We have welcomed 153 new subscribers so far in 2022.

We wish to thank everyone for your support of our efforts.

Back issues of The NetLetter are available in both the original newsletter format and downloadable PDF format.

We invite you to visit our website at www.thenetletter.net/netletters to view our archives.

Restoration and posting of archive issues is an ongoing project. We hope to post every issue back to the beginning in 1995.

We always welcome feedback about Air Canada (including Jazz and Rouge) from our subscribers who wish to share current events, memories and photographs.

Particularly if you have stories to share from one of the legacy airlines: Trans-Canada Air Lines, Canadian Airlines, CP Air, Pacific Western, Maritime Central Airways, Eastern Provincial, Wardair, Nordair, Transair, Air BC, Time Air, Quebecair, Calm Air, NWT Air, Air Alliance, Air Nova, Air Ontario, Air Georgian and all other Canadian based airlines that once graced the Canadian skies.

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We will try to post your comments in the next issue but, if not, we will publish it as soon as we can.

Thanks!

• Where: El Gouna, Eqypt.
• Date: November 17 - 20, 2022
• Registration Deadline: September 30, 2022
• Payment Deadline: October 7, 2022.

This tournament is open to all football amateur teams related with aviation business:
Airlines, Airports, ATC - Air Traffic Controllers, Handling, Cargo, Catering, Travel Agencies - Sales Agents, Partners / Suppliers or others.

All players must be aviation employees (or former employees), however each team is allowed to bring up to 2 players outside aviation (but non professional football players).

During the registration process, teams must present Company ID Cards confirming that the players belong to the aviation business or that are not professional football players.

Editors' Note: Air Canada team presently ranked 30th out of 156 teams.

Source: 
edasports.wixsite.com/aviationfc/elgouna2022

The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) is partnering with Old Glory Honor Flight and American Airlines to coordinate Yellow Ribbon Honor Flight during its annual AirVenture Oshkosh fly-in convention this summer.

During the event, which will take placed on Friday, July 29, 2022, veterans from the Vietnam War will be flown free of charge from Wisconsin’s Wittman Regional Airport (OSH) to Washington, D.C., to tour war memorials. They will return to OSH at the end of the Friday afternoon airshow to be welcomed by attendees.

This will be the eighth year for AirVenture’s Yellow Ribbon Honor Flight, which last took place in 2019. Veterans will travel on American Airlines’ specially painted Flagship Valor Airbus A321 flown by an all-volunteer crew.

Old Glory Honor Flight is a Wisconsin-based non-profit organization that has been arranging memorial trips for veterans since 2009. 

Source: AVWeb.com 

Regarding our article on Great Lakes Airlines in NetLetter #1487, subscriber Doug Keller brought to our attention a book entitled 'A History of Airlines in Canada' written by Dr. John Blatherwick. 

Doug sent us an excerpt from the book relating to Great Lakes Airlines. However, due to copyright, we are not able to publish an excerpt without express permission. We were able to contact Dr. Blatherwick via email and he, very graciously, has given us his permission.

We wish to thank Dr. Blatherwick and his publisher, The United Press, for allowing us to print and link to the following excerpt. Also, thanks to Doug Keller for bringing it to our attention.

Click the book cover below if you may be interested in purchasing a copy.

Editors' Note: We would be remiss not to mention that being an author is only one part of Dr. Blatherwick's distinguished career. He served in the Canadian Forces reserves for 39 years, retiring in 2000 with the rank of Commander and the position of Senior Naval Reserve Medical Advisor. He also served as the Medical Health Officer or Chief Medical Health Officer in Vancouver, British Columbia from 1984 to 2007. 

He became a member of the Order of Canada on May 3, 1995.

Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_John_Blatherwick

Great Lakes Airlines was formed in January 1961 to provide executive transport for the Holmes Blunt Company of Sarnia. Most of the traffic was to Toronto and back utilizing light twin engine aircraft.

DC-3's were purchased in 1967 to supplement the company's Cessna 310 and tri-gear Beech 18 as it began a scheduled service between Sarnia and Toronto.

Two Convair 440 aircraft were bought in 1969 from Swissair. Called the Metropolitan, the piston twin engine Convair 440 carried forty-four passengers and bore a colour scheme with a broad red cheat line running through the windows of the white aircraft.

The upper three quarters of the tail was red and displayed a white map of the Great Lakes within a white circle. Once the Convairs arrived, the Beech 18 was sold to Air Windsor and the two DC-3's sold to Pem-Air of Pembroke.

