Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

NetLetter #1111 - March 6, 2010

Changes Ahead (continued) (Sorry we are a few days late this week) We expect this issue will be the last in this design format. If everything goes as planned (fingers crossed) your next issue of the NetLetter  (#1112) will be sent under the banner of the ACFamily Network's list and we will close this list down. All subscribers will be transferred to the new list. You, as a NetLetter subscriber should not notice any difference in receiving the NetLetter. We do have some subscribers (about 100 or so) that will need to sign-up again for technical reasons and those readers will be notified individually if this applies to you. Sincerely, Your NetLetter Team

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! FEMALE PILOTS TO CELEBRATE CENTENNIAL BY "PAYING IT FORWARD" Around the world, women plan to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first time a woman earned a pilot certificate by taking a woman or girl for her first flight in a general-aviation aircraft during the week of March 6 to 12, 2010 Raymonde De Laroche, a French balloonist, learned to fly a fixed-wing aircraft and was the first woman to receive a pilot certificate, on March 8, 1910. So far, pilots from the U.S., France, Spain, Mongolia, and many other countries have signed up to participate in what they hope will be a world-record-setting event. The Ninety-Nines, Women in Aviation International, the International Society of Woman Airline Pilots, EAA, and other groups have signed on to help with the effort. "Nothing can inspire a woman to learn to fly more than meeting a woman who became a pilot," say the organizers of the Centennial of Women Pilots. Women who want to participate in the record attempt must pre-register at the group's website. More information at www.centennialofwomenpilots.com

Our first 70 years. 1949 - Oct 1st - Top executive branches at Winnipeg transferred to Montreal.

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. Musings from the "Between Ourselves" magazine - Issue dated September 1949 - On October 1st, executive branches transferred from Winnipeg to the International Aviation Building in Montreal. 150 employees affected. Remaining in Winnipeg are Maintenance and Overhaul base, the Accounting Department and Flight Training. Approximately 1,400 employees. Revolutionary design is this new type stretcher developed by TCA. (Probably the forerunner to today's First class seats - eds) These are photos of Goose Bay, North west of Montreal, 820 miles into the wilderness and cross roads to many of world airlines. Some 65 TCA'ers were based here at one time. This is Chateau Terrington home to about 32 TCA employees. Nr 1 hangar houses TCA's passenger waiting room, workshops, offices, radio room and stores. The title of "TCA's youngest five year veteran" was Stuart Lamb a Junior Mechanic at Winnipeg. Stuart has since been deposed by Leopold Styrczula a junior draftsman at Dorval who received his pin just 117 days ahead of his 21st birthday, bettering Stuart by 97 days. O'Hare Chicago International Airport was formerly named Douglas Airport. From Winnipeg Traffic we have this photo Bill Martin, Beth Ferguson, Gene Zakala. More new stewardesses - Eighteen charmers now flying the airways ore these new Stewardesses, successful graduates of the latest training classes at Winnipeg. Front row, left to right: K. M. MacKay, J. C. Ness, B. A. Tomlinson L.J. Greene, G. R. Soulsby, M. M. Morton, L. J. Beehler, M. J. Appleton, Bock row: D. R. J. Menary, E. G. Seddon, M. T. Coupol, A. J. Spiers, S. E. Johnston, B. J. Wilson, E. Talboys, S. M. Devlin, E. B. Campbell, M. E. McLeod. 21 Men and a Pin More than two centuries of service are represented in this group of 21 TCA veterans. Ten year men all, they are Western Region Operations Supervisory personnel and Station Managers who convened at Vancouver early in August for a briefing on new budgetary procedures. Sitting, left to right: N. Hepburn,  N. Kelly, A. Sestrap,  T. Gilmour,  R. Baudru,  G. Goode, Standing: D. Weir,  J. MacDonald,  S. Knight, E. Wells,  T. Kirkham,  E. W. Stull, J. Slater, J. Stone, G. Stephens,  6. Roper,  R. Cuthill,  E. Tap/in, W. Higgins, S. Saunders,  W. Rcwan, Gleanings from "Horizons" magazine -. Issue dated August 1992 - A team of Air Canada runners participated in the Theatre Calgary Road Race. The team finished in 75th position out of 100 teams The runners pictured here are (from left to right): George Smith, Barb Naugler, Rene Hale; Al Barbaro, Chuck Regehr; Maridee Coulter, Greg Fletcher: Wendy Clark, Gaylene Lewis, (kneeling) Brent Bromhead, Missing from the photo are: Jamie Naugler, Bob Johnson; Glenda Wiens Denise Gaudreault, Issue dated December 1993 - Customer Sales and Service Agents in Vancouver wore Indian attire to celebrate Air Canada's inaugural flight to New Delhi. From left to right: Sybil Wyles, Nelly Ahmed Claudette Siege!; Nalini Yee, Mary Jo Bishop; Jean-Jacques Bourgeault; Chrisanna Pagan, Jana Graham, Manna Novokshanoff Marlene Havilland, Monika Webb. With the start-up of service to New Delhi, Air Canada conducted intensive training to introduce the route and to promote cultural sensitivity. More than 120 flight attendants, pilots and managers were briefed on various aspects of Asian travel, including personal health considerations and tips on how to handle the Indian climate, tropical diseases and "Delhi belly" (diarrhea and/or vomiting) From left are: (front row) Cliff Menezes, Doug Hay, Maureen Lannan, Patricia Penty, Simca Ronald Jennifer Davis, Donna Langenzarde, Aggie Dunn, Lucette McCready, Dwayne Barnes, (back row) Yvonne Foster-Davey, (hidden), Jo Perrin, Martin Fleet; Ruth Kirwan, Bob Becks, Katia Pawlak-Omnes,Pat McAllister, Darryl Richmond. Employees from the Power Plant in Dorval celebrated their hard work on the last JT8D-15 engine to be produced.' "The shop has every reason to be proud considering that it had consistently delivered a superior quality product that was instrumental in transporting our millions of passengers over those years without an accident," said  Raymond Foumier. During its 20 years of operation at Air Canada, a typical engine on the Boeing 727 aircraft was refurbished eight to ten times and made over 30,000 take offs and landings. Top row (left to right):(p) Erhard Flemke, Denis Lafleur,  Dave Ward; Yvan Quintin, Geriy Kiuke. Bottom row (left to right): Marian Szczerba, Raymond Fournier, Charly Tremblay, Charles Caron, Alvin Thomas, Jean-Mane AlIard, Leo Mainville, Solomon Mushhedi, Pierre Hainey, Ivo Holub,  Aldo Zanforlin, Loyd Dufour.

