Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

The NetLetter - February 6, 2010

Save Our Pensions We need your help in getting an urgent message to the Federal Government! It's important that the government is aware that Air Canada retirees are very concerned that nothing has been done by our Government to give preferred status to pension plan funds in the event a company has no option but to enter into bankruptcy. As it now stands, other creditors are considered first, while pensioners risk being considered last, or not considered at all. In order to raise our status so that pensioners can be on a level playing field with other creditors, it is vital that the Federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act be amended to give pension plans preferred status. The Government will soon deliver the 2010 Budget, so our goal in launching this letter-writing campaign in conjunction with the Air Canada Pionairs is to have this matter addressed in their Budget Speech on March 3rd, 2010. The ACFamily Network, using information supplied by the Pionairs Pension Committee has created a web interface that will enable you to easily submit a letter to your local MP as well as to other interested Government VIPs if you wish to do so. You can make a difference. Please visit: www.acfamily.net/save-our-pensions-info.html for further information.

Vesta's Jump Seat Why not allow the NetLetter be your platform, and opportunity, to relive your history while working for either TCA, AC, CPAir, CAIL, PWA, AirBC etal. and share your experiences with us! I spotted this article in the "Between Ourselves" Issued June 1949 - During early April 1949, Mrs. Richards-Morrow Tait arrived in YVR after a few bad breaks in her attempt to be the first female to circle the globe in a single-engine plane. The English aviatrix, in a U.S. surplus plane, dropped into YVR on her way to Alaska where she had left her original plane damaged in a crash at Tok. However Mrs Trait must have abandoned her quest, as I understand that in 1964 Geraldine "Jerrie" Mock became the first woman to fly solo around the world. Her single-engine Cessna 180 was called the Spirit of Columbus.

Chalmers Lodge Vancouver Exclusive to the NetLetter and the ACFamily Network. Just in time for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, we have been offered 10 rooms available for booking at Chalmers Lodge in Vancouver. They are in a centrally located building that is used full time as an Assisted Living  Residence. It is close to all amenities, including shopping, medical services, public transportation, beaches and theaters. It is perfect for retirees but not for families with children. The rates are very affordable and include meals. Normal rates are; Single - $65, Double - $90  * includes meals During the Olympics, Feb 12 - 28, 2010; Single - $100, Double - $125 *includes meals More info and Registration For more information, registration and map, please see a special page created at www.acfamily.com/lodging/chalmers-lodge.html Questions? - Please send any questions to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Please do not ask us as we are just the messengers.

Air Canada News Equipment being planned for the recent announced new routes are - Toronto - Orange County CA - A319 - Portland OR - E190 - Cincinnati - Jazz CRJ - Portland ME - Air Georgian B1900 - Syracuse NY - Air Georgian B1900 10% discount at the Vancouver Ops Boutique! In celebration of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games,the Vancouver Ops Centre Boutique (located in the east lobby) will be offering a 10% discount off merchandise.

Our first 70 years. 1972 - Apr 30th - Rapidair introduced between Toronto/Montreal/Ottawa. 1992 - June 1st - Advance seat selection now offered to discounted  paying passengers, previously this service was only offered to full paying passengers.

