In February 1942, a Transport Lancaster established a record for a non-stop westbound flight from Prestwick to Montreal.

The pilot being Captain R. M. Smith of T.C.A. and the navigator F/O H. Thomas. The elapsed time was 12 hours and 59 minutes.

Issue dated April 1986.

London's ranch hands.

To reinforce its image as the best carrier to Canada, Air Canada, at London, England, held a series of western style evenings for travel agents.

The evenings took the theme of one of Britain's most popular television shows, 'The Late Breakfast Show', and featured an audio visual presentation of Air Canada's services, a cabaret with singer Rosemary Squires and comedian Chris Lloyd, a Canadian style ranch breakfast and a chuckwagon complete with horse.

The 'breakfast' was served in style by volunteers from Air Canada's reservations staff and passenger agents. They are pictured on board the chuckwagon.

Front row from left: Jenny Ellison, Jenny Brennan, Janet Davis and Ursula York.

Back row, from left: Hilary Pascoe, Nicki Perrier-Flint, Gerald White and Fiona Chatfield. 

Issue May 1986.

Air Canada gained a new partner in Eastern Canada with the acquisition of 49 per cent of the shares of Halifax-based Air Nova.

Winners in the System Photography Show 1986 are shown below.

From the left: front row: John Sanderson; Gerry Philbrook, Manager, Industry Travel and Employee Services, Montreal, who presented the awards; Peter Symes and Roelof Pasveer.

Behind them: Mark Folliot, Mandy Best, Doug Mallory, Louise Tremblay, Vivian Denischuk, Barry Drinkle, Glen Jones, Ken Forsyth and Jean-Pierre Laliberte.

Issue June 1986.

New York route is 45 years old.

On May 10, while crowds in Vancouver gathered to greet the arrival of CF-TCC after its cross-country journey, employees in New York were celebrating the 45th anniversary of the arrival of another Lockheed, CF-TCW. The 14-seat Lodestar arrived from Toronto, making Trans-Canada Air Lines the first foreign carrier with scheduled service into LaGuardia Airport.

In the photograph below, Customer Service Agents and Supervisors in the U.S. reservations sales office joined Michael De Wilde in a cake cutting ceremony.

Standing, from the left, are: George Maclean, Georgia Cronin, Michelle Gowey, Lorraine McNicholls, Ed Frazier, Grace Brucato, De Wilde, Bruce Deitsch, Jeffrey Pack, Jill Wright, Charlene Carr (behind Jill), Flo Olenick, Vincent Chiarello and Gene Schadel.

Kneeling are Kevin Boughton, left, and Tony Ruane.

Ninth Annual General Meeting of the Pionairs took place on May 8 - 11, 1986 at the Red Lion Inn, Bellevue, Washington. Some 600 + retirees and spouses were in attendance.

Returning to office by acclamation President Frank Dunlop; Vice Presidents Jack Somerset and Blake Austin; Secretary Gene Brown and Treasurer Roy White.

It had been decided, after careful consideration that the Pionairs will return to Anaheim for the 1987 AGM, the dates being May 21-24 inclusive. The announcement was greeted with applause.

Issue dated September 2012 (Used with permission).

"Horizons" magazine launched a new semi-permanent 75th anniversary column in the February 2012 edition. We had the first photo of the page in NetLetter #1410. Here is the 2000’s version.

Issue December 1986.

In November 1986, Air Canada acquired 100% ownership of Air BC.

Also, in the same month, Air Canada became the country's first airline to offer advance boarding passes when it launched a type-trial program at selected ticket offices, travel agents and commercial accounts.

Issue February 2013. (Used with permission)

On January 13, 2013, an Air Canada Cargo team won the 7th Annual International Forklift and Pallet Building competition held and sponsored by HACTL HKG, our Cargo handling service provider in Hong Kong!

The team also won the Precision Forklift Driving competition and was second runner-up in the pallet buildup competition.

The Vancouver-based team consisted of Station Attendants Zenabe “George” Gushish, Callum “Gump” McDonald, Warren Reimer and Lead Station Attendant Mike Waller.

This was the first time Air Canada Cargo entered a team in the competition. “The four team members have been working together in Vancouver Cargo for over 10 years. I chose them based on their expert skills, excellent performance over the years and their team-work skills,” says Tony Newton, Manager Cargo Services at YVR.