Alan's Space Lufthansa's restored Starliner to be airborne in 2011 (From "Fmhouse, posted in the ACFamily Network Forums) "My dad was a flight engineer on the 'connie. He claims it was the best 3 engine airplane ever built. He also claims that the noise from the prop tips going supersonic on takeoff made him almost deaf in one ear. The one recently restored for display looks remarkably good considering how butchered it was over the years it spent in Toronto. No engines on it though, just dummies to hold the props. Too bad it had to leave the country to receive the funds it deserved. Lufthansa is currently restoring a L1649 Starliner to flying status. Not a simple undertaking. This was the ultimate derivative of the connie. Nice to see airlines invest in preserving heritage in this way." Lufthansa Technik is hoping to restore its Lockheed L-1649 Starliner to airworthy condition by 2011, after opening a new hangar in which the work will be performed. The maintenance hangar at Maine's Auburn-Lewiston Airport, opened on 20 November, will enable repair work to be conducted on the aircraft, N7316C, one of three - plus 13 engines - acquired by historic preservation specialist Deutsche Lufthansa Berlin-Stiftung. Click here for full article

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 series 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 more on the history of Canadian Pacific Air Lines following the first part in NetLetter nr 1107 -: 1964 Government aviation policy establishes those areas of the world that both CPAL and Air Canada can serve. 1965 Rome is added to the Amsterdam route. 1968 Service to Greece from Canada begins. A second transcontinental flight is launched. 1969 CPAL becomes "All jet" with the phase-out of the DC-3's and DC-6's. 1970 The Vancouver Operations Centre head office building is opened. CPAL is restricted to 25% of transcontinental demand by the government. More transcon flights are added to various Canadian cities. 1971 Tel Aviv service begins. 1973 The "wide-bodied" era be gins with the delivery of the first B-747. 1974 Milan is added to the route system. The first flight simulators are installed for pilot training. 1975 The computerized reservation system "Pegasus" is introduced in Canadian offices. Vancouver-Los-Angeles service begins. 1976 The Toronto Operations Centre is completed. 1977 The company acquires Transpacific Tours Company. Government imposed operating restrictions are eased on the transcontinental market. 1979 The CP Air Holidays Charter Division is established to operate between Canada and the U.K. All restrictions on CPAL's transcon service are removed and domestic service is expanded. DC-10-30 widebodies are added to the fleet. 1983 The "Hub and Spoke" route schedule is introduced to increase transcontinental flight frequency and link with Air BC and Eastern Provincial Airways to provide "Coast to Coast" service. CP Hotels are purchased. 1984 Eastern Provincial Airways is purchased as well as its affiliate Air Maritime. Pegasus 2000, an automated reservations system, is introduced for sale to travel agencies. The Canadian government announces its deregulation policy for Canada. (More next time - eds)

