Training School. Margaret Major of Halifax joined me at Moncton for the trip west by train. Later I worked as summer relief in Halifax and Sydney. While working in Heck McKenzie's office I kept the Aircraft Registry for DOT and typed the Gas and Oil reports for the hangar, so I was in contact with many departments and crews. Our office contained the radio, dispatch, telephone switchboard and teletype which was used to make all our reservations through Atlantic Control. Our duties consisted of selling tickets, checking in passengers, sending the manifest on the flight, meeting the incoming flights. We called all passengers two hours before to confirm their flights or inform them of delays which lasted for a week at a time on the Newfy runs. I also recall being used as ballast on training flights and pinch hitting for stewardess's at times. The Air force plane called "The Blueberry" and the Lancaster operated through Moncton. Stan Leonard was Heck MacKenzie's assistant. Chief clerks in Passenger Service were Cliff Anderson, Al Lewis, Earl Strugnell, and Westman. Passenger Agents were Ruby MacMurdo, Marg Falconer, Winnifred Achurch, Mabel Toft, Ruth Fownes, Dorothy and Russell Brown, Max Slade, Denny Dowling, Inez Rising, Marg. Atkinson and Reta ?. Cargo: Austie McMahon, Tom Cass, Joe LeBlanc, John Hills, Gerry Melanson, Max Blumer, Walt Heins and ? Prosser. Teletype: Muriel Spence, Irene Melanson, ? Douglas. Dispatch: Ozzie Candy, Frank Milne, Gordie Inglis, Howard Colburne, Rod Grant. Radio: Smitty, Pete Sowden, Eric Robideau and two girls, Switchboard: Berniece Hayward. Operations Walt Fowler and F.I. Young and clerk Bill Weldon. Stewardesses: Mary Brown, Mary Chafe, Marion Crowse, Dorothy Gilmore, Helen Dickie, Kay Bannon, Zee Dunlop, Julie Anders and Chief Stewardess Marg Brezenski. I left in 1945 to marry Jim Little unfortunately I could not retain my seniority! Winnifred Achurch Little (Good stuff Thank you Jim and Winnifred for sharing these momories with us. Anyone have any others they wish to share? - eds) ~-=o0o=-~ . Reported in Skyport, Heathrow's local newspaper. Article written by Nigel Botherway: Heathrow staff are bracing themselves for Super Sunday - predicted to be the busiest day in the airport's 50-year history, with a record-breaking 196,000 travellers expected. Some 979 million passengers have now used the airport since it opened in May 1946. Stand by for Heathrow's one billionth passenger early next summer. ~-=o0o=-~ . Found on the Internet Canadi>n Airlines began offering ticketless travel on its flights within Canada recently. Travellers will be able to book seats check luggage and board aircraft without having to carry any paper tickets. Ticketless travel was first introduced to Canada's air industry last spring by discount carriers WestJet Airlines and Greyhound Air. Airbus Industrie is planning an airliner capable of 550/600 passengers to meet the challange of the merger by Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. Boeing received orders for a total of 717 aircraft during 1996 valued at US$53 billion. Atlantic Southwest Airlines, a Delta connection carrier, has ordered 30 Canadair RJ's with options on a further 60. SABENA will ban all smoking on its trans-Atlantic flights effective March 30th 1997. ~-=o0o=-~ . Interline stuff. Further to our article about the opening of Confederation bridge to P.E.I., Mitch Mitchell puts us right about the ferries - 'Just to keep you honest I thought I should let you know that when the Confederation Bridge opens the only ferry service still operating will be the ferry at the eastern end of the Island to Nova Scotia, the present ferries operating between N.B. and PEI will be discontinued on the day the Bridge opens.' Regards - Mitch There will be no cargo vouchers issued. Presentation of your Air Canada ID card at the Air Canada cargo desk will allow shipments 4 times each year between Jan 1st and Nov 14th. The 'automatic reduction' feature of the CHIP database will control permanent and retiree allotments. Ever wondered what happened to the S.S. France? It has been refurbished and joins the fleet of Norwegian Cruise Lines renamed S.S. NORWAY operating in the Caribbean. Travel to NIGER is not advised due to the high incidence of street crimes against tourists. Aircraft buffs visiting the U.K. may be interested in visiting the Aerospace museum situated at Cosford, which really is 5 museums in one. The Transport Aircraft Collection, of which the British Airways collection forms part includes Junkers JU52 originally part of the fleet operated in 1937 on night mail service to Berlin. Also on view is Avro York, Vickers Viscount 701, Bristol Britannia 312, de Havilland Commet 1A, Vickers VC10, Boeing B707-436, de Havilland Trident 1C and BAC 111. Cosford is situated on the A41 just one mile from junction 3 on the M54. Cruise with Royal Caribbean - Song of America - 7 night Bermuda Cruise from San Juan - New York Dep Apr 27 from US$499 pp dbl. Legend of the Seas - 11 night Hawaii cruise from Honolulu - Vancouver. Dep Apr 23 from US$1399 pp dbl. Monarch of the Seas - 7 night Southern Caribbean from US$649 pp dbl. Call Kelly at 1-800-665-3100 for more details. ~-=o0o=-~ . Smilies found by Terry When your kids are fit to live with .. they are living with someone else. Smile ... It's the second best thing you can do with your lips. I commend the courage it took to first discover frog legs were edible. A diamond is a chunk of coal that made good under pressure. Some children are like politicians; You see them only when they need help. I'm a light eater ... A soon as it is light out I start eating. ~-=o0o=-~ . That's it for this time, please we need your input, send comments and email addresses of any others who may be interested to Vesta with a copy to Terry. -!- Landing on an Island in the Pacific. _____(~)_____ ! ! ! This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. <<<>>> This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ................................................... . GREETINGS FROM . . Vancouver Island . . BEAUTIFUL B.C. CANADA . ...................................................

NetLetter Subscription

Please fill in the form below to subscribe.
Airline
Referral

Thank you. We hope that you enjoy The NetLetter.
­