The forklift competition focused on safety awareness and technical handling of cargo. Drivers were required to collect cargo items and maneuver a congested course. For pallet-building, teams had to build a contoured lower-deck winged pallet following strict rules. Scores were based on build time, build quality and load distribution.

The teams with the lowest number of penalties won. The judges were from Carrier Liaison Group (CLG), Hong Kong Association of Freight Forwarding and Logistics, Nordisk Aviation Products and The Occupational Safety and Health Council.

In our photo above we have left to right: Warren Reimer, Mike Walker, Callum "Gump" McDonald and  Zenabe "George" Gushish.

Introducing Air Canada’s Lowest Price Guarantee.

On February 12, we announced the expansion of our existing North American fare guarantee to cover our entire global network.

The guarantee helps us to attract customers to our website where all our products and ancillary options are clearly displayed, and reduces the associated distribution costs of other channels.

In October, 1966 direct non-stop service from Toronto to Honolulu was inaugurated.

On January 30, 1967 daily non-stop service between YVR and SFO was inaugurated.

The Canadian Government has decided to grant a year's extension to the Canadian Pacific Railway in its operation of Canadian Pacific Air Lines. Under Government order the C.P.R.'s air service was due in May to become a separate unit.

Presumably lack of airline facilities generally has caused the postponement of the decree.

(Source: flightglobal 1946 - 0779)

Extracted from the "Canadian Flyer" magazine.

Issue April 1997.

Gathered together in London, Ontario are former CP Air employees 1973-1984 vintage.

In this photo from left to right:

Back row: Louis Gagnon, Wayne Cummins, retired Sales Manager, Saskatchewan; John Turcot retired Passenger Agent, YXU; Bill McMurray, retired Sales Rep, YXU; Tony Hodgson, Passenger Agent, YVR; Rob Siddall, Passenger Agent YYZ; Brian Burbridge, Passenger Agent, YYZ; and Barb Lemmon.

Centre row: Maryann Burbridge, Antoinette Hodgson, Cheryl Gagnon, Passenger Agents, YYZ; Kathy Percy, Fran Conway with Halloween ghost, Fred, retired Passenger Agent, YXU; Jane Leschasin and Suzanne Siddall.

Front row: Mike Lemmon retired DSM, YXU 1973-1984; John Percy current Sales Manager, YXU and Darlene Havers retired Secretary, YXU.

Thanks to Mike Lemmon for the photo. 

Issue dated May 1997.

Crunch time at YVR. (Photos by Rick Sloboda)

The "Crunch" takes place between 11:00 and 14:00 daily. The "Crunch" is a dance craze that has employees spinning and doing the twist and even running the "Sprint" during peak time at the Canadian Airlines YVR check-in for flights, where the employees play host to a series of arrivals and departures to and from Asia, trans-border and domestic in a very defined window of time.

Headsets donned and ready for the busy summer travel season are:

Left to right, Jackie Keir, Rosie Caira and Letty D'Agostino from the Corporate Gold Desk at YYZ.

(Photo by Alex Tardecilla)

Victoria International Airport

I am now in my 25th year as a resident of ‘Beautiful British Columbia’ and it increasingly seems that this has always been my home. I have always had an appreciation of history and, living here, I feel constantly surrounded by it.

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about my first visit to B.C. back in August 1983. Expo ’86 was still in the planning stages and B.C. Place was just beginning construction. YVR was still one (very busy) terminal and Richmond still had a small-town atmosphere and a lot of farmland.

A must for any tourist was to take a B.C. ferry ride over to Vancouver Island and tour the provincial capital, Victoria.

One of the most interesting of the tourist activities for me was when it was time to return to Toronto and my first visit to Victoria ‘International’ Airport. I was still new to the novelty of having airline passes and had never flown out of a smaller airport before. I wondered why the airport was deemed ‘International’ until I noticed that there were direct flights between Victoria and Seattle by a few regional airlines.

I was fascinated by how informal it all seemed to simply walk up to the agent and hand her my employee trip pass. In those days, we had no way of checking the flight loads so the agent casually mentioned, “don’t worry, lots of room” as she handed me my boarding pass.