Alan MacLeod sends us this update on CF-TCC - There are no plans to fly our Lockheed CF-TCC this year or next. I am hopeful that for the celebration of the airline's 75th anniversary it can visit all points across our wonderful country from Pat Bay to T'Or Bay  !! Alan MacLeod   With reference to the photo of Paulette Duguay standing by fin 905 in NetLetter nr 1110, Dave Townson points out this error - I thought CP Air's 900-series aircraft were DC-10s.  Our DC-8s were 600- and 800-series. Regards, Dave Townson Toronto. (We now have a list of aircraft and fin 905 is C-GCPG "Empress of Lima" - eds) Jim Griffith sends this information for us - Hi Folks: Re: NetLetter 1107. Two paragraphs in the CPA section caught my eye, the amalgamation of the many small carriers to create CPA in 1942 and CPA's role in starting ferry command in WW II. A while back I had asked for information for a friend of mine who was writing a book on a famous bush pilot, Sheldon Luck, who became first chief pilot for CPA. The response was very good adding to information that my friend, Ted Beaudoin, needed. Ted is not on NetLetter as he never worked for any airline but he was an aviation journalist for years, particularly in western Canada. In his book, Pilot of Fortune, which is now published and is available online at Amazon, chapters and www.trafford.com., he details both those historical events involving both the creation of CPA- TCA and Ferry command, in unbiased detail. The book is a must read for anyone interested in Canadian aviation history. Ted is now in the final stage of his second book, Earth Angel's Rising covering in more detail the complete story of WW II Ferry Command from beginning to end. Again on Ted's behalf I would ask, through you, to the readers of the NetLetter for any information on an unsolved mystery surrounding the gift of a Lockheed Vega Bomber from the workers at the Lockheed plant in Burbank California to the people of Britain. It was built from donations of time and cash by the workers themselves but because of the neutrality act, the US was not yet a war, it had to pass through Canada. Records show that it left Canada all right but Ted's research shows that a substitute aircraft was used for the arrival in Britain because the original crashed on take-off at Gander. If anyone has information in the form of newspaper clippings or memorabilia or even personal recollections of the event Ted would appreciate it. My role in Ted's books is that of an editor to add a pilot's perspective to his writing. Jim Griffith Bob McCurdy has identified some people in this photo we printed in NetLetter nr 1107 - Armand Leblanc is next to Jean Nickerson(not Nicholson) and Anne McLeod is in foreground desk. I joined the Company in 1956 so remember Shearwater well., and that office! Bob McCurdy Here is a revised identification.  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, Armand Leblanc, Jean Nickerson, John Ohlsson. unknown, unknown, Seated from the back - Julie Neales, unknown, Ann McLeod. Allen McKenzie sends us this information about the Shearwater photo above - Hi Folks, It has taken me a while to dig up  the names, too many in the memory bank, and I WAS young at the time, but I would like to suggest the following: Far Left - Lorne Hamilton, formerly of YQM. Psbly Atl. Regnl Spvr for Commissary, or In-Flight crew. Ralph Trites is alive and well, living in YQM. Met him there late last fall. Jean Nicholson should read Jean Nickerson. Was living in Dartmouth, N.S. until about 5 (?) years ago. Now deceased (I think) John Ohlsson, Doug Gallup - Office Clerk to Stn. Mgr. Hec McKenzie. Really enjoying the Netletter. Regards, Allen (We think we now we have this revised identifications - eds) Left to right - Lorne Hamilton, Joan Chisholm, Ralph Trites, Gord Lawson, Fran Coyle, Eric Lambert, Bill Weldon, Graham Lancaster, Gerry Wolfe, Armand Leblanc, Jean Nickerson, John Ohlsson. Doug Gallup, Hec McKenzie. Seated from the back - Julie Neales, unknown, Ann McLeod.

This n That. It is usually referred  to it by 3.63% of it's rightful name; .L.A. The full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" we know it as LAX Here is a Canadian stamp issued 13th June 1969 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight in 1919. by Alcock and Brown. Concluding the history of Prestwick Airport - At that moment, only one aircraft was available, a converted Lancaster bomber. Within six months, the service, which was known as the Canadian Government Trans Atlantic Air Service, was being operated by a fleet of five converted Lancasters and later on four more were added. C. S. Hewett and A. P. Stewart went over to Prestwick on the first flight, to act as Liaison Officer and Chief Mechanic, respectively. They remained in Prestwick throughout the war and returned to Canada after three years' service overseas.Six senior TCA Captains were selected to pioneer the service. They were Jock Barclay, Lindy Rood, Bob Smith, George Lothian, Art Rankin and Kelly Edmison. At the time, Prestwick was the most important airport in the United Kingdom. Nearly all Trans-Atