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NetLetter #1349 | September 02, 2016 |
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Trans-Canada Air Lines North Star CF-TFN (drawing)
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Dear Reader,
Welcome to the NetLetter, an Aviation based newsletter for Air Canada, TCA, CPAir, Canadian Airlines and all other Canadian based airlines that once graced the Canadian skies.
The NetLetter was created in 1995 by Vesta Stevenson (RIP) and Terry Baker and is published on the second and fourth weekend of each month. If you are interested in Canadian Aviation History, and vintage aviation photos, especially as it relates to Trans-Canada Air Lines, Air Canada, Canadian Airlines International and their constituent airlines, then we're sure you'll enjoy this newsletter. Our website is located at www.thenetletter.net
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Women in Aviation
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 Women in Aviation International has declared that "International Girls in Aviation Day" will be held on September 24th, 2016..
The San Diego (California) Chapter will host the Day at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Air Show, a 3 day event. More details at www.wai.org
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Air Canada News
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“Moments”, Air Canada’s brand new museum that showcases their vast 79-year history through artifacts, documents, model airplanes and other displays opened April 29th, 2016 on the Main Floor, Building 2, Montreal Headquarters.
Address: 7373 Cote Vertu West.
Identification: Air Canada ID is required.
Parking: Ample parking is available at the back of Building 2
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Star Alliance News
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US Airways joined Star Alliance on May 4th, 2004.
 Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines is expected to join Star Alliance’s Connecting Partner Model (CPM) program in an effort to facilitate its rapid international expansion, according to an industry insider.
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Reader Submitted Photos
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 Brian Burrage has sent us this photo requesting help in identifying the location, date and event.
Brian is co-founder, historian and photo archivist of the web site www.vickersviscount.net and can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Michael Leduc sent this message and photo.
 A friend, ex-AC, sent me the attached photo from his mother's (Chris Crinkley) effects and wondered who the people are. I recognize some of the faces but names have escaped me.
We would appreciate if it might be included in the NetLetter with the hope that we may find out who the characters are. The picture was taken at Jacques Cartier Square in Old Montreal. I suspect the photo was taken in the late sixties or early seventies, based on the attire of those in the picture.
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Jack Stephens has passed us some photos he received of the first Vickers Viscount delivered to TCA (Air Canada) as CF-TGI which presently resides in the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, US.
The message to Jack was -
Just visited the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson on June 1st, 2016. N22SN is still in residence but starting to look very shabby. Poor paintwork, flat tyres etc. I enclose some photos taken on a staggeringly hot Arizona day (46C) !!!!
Best regards, Andrew Houghton, Retired BA Captain (Viscount co-pilot) and Brooklands volunteer
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 Frank Pedder has sent us this photo of those gathered at the Purchases & Stores retirees, YUL, monthly coffee gathering held on August 4th, 2016 at the Brasserie Le Manoir, Lachine.
Thanks to all those who came, pictured here, from the left: Julian Ireland, John Gauthier, Marcel Dionne, Frank Pedder, Bob Gagnon, Joe Nagy, Frank Dominick, Lucy Chabot, Leon Kolibaiev and Denis Leduc.
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TCA/AC People Gallery
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1940 -
- February 15th - Moncton became the aviation centre of the Atlantic Provinces when regularly scheduled passenger flights were started between the Hub city and Montreal.
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1970 -
- April 27th - First non-stop service from Sydney, N.S. direct to Montreal was inaugurated.
- May 5th - Introduction of DC-8 all-freight Jet Trader service from Vancouver to Windsor/Detroit area.
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2002 -
- June - Introduction of Six Sigma projects for reducing costs.
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2003
- April - Air Canada history displayed in a new museum T1 terminal YYZ. (pictured).
- December - Announced plans to buy 45 Bombardier and 45 Embraer aircraft.
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 World Airline Road Race is scheduled for Chicago September 21st - 24th, 2016. In 2015 the races held in Dubai U.A.E. and we noticed the following Air Canada employees were listed John Cannon, Scott Macaul, Clifford Russell, David Housron, Hank Mitchno, Ray Robichaud and Kelly Currans.
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 Mr. Hollis Harris, the Chairman, President and CEO of Air Canada from 1992 to 1996 passed away on 14th July, 2016.
Mr. Harris was greatly involved in the Open Skies Agreement between Canada and The United States.
(Source LHR Pionairs monthly newsletter August 2016)
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Found in the "Between Ourselves" magazine.
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Issue dated May 1969 -
 This is a photo of the grounded fleet at Dorval during the strike in 1969.
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Breaking the pound barrier.
 Prestwick station had a busy month in March 1969 when it handled more than a million pounds of airfreight, a new record for the station. This represented 64% of the freight handled during the whole of 1968.
Shown in front of the cargo charter freighter which broke the million pound barrier are from the front: Station Agents T. W. Howson, G. G. Aitchison, D. W. Auld, and M. Miller; Station Operations Manager J. D. Johnston; Station Agent J. B. Sloan, Cargo Service Supervisor W. C. McLellen; Cargo Biller J. McCall, and Cargo Sales Representative J. Scott.