If I remember correctly, Air BC was not yet an Air Canada connector, so the main airline still served the YYJ – YVR route. I found myself climbing air stairs of a DC-9 as one of not more than a dozen passengers and having my choice of window seats for the short 20-minute flight; I doubt that we spent more than 2 minutes at the cruising altitude of 3000 feet.

Today, Victoria International Airport serves over 2,000,000 passengers annually and is the 11th busiest airport in Canada. Air Canada Express operates commuter service to YVR and YYC and Rouge operates direct flights to YYZ and (seasonally) YUL.

A variety of regional and charter airlines offer service to Seattle, British Columbia, Alberta and southern sun destinations.

Additional links and references:

Victoria International Airport at Wikipedia

YYJ History (The Patricia Bay Airport) at British Columbia Aviation Museum

YYJ Historical Photo Galley (TCA Lockheed Lodestar image below)

History of Saanich Peninsula from the Sidney Museum

Submitted by Anthony Walsh

There has been confusion among a lot of AC people here and some AC & other people who contacted the Gimli Glider Exhibit, because they heard that a 'Captain Bob Pearson' passed away last Sunday.

I checked the Montreal Gazette’s obituaries and confirmed it was Captain Robert Steele Pearson, (fondly called “Captain Bob” by friends & fellow pilots) who passed away this June 16 at 75 years of age.

Click Here for the obituary as published in the Gazette.

I recall they used to call Captain Bob Pearson (84) of Gimli Glider fame “Gimli Bob” to avoid mixing him up with “Captain Bob” when their Montreal based careers overlapped long ago.

It is a bit tricky, in that people need to remember Captain R.S. Pearson for his own accomplishments & very caring character, but it is hard for many people who did not know him (including me), not to show initial relief it wasn’t our “Gimli Bob” Pearson, whom many of us know so well, who departed.

Early Trans-Canada Air Lines historical events.

Bermuda Airfield Dispute.

Plans for Trans-Canada Air Lines' service through Bermuda and the Caribbean to South America are held up by the U.S. refusal to grant permission for the use of Kindley, the American air base at Bermuda.

The base, which was acquired by America during the war by arrangement with the British Government, as part of the American destroyer deal, can now be used only by the U.K. and U.S. for civil use. A permanent agreement is being negotiated but until the terms are decided upon the Americans are unwilling to enter into any temporary arrangement.

It is understood that America does not wish to settle the agreement until the use of airfields in Newfoundland has also been discussed. Traffic rights and agreements had been reached with Bermuda. Trinidad and Jamaica, and if the hold-up had not occurred the Canadian service would have already been in operation.

Trans-Canada Air Lines are running ten services a week across the Atlantic, and expect to increase these in July 1947 to two services each day. From July 1st faster trans-continental services will be provided by flying across the Great Lakes between Toronto and Winnipeg, reducing travelling time by one hour.

(Source: flightglobal.com/pdfarchive)

An unusual teardrop-shaped aircraft with a pusher prop has been undergoing taxi tests at California Logistics Airport near Victorville, California, leading to speculation the Celera 500L is ready for its first flight.

The plane has been under secret development for about a decade and is said to be an “extremely low drag” design that will fly at 60,000 feet, possibly using one or two diesel engines for power. It is being developed by the Otto Aviation Group, owned by former North American-Rockwell applied physicist William Otto, who was chief scientist for the B-1’s avionics system.

(Source: avweb.com June 9, 2019)

CBC Report, June 14, 2019

'They were pioneers': Celebrations mark 100th anniversary of 1st non-stop transatlantic flight.

Captain John Alcock and Lt. Arthur Whitten Brown 'literally risked their lives'.

Terry Baker, co-founder of the NetLetter scours the internet for aviation related Trivia and Travel Tips for you, our readers, to peruse.

A Dorval oddity is "Oscar," the mobile test-stand built by T.C.A. for their Rolls-Royce Merlin engines which powered the Canadair North Star.

"Oscar" is a truck with full test instrumentation and radio for communication with the control tower. It is fitted with tie-down chains and hydraulically operated steadying feet.

The great virtue of this unit is that it can be driven to the far corners of the airport, where noise can bring no complaints, and it can always be headed into wind.

(Source flightglobal.co.uk/1952-1513)