TCA/AC People Gallery Over the past months we have been publishing various photographs from earlier "Horizons", should any photos prompt a memory in seeing one of them, feel free to send us your comments and thoughts. Fred Coyle has sent us this photograph of the TCA staff at Shearwater in 1955 - I've come across an old photograph of the staff at Shearwater NS in 1955. It had belonged to my late sister Frances, who was Eric Jokinen's secretary at that time. Eric was in charge of Flight Ops back then, in that region or district, whatever it was called in those days. T.C.A. staff at Shearwater in 1955 Left to right - unknown, Joan Chisholm, Ralph Trites, Gord Lawson, Fran Coyle, Eric Lambert, Bill Weldon, Graham Lancaster, Gerry Wolfe, unknown, Jean Nicholson, John Ohlsson. unknown, unknown, Seated from the back - Julie Neales, unknown, Ann ?. The photo was taken in 1955 at the Naval Air Station Shearwater, into and out of which TCA operated until the new MOT (or DOT) Halifax airport was built at Kelly Lake. We moved there in about 1958 or 1959. Note the old wooden desks and inboxes, probably leftovers from WW II, and since Shearwater was and still is, a naval base, no doubt the furniture was formerly Navy property. In fact, it might have been rented along with the building. The offices were in a Navy building of some kind, not Quonset huts, but along those lines. Maybe your readers will be able to identify the rest. Regards  Fred. Musings from the "Between Ourselves" magazine - Issue dated February 1949 - A Traffic Department program for training supervisory staff got underway in December 1948 with an Agents-in-Charge conference. Held in Vancouver we have this photo complete with identifications. In Toronto we have these participants, unfortunately no identifications. In Montreal we have these participants, unfortunately no identifications. December 1st 1948, mainline flights resumed through Calgary now with a new 6,400 foot North-South runway. Flight 5-30 was under the command of Capt. Alex Hardie. In November 1948, Calgary football fans chartered a DC-3 named "Stampeder Special". The DC-3 flew east with some spectacular exterior decorations. We have this photo of the crew. Complete with ten-gallon hats are Capt. Gord Haslett, F/O Mike Furgala, Stewardess Fran Russell and Station Attendant Johnny Eastland peers our from behind. During 1948, the greatest change at YHZ was the relinquishing of the airport by the RCAF to the RCNAS, (Royal Canadian Naval Air Service), They have christened their "ship" HMCS Shearwater. And here are some of the staff during their Christmas party. Left to right front row  - S.S.Sime, Austie Smith, at the piano, M.Power, J.Langille, C.Smith. Standing are D.Woods and M.Lohnes. Issue dated March 1949 - WESTERN REGION STATION MANAGER'S MEETING, LETHBRIDGE, ALTA., JANUARY, 1949 Standing Left to Right: P. O'Flynn, Medicine Hat; H. Slater, Edmonton; N. Hepburn, Saskatoon; D. Weir, Lethbridge; H. C. Chase, Brandon; S. N. Knight, Winnipeg; I. A. MacDonald, Pat Bay; W. B. Rowan, Calgary: Seated Left to Right: G. A. Saunders, Yorkton; E. P. Wells, Vancouver; Mrs. W. Phillips, Secretary, Vancouver; E. W. Stull, Ops Manager, YVR; T. W. Kirkham, Regina; J. A. Ames, Swift Current. Gleanings from "Horizons" magazine - Issue dated May 1992 - Shuttle bus service planned to commence June 1st 1992 for Air Canada employees and visitors traveling between Dorval Airport Hilton and the new Air Canada Centre. Operated by Aero-plus. Savings of $50k per year are anticipated. Getting the job done on time were these employees in the Dorval Power Plant with the "Radial Drive Shaft" campaign.on the A320. Here they are from front row left to right.  Joe Ruzio, Maurice Austin, Robert Cloutier, Gary Holden, Ken Couture from C.F.M.I., Back row, left to right) Raymond Fournier, Jean Dutil, Germain Leblanc, Eric Gabelier, Gerald Kirouac, Rude! Fillion, Les Eperjesi; Oliver Martins, Gary Kirbyson. Thanks for the memories. Air Canada Stores recently bid farewell to 31 union personnel who accepted a retirement package. This group, which included Stockkeepers, Lead Stockkeepers and Chauffeurs, boasted a combined 1,000 years of service. Pictured here are the Dorval retirees, who had accumulated 775 years of service between them. Back row, from left to right: Tony Virgona, Mike Teesdale, Jerry St-Germain, Don Dryden, Robert Hibberd, Tony Leon, John Dratva, Ralph Stone, Bill Eaton, Hugo Guilbault, Ian Wilson, Joe Nagy, Robert Poth, Andy Roy; Front row, from left to right: Peter Thomson, Leo Beauchamp, Sam Barclay, Mike Kukla, Frank Robertson, Guy Turpin. Missing from the photo are: André Lauzon, Ernie Smith, Ron Johnstone, Lawson Garayt. A Viennese treat An old Viennese pub was the scene for a party recently held in honour of Senior Customer Sales & Service Agent Ingeborg Stingl, who retired after 17 years of service. She is pictured here with her colleagues (back row, left to right) Hans Sittler, Klaus Jagschitz, Christian Lenz, Monika Weissmann, (middle row, left to right) Henry Mazuruk, lngeborg Stingl; Angelika Hammer Schloesser, (sitting) Nora Castrini.