Back row: Captain W. J. Adams; F/O C. E. Guttierrie; Navigating Officer H. Thibault; Second Officer Y. J. Poudrier; unidentified person, and Navigating Officer B. W. Freeman.
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Issue May 1970.
Car Rally popular in London Town.
One day in April 1970, nine car loads of entrants took off from a London pub parking lot marking the start of the Seventh Maple Leaf Car Rally, organized by the London, U.K. ACRA.
When the rally finished, naturally enough in an English pub, in the middle of the Buckingham countryside, each team handed their rally sheets to organizers Jack Morath, Peter and Gwen Baldry, who, despite spending the time waiting in the pub, remained sober, as they were charged with figuring out the winners, during which the teams exchanged various funny stories.
As this was pre-GPS time, the navigators had a hard time, but the winning team was Alan Williams, as driver, his navigator was Bruce Paxton and Carol Williams was the clue hunter. Runner up team was driver Coralie Humphries, navigator Guy Dodgson, clue hunters were Judy Fleet and Adam Thompson.
As far as the organizers were aware, all the teams found their way home, but if not, they may be well placed for the next rally which was planned for June/July 1970.
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Alan's Space
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 Luke Aikins 25,000 Ft Jump without a parachute stunt (Saturday, July 30, 2016)
A 42-year-old skydiver with more than 18,000 jumps made history Saturday, July 30, 2016 when he became the first person to survive a leap without a parachute.
After a two-minute freefall, Luke Aikins flipped onto his back at the last second and landed dead centre into a 30-by-30-metre net at the Big Sky movie ranch on the outskirts of Simi Valley in California. Cheers rose from those who gathered to watch the stunt, including his family.
The jump — from the death-defying altitude of 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometres) — makes Aikins the only skydiver ever to go from plane to planet Earth without a parachute.
For those wondering about how he overcame the technical aspects of hitting the net from 25,000 feet there is more information at:
www.cbc.ca/news/world/skydiving-no-parachute-luke-aikins-1.3702300
Click on image below for video.
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CPAir, Canadi>n People Gallery
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1968 -
- Nov 6th - CP Air became Canada's first operator of the B737-200 when Fin 701 commenced YVR-SFO service.
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1985 -
- April 11th - CP Air DC-10 was the first "jumbo" to land at Whitehorse.
- April 12th - CP Air became Canada's first operator of the B737-300. Fin 751 named "Empress of Ontario".
- April 28th - CP Air launched Attache service between Calgary-Toronto.
- June 1st - Eastern Provincial Airways inaugurated Halifax - Ottawa service. (pictured)
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| Located in the "CP Air News" magazine |
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Issue dated May 1985.
 A big happy family. That's the Toronto Services Training Group, who displayed their best smiles for this photo op.
From the left: Frances Montpetit, instructor, Pegasus 2000; David Marriot, instructor services training; Debbie Eagan-Hashimoto (seated) and Sharon Watson, instructors, Pegasus 2000; Len Nielsen, instructor, cargo, services training; Gord McMillen, senior instructor, services training; Unavailable for this op were Pegasus instructors Diane Fotheringham and Neil McGregor.
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 Wayne's Wings
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 Canadair North Star
While researching my article for NL 1343 regarding the first Air Canada aircraft to fly the Rondel; I was pleasantly reminded of events that occurred during my childhood in the mid nineteen-sixties that have shaped modern day Canada.
So while looking for a topic for this NL issue I quickly became interested in the place of the Canadair North Star in history.
Trans-Canada Air Lines had been providing trans-Atlantic service beginning in 1943 with Lancastrians to carry military personnel (as the Canadian Government Trans-Atlantic Air Service) and planned to establish scheduled service to Europe after the war ended and needed an aircraft suitable to build these routes.
C.D. Howe (Canada's first transport minister), at the request of TCA, arranged for Canadair Aircraft Ltd. to acquire Canadian Vickers Ltd on November 11, 1944 and production soon began on a Douglas DC-4 variant using four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines to be called “North Star” that became the aircraft to initiate trans-Atlantic passenger flights from Canada. The first scheduled flight left Montreal on April 15, 1947 for London with several members of the government and TCA officials on board.
This may have been the most significant day in the airline’s history up until that time. TCA and the North Star were symbols that the Canadian aviation industry had arrived with a bright future ahead.
TCA operated a total 23 of the aircraft between 1946 and 1960. Terry advises that during the 14 years of service with TCA, they logged a total of 193 million miles and four aircraft were "named", something never applied to any other aircraft type our company operated.
CF-TFA Fin 201 c/n 125 "Cartier".