When London, Ontario, was added to the Sarnia to Toronto route in 1973, four more Convair 440s were purchased from Linjeflyg of Sweden. These white aircraft had a broad blue cheat line above a thin white cheat line and a thin dark blue cheat line below both and had an all-white tail. One of a variety of symbols was found on the tail, including a map of the Great Lakes in blue but with no circle, a stylized 'GLA' or no symbol at all.

With the additional aircraft, Peterborough, Ottawa and Kitchener were added to flights from Toronto.

From the Quebec Pionair District Newsletter Sentinel - Spring edition -

On March 25, 2022, the South Shore group of our district held its traditional Sugar Shack party at La Feuille d’Érable, Mont St-Grégoire.

Mother Nature was on our side to enjoy maple taffy on snow and keep the cheerful conversation going outside under sunny skies. See for yourselves:

Dave Baker sends us this photograph of the Concorde at Busch Corner, Isleworth, enroute to Brooklands Museum.

Sisters of the skies.

We are an organization of professional black female pilots who are committed to supporting future black aviators through mentorship, professional development, outreach and scholarship.

Girls Rock Wings event was held at the Lone Star Flight Museum, Houston on May 7, 2022 sponsored by United Airlines.

Young ladies ages 10 -18 spent a day with Sisters of the Skies experiencing the field of aviation as a pilot!

From Departure to Arrival this experience included:

• Introductory Flights in airplanes flown by Sisters of the Skies Members
• Opportunity to engage with mentors, make friends, and become a crew
• A scenic view and tour of airport ground operations from an Air Traffic Control tower
• Hands on flight planning lessons

Source: SistersoftheSkies.org

More excerpts from the Larry Milberry blog at canavbooks.wordpress.com.

Air Canada B-767-200 series registration C-GDSP, Fin # 613 (Boeing serial 24142) was delivered in July 1988 and remained in the fleet for 20 years until withdrawn from service in August 2008 and stored at Roswell, New Mexico (ROW).

Per PlaneSpotters.net, it was acquired by Jet Midwest Group in May 2012 and re-registered as N756JM. It has since been broken up at ROW.

Editors' Note: This was the first aircraft delivered with the short term 'burgundy stripe' livery. 

Here's Imperial Oil's Lockheed Lodestar CF-TDB at the north end of Malton on June 11, 1961.

Having served Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA) 1942-47, 'TDB' was later picked up by Imperial Oil. In 1966 "TDB" was sold to Pete Lazarenko's Northland Airlines of Winnipeg.

In 1974, I saw "TDB" at Harry Whereatt's farm in Assiniboia, Saskatchewan (Harry was an avid collector of historic airplanes). Last heard of, it was stored at the Reynolds Museum in Wetaskiwin, Alberta.

A few years ago, I heard that TDB's wings had been shipped to the RCAF museum in Trenton for use in restoring a Lockheed Hudson.

Editors' Note: Our records indicate that CF-TDB type 1808A-2200 Fin # 49 c/n 15582 delivered September 10, 1942, sold to Imperial Oil on October 23, 1947 with 14,200 accumulated flying hours.

Yet another classic Malton Lodestar — Noranda Mine's Lodestar CF-TCV on July 6, 1960. In the first photo below, 'TCV' is painted in white and light gray with blue trim.

It had had served Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA) from 1941 until sold to Imperial Oil of Toronto in 1949. It next moved to Mannix Construction of Calgary in 1954, then to Leasair of Ottawa in 1957, finally to Noranda in 1958.

'TCV' also is seen in the second photo in an early TCA publicity photo taken near Halifax. In 1968, 'TCV' was exported to the USA, where it became N655KC.

Thereafter, its story remains a mystery. In this set-up shot, in the far distance under the nose is the new Field Aviation hangar. To the right of field is the Imperial hangar. Both buildings survive to this day. The big hangar in the distance on the right is Avro Canada's flight test hangar.

Editors' Note: Our records indicate CF-TCV Lockheed Lodestar 1808A Fin #44 c/n 14983 delivered January 7, 1941, sold to Imperial Oil Company on October 1, 1949 accumulating 17,198 flying hours.

'CF-TCV' , in TCA livery, in flight over the Greater Halifax area with RCN Shearwater visible below the aircraft. Photo from the RAScholefield Collection at AirHistory.net.

Found in 'Horizons' magazine

Issue dated September 2003

Bermuda base recovers thanks to AC help.

Bermuda took a beating from Hurricane Fabian on September 5, 2003 that left extensive damage to homes, the bridge that connects the airport to the mainland, the airport itself and Air Canada's airport office.