Alan's Space Sopwith Camel and Spitfire flying in formation (from Rob Hemmett) Wanaka, New Zealand April 2004 This historic video was shot in New Zealand.    Listen to that Spitfire's Merlin engine after the Sopwith has landed. The two historic fighters were flown side by side to showcase the advance in technology in only 20 years! The Sopwith Camel and the Supermarine Spitfire are icons of their respective eras, both efficient designs that were very effective. The Sopwith Camel was first flown in 1916. The Supermarine Spitfire made its maiden flight Mar. 6, 1936.

Canadi>n/CPAir/PWA, Wardair, etc. Events & People Over the past months we have been publishing various photographs from earlier in-house magazines, should any photos prompt a memory in seeing one of them, feel free to send us your comments and thoughts. We started this in NetLetter nr 1103 and have some more information taken from the final edition of "Expressions" which was the in-house magazine for Nordair issued December 1986 - Here is a history of Canadian Pacific Air Lines: "Born Bush-Wise, now World-Wise" From a modest beginning rooted in the amalgamation of ten fledgling "bush lines", Canadian Pacific Air Lines has expanded to become one of the world's major carriers. Currently, the company provides scheduled service to sixty-four destinations in fourteen countries on five continents. 1942 CPAL is officially formed as a subsidiary of CP Railways by amalgamating ten small carriers: Ginger Coote Airways (Vancouver), Yukon Southern Air Transport (Edmonton), Canadian Airways and Wings Ltd. (Winnipeg), Prairie Airways (Moose Jaw) Mackenzie Air Services (Edmonton), Arrow Airways (The Pas, Manitoba), Starratt Airways (Hudson, Ont.), Quebec Airways and Dominion Airways (Montreal). Its base is in B.C., the Yukon and Alberta. 1942-1945 During the Second World War, the company contributes heavily to the Allied war effort at the request of the British government which asked CP Railways to assist in the organization of the north Atlantic ferry service to deliver bombers to the U.K. 1948 The company is awarded rights between Canada and Australia via Honolulu and Fiji. 1949 The Vancouver-Tokyo-Hong Kong route is inaugurated. 1950-57 CPAL provides an Airlift operation for the United Nations from Vancouver to Tokyo during the Korean war. 1953 Canada-Mexico-Peru service is inaugurated. 1955 The Vancouver-Amsterdam polar route is introduced. 1956 The company expaands its  South American presence to Buenos Aires. 1957 Start-up of the Santiago extension from Buenos. Lisbon and Madri served from Toronto and Montreal. 1959 First daily transcontinental service between Montreal and Vancouver is inaugurated. The jet age begins with the purchase of five DC-8 standard jets. (continued next time - eds).

This n That The 29th World Airline Road Race (WARR) will be held in London UK from Wednesday 22nd to Saturday 25th September 2010. The race course will be around the Royal Victoria Dock adjacent to the ExCeL exhibition and conference centre and the main festival venues will all be in the same vicinity. Around 2,000 travel-industry participants will travel to London for the four day festival of culture and entertainment focused around 5k and 10k running races. This will prove to be an experience of a lifetime with everyone a winner - the participants, the hosts British Airways Athletics Club, the event's supporters and sponsors and London itself. More details at this web site - http://worldairlineroadrace.org