CF-TFB Fin 202 c/n 126 "Cornwallis"
CF-TFC Fin 203 c/n 127 "Champlain"
CF-TFD Fin 204 c/n 128 "Selkirk"
Ken Pickford contributed the following regarding their deployment with Canadian Pacific Air Lines. CP operated four North Stars primarily from Vancouver to Sydney, Australia, Tokyo and Hong Kong, beginning in 1949. CP never used the North Star name, referring to them as "Canadair Four". They were found to be uneconomic and the three surviving aircraft were sold to TCA in 1952 (one had been written off in a non-fatal landing accident at Tokyo in 1950). They were temporarily replaced by several used Douglas DC-4s acquired from Pan American, until CP's first new longer-range and much more economic DC-6Bs arrived a year or so later.
The aircraft was also operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force and flew 599 round trips during the Korean conflict between 1950 and 1952. One of these aircraft (C-54GM / 17515) has been preserved at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa.
It is the only one of the 71 built between 1946 and 1950 known to be still in existence. In 2005 a group of volunteers formed “Project North Star” dedicated to the restoration of the aircraft. Thankfully their efforts retain a link to a very important period of Canada’s aviation history.
 Sources and links:
Between Ourselves (thanks Terry)
Air Canada – The History by Peter Pigott
The Canadair North Star by Larry Milberry
Project North Star web site
Project North Star on YouTube
Canada Aviation and Space Museum
Wikipedia
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Reader's Feedback
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Ron Lingwood refers to the article in NetLetter nr 1348 of the operation by Kenn Borek Air.
Here are his comments -
It probably comes as no surprise that the USA constantly ignores the very existence of Canada until they need us. Ref NetLetter 1348 the rescue (again) in Antarctica. There was no mention of this and previous rescues on USA TV news. They just can't bear to see us do something they failed to do!!
Your editors found this on the internet –
A passenger who believed he had missed his Ryanair flight from Madrid’s Barajas Airport took matters into his own hands in his attempts to travel to Gran Canaria, one of the Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa.
Cameras caught the passenger, whose nationality is unknown, jumping off the end of an Air bridge onto the apron at the Spanish capital’s airport, apparently after breaking through a door to get onto the jetty.
Carrying two items of luggage, he could be seen dropping to the ground, then running toward a departing Ryanair Boeing 737-800 that was starting to taxi to the runway. Contrary to several media reports, however, he did not then get onboard the aircraft.
After a few minutes, he returned to the terminal departure lounge, where he discovered his flight had not yet departed. He was eventually able to board the correct service and fly to the Canaries, which are Spanish possessions. It is understood that police in Gran Canaria are investigating the incident.
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Odds and Ends
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 The first ever aeroplane flight in Western Canada took place before a crowd of 3,500 at Minoru Park racetrack in Richmond, B.C. on March 25th, 1910.
U.S. pilot Charles K. Hamilton, participating in an Easter weekend exhibition, flew from Minoru Park to New Westminster and back. On Easter Monday, the 28th, his biplane lost a mile-long race with a horse by 10 seconds.
Apparently, Mr. Hamilton was quite an interesting character. Wikipedia refers to him as being nicknamed the "crazy man of the air" and states that he was, in the words of the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, "known for his dangerous dives, spectacular crashes, extensive reconstructive surgeries, and ever present cigarette" and was "frequently drunk". He survived over 60 crashes
A good article about his exploits can be found at General Aviation News.
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Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips
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Central Mountain Air ZED ticket agreements cancelled.
Effective immediately, the ZED ticket agreements with Central Mountain Air have been temporarily cancelled. While this temporary change may be disappointing, it is not permanent and we look forward to reinstating our agreement with this carrier in the future.
If you currently hold ZED tickets, we recommend you get them refunded as they are now null and void.
(Source, The Daily July 27th 2016)
Passenger Pick-up at Heathrow:
There has been increased checking of arrival passengers being picked up from the Departure level from all terminals. Most of us have done this as it is easier. There is now a crackdown with signs at each departure level that you cannot pick passengers and their baggage up, and that there are CCTV cameras being used to detect those who shouldn't be there and you could get a £40 fine. The Airport Authority are trying to encourage you to use their short stay car park at each terminal costing nearly £4 for half an hour and over £7 for an hour. What they don't advertise very much is that you can use the Long Stay car parks free for two hours.
(Source LHR Pionairs monthly newsletter August 2016)
Air Canada’s check-in counters at Brussels Airport are now back at the main terminal, level 3, row 4 counters 1, 2 and 3. The check-in counters may only be reached upon presentation of an Itinerary Receipt or a boarding pass, and open 180 minutes prior to departure.
(Source Pionairs Quebec district Sentinel Summer 2016)
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Smileys
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 Our cartoon is from the "CP Air Blue Skies" magazine issued spring 1978. The caption is "CP Air to have many types of economy fares!"
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Terry Baker | Alan Rust | Wayne Albertson
NetLetter Staff for 2016
(you can read our bios at www.thenetletter.net/history)
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E&OE - (errors and omissions excepted) - The historical information as well as any other information provided in the "NetLetter" is subject to correction and may have changed over time. We do publish corrections (and correct the original article) when this is brought to our attention.
Disclaimer: Please note that neither the NetLetter or the ACFamily Network necessarily endorse any 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.
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World Airline Road Race