Air Canada resumed service to the island four days later, with Bermuda employees working with minimum facilities. Many at Air Canada jumped in to help the Bermuda staff, including Osmond Harry, Regional Customer Service Manager; Captain Jim Guild, System Chief Pilot; First Officer Peter Boruta and In-Flight Operations Duty Manager Joe Donato.

"The Bermuda staff are grateful and thankful to Air Canada's family for coming to our assistance in the aftermath of the hurricane," said Veronica De Silva, Customer Service Manager.

"This was a team effort right from the start," said Jim. "We were able to quickly respond and help our staff get the operation back up and running thanks to the efforts of a large number of people in several departments." 

Our photo of Air Canada's Bermuda employees. From left to right: Airport Customer Service Agents Carl Young, Sally Walsh, David Holder, Gina Outerbridge, Polly Ricketts, Veronica De Silva, Lynette Harris and Coordinator Operations, Carol-Ann Ramsay.

Missing from photo: Tina Barnard, Penelope Butterfield, Samantha Hayward and Lucy Monkman, Coordinator, City Sales.

Posted on the Nordair Facebook page by Don Buck April 11, 2021 -

It had been a long winter tour in Hall Beach. It was dark, the 22's were unusually cantankerous and my 4 weeks were over! Jake Baaker was a welcome sight when he wheeled up in old NAB and popped open the cargo door. I yelled up to him " Get me out of here Jake!".

He smiled and gave me thumbs up. Half an hour later he lit up the old 37, Shirley Doyle had made me a "cafe cognac" I strapped in, in the back and we were gone to YFB, and YUL. Jake greased her on in YFB, we offloaded a few pax and took on some fuel, a bit of freight and a bunch more pax, and the old JT8D's came to life again and we were gone!

Well almost! We taxied down to toward the end of the runway and turned around and taxied back to the terminal. I was summoned to the pointy end of the airplane where Jake met me and said, "We have a flat nose oleo!" By now it was late and all the ND ground personnel had scattered, no one answered the radio and cell phones had not been invented. I said "I know we have nitrogen in the garage to service stuff like this, I'll go have a look". Well as you all remember "B" and "H" were handicapped, as they had no airstairs. 

Posted on the CP Air Facebook page by Sandi Reynolds on May 21, 2022.

Fun coffee date today in YYJ (Victoria, B.C.) with old friends Dave Detwiller and Donna Mac.

So many good memories of YVRRR shared! 

From the "InfoCanadi>n" magazine.

Issued dated September 1987

July 20, 1987 was a proud day for Vancouver-based B-737 captain Bob Rowe.

He was on hand to watch his daughter Susan receive her wings and become a Canadian flight attendant.

Rowe, who has been with the airline since 1956, was invited to hand out certificates to the graduating class of 17.

What it was really Like during the 'Golden Age of Flying' is a video posted by the 'Do You Remember' YouTube channel.

Narrator 'Nostalgic Nick' takes us through a light hearted look at the era when commercial aviation was becoming popular with the public and flying was considered a luxury. 

Editors' Note: Several images in the video were actually taken in aircraft mock-ups for publicity purposes. 

The history of Rise Air is intimately connected to the growth of the Canadian aviation industry and the development of the Northern Saskatchewan region.

Formed in 2021 when Transwest Air and West Wind Aviation combined operations under one brand, Rise Air has built on the legacies of these two airlines and is now one of the largest independent air carriers in Canada with the most diverse and comprehensive fleet of fixed-wing aircraft in Saskatchewan with specialized charters and the largest scheduled service network in Saskatchewan.

Source: riseair.ca

In Alaska, Door Dash, Grub Hub and Uber Eats orders come in a Cessna, Beaver or Otter for some customers.

According to The New York Times, the popular urban services, which exploded in popularity during the pandemic, have given Alaskans in remote areas the opportunity for a taste of “city food” from time to time to break the tedium of the fare stored or hunted by many far-flung residents.

Aircraft are the only way to supply many of the wilderness communities in winter and everything from pizza to chow mein are now a common part of the shipments of more basic necessities. Customers pay from $10 to $30 for their day-old dinners.

The service is so popular that Alaska Air Transit set up a tent in the parking lot at the airport where the delivery drivers drop off and label the orders with the names and villages of the recipients.

Source: AVWeb.com

World's fastest passenger jet goes supersonic in tests.

The race to resume supersonic passenger flights nearly two decades after the retirement of Concorde was offered a glimmer of excitement on Monday when plane manufacturer Bombardier revealed high speed achievements while confirming the launch of its new business jet.