John Buchanan in London UK sends us this memory prompted by the photo in NetLetter nr 1105 of the French training course - In February, 1979 I went to Canada to take part in a French language course which lasted three weeks. The concept was for students to be totally immersed in French at the Centre Linquistique du Collêge de Jonquière - which meant speaking English was forbidden for three weeks. Jonquière is a city on the Saguenay River in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, near Chicoutimi some 300 miles Northwest of Montreal. It has a population of 65,000 inhabitants who speak pure French. It felt strange to be in a North American city where no English is spoken. We were a group of 9 European students - two Germans, two Scots and five Londoners, all Air Canada employees. The course was tailored to meet the needs of Passenger Agents in dealing with customers. We had two teachers who were extremely friendly - Louise and Girald. They took it in turns to instruct us, working one day on and the other off. The photo left to right Unknown, Girald, Louise and husband.) This meant that one day we had Louise and the following, Girald. I believe that during their days off they went cross country skiing and why not? We were accommodated with French Canadian families who did not speak English.Thus we experienced life like Quebecois Francophones. I was lodged with M. & Mme. Caron. M. Caron was a retired undertaker. Every day from 1600 to 1700 the college curriculum included a period dedicated to physical fitness. One evening we decided to go swimming and one girl did not dry her hair properly. Consequently, on the way home in temperatures of -30º - 40ºC it is not surprising that her hair froze and she caught a cold which most of us subsequently caught. We were also required to attend three workshops every week which took place between 1900 and 2100 with the emphasis on French communication. Some of the workshops included: Attending a play, Carnival festivities at Chicoutimi, Quebecois songs. This is a photo of the group going to Chicoutimi. Wine and cheese tasting when our families were also invited. One Saturday we went (attempted) cross-country skiing followed by a sing song and supper On these occasions we always had one or two teachers who acted as leaders. It is customary to eat at 1730 which gave us  plenty of time to do our homework and meet later on. We used to meet at a local brasserie where we over a few pitchers of beer we exchanged jokes in English - I'm sorry to say. One evening we were joined by another Air Canada employee who was on another course. She wore glasses and was very serious. When she heard us joking in English she was taken aback and uttered "En français s'il vous plait!". From then on she became known to us as 'Dame Edith'. She sat next to me and after a few beers we sorted out all Air Canada's problems. During our stay at Jonquière we had lots of snow - more than 6m with the attendant cold (-40ºC with a wind chill factor which I was not accustomed to). The Carons had a barometer on their porch and I used to check the temperature every morning hoping it would rise. Towards the end of my stay I was extremely relieved when it rose to 0ºC. and in comparison this seemed relatively warm. The day before the end of the course I invited M. and Mm. Caron to lunch at one of their favourite restaurants which we all thoroughly enjoyed.The next day I bade them farewell, thanked them for their hospitality and made my way to the College where we had a test which was not difficult. Afterwards we were interviewed by M. Tremblay, principal of the College who asked us how we rated the course. Finally, we boarded the bus to take us to the airport accompanied Girald who had grown quite fond of us. As far as our group was concerned the course was over and we now felt we could relax and speak English which we did. Suddenly, from the back of the bus came a voice which requested: "En français s'il vous plait!". It was none other than our dear friend  'Dame Edith' serious to the end. P.S. I am pleased to say that I still benefit from this experience in that in my 70s I attend French conversation on a regular basis as part of the U3A (University of the Third Age). Sadly, Joan Lovegrove shown in your photo is no longer with us. John Buchanan, Air Canada London, England John sent a later email regarding the use of French. (We are not intending to enter into an exchange of emails regarding the English verses French language in the work place - eds)   The recent articles regarding the "Cabbage Patch" incident at LHR has prompted Doug Davidson to send us his memory - Re the cabbage patch DC-8: speaking from memory, perhaps somebody can correct if necessary:one of the passengers on the aircraft was Larry James, an internal auditor from Winnipeg Finance.  He had been in London on business. For years after wards, Larry would amuse the Winnipeg folks by recounting how he had bought a new raincoat in London, put it in the overhead bin upon boarding and never saw it again.The thing that really annoyed him was not the crash and that he had escaped with his life - it was the lost raincoat! Best regards, Doug Davidson   Pat Henderson reminds us to 'Fly our Canadian flag on February l5, National Flag Day'

Terry's Trivia & Travel Tips Not everyone is able or willing to fork out the money to attend Olympic sporting events, but rest assured, there's lots to do around town that won't break the bank and will get you and yours in the Olympic spirit. Vancouver Magazine has created a great list that you can check out by clicking here. There is also another list of thins to do at the BC Living web site.

Smilie From the "CP Air NEWS" dated February 1978 - This cartoon by D.Fallwell of YXT.