The Canadian company said the in-development Global 8000 will be “the world’s fastest and longest-range purpose-built business jet.”

With a capacity for up to 19 passengers, a range of 8,000 nautical miles (14,800 kilometers) and a top speed of Mach 0.94, the upcoming plane is expected to enter service in 2025, according to a statement from Bombardier. The news comes after a Global 7500 test vehicle broke the sound barrier during a demonstration flight last May, achieving speeds of more than Mach 1.015.

Source: CNN Travel

Boeing CC-137 - Canadian Armed Forces

I wrote about the fleet of RCAF/VIP Airbus CC -150 Polaris current deployed (and due for replacement) in NetLetter #1338 from March 2016.

They were preceded by a fleet of five Boeing 707-347C's modified for military service. The CC-137 was a transport and tanker aircraft that served with Canadian Forces from 1970 to 1997. 

All five of the aircraft, registrations 13701 to 13705, were originally ordered by Western Airlines of California and then purchased by Canada after that sale fell through.

The first four were delivered on February 24, 1970 and the fifth was delivered on March 24, 1971. 

The first of the fleet, 13701, served with several cargo operators until it was retired around 2000. The other four ended up with the Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS program either for spare parts or conversion to E-8C standard for the United States Air Force and are still in service today.

For a full list and known details of the lifecycles of these aircraft see:
www.rwrwalker.ca/CF_CC_137.html

Article source: 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CC-137

Additional info from Ken Pickford: 

Interestingly, another former Boeing 707 that began life in Canada is also still flying as an E-8C with the USAF.

It was Wardair's 2nd (of two) B-707's, CF-ZYP (named 'W.R. Wop May') delivered March 1969. It was sold to long-defunct Austrian charter carrier, Montana Austria, in 1978 and was later seized by U.S. authorities in Houston, Texas while carrying an illegal arms shipment.

It was transferred to the USAF and after several years as part of the VIP fleet it was converted to an E-8C. Interestingly, that aircraft had a link to another Canadian carrier. It was originally ordered by Quebecair but cancelled before delivery.

Former RCAF registration 13704, USAF 97-0201
by Tomás Del Coro on February 7, 2017
Posted at www.flickr.com. 

 Wardair Canada Boeing 707 CF-ZYP
(now USAF 00-2000)

at London Gatwick in 1970
(with CP Air DC-8-63) 
Posted at commons.wikimedia.org

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

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Continuation of the Air Canada nee Trans-Canada Air Lines History started in NetLetter #1483.

Source: Air Canada 75 years of innovation

• 1967
  • Canada's hockey team returned home from the 1967 World Ice Hockey Championships in Vienna in March.
  • Air Canada has a longstanding relationship with Canada's favourite game as a proud partner of Hockey Canada.
  • Expo 67 in Montreal made this a banner year for the airline. Air Canada's pavilion and exhibits dedicated to the history of flight drew nearly 2 million visitors.
• 1969
  • Ravi Shankar waves hello to Montreal, where he performed at Man and His World on August 9, 10 and 11. (He played the Woodstock Festival a few days later).
• 1971
  • The 365-seat Boeing 747 goes into service in 1971, operating between Toronto and Vancouver and serving the summer routes Toronto-London and Toronto-Montreal-Paris. The 747 stands six stories tall and weighs 340 tons. The flight team that first saw it in Seattle couldn't imagine that such a huge bird could fly, but it's 80 kilometres an hour faster than the DC-8 and can fly nearly a thousand kilometers farther. It's also the airline's first aircraft with inflight entertainment, in the form of movie screens. The first non-smoking section appeared in 1971 on Air Canada's Boeing 747's.
• 1975
  • Operation 'Babylift': During the final days of the Vietnam War in April 1975 Air Canada employees volunteer to transport Vietnamese and Cambodian orphans to their new homes in Canada.

More to follow in future NetLetters

On April 1, 2021 Air Canada celebrated the 70th anniversary of its Montreal–Paris route.

Air Canada is marking its 70th anniversary on its Montreal – Paris route, a route that has never been suspended, not even for the pandemic.

On April 1, 1951, a four-engine, 40-passenger Canadair North Star, registered as CF-TFO and operated by Trans-Canada Air Lines (now Air Canada), touched down for the very first time at Orly airport, in the suburbs of Paris.

Initially entailing a layover in London, UK, the flight between Montreal and Paris quickly became a non-stop, weekly service after its initial success.

Source: www.travelweek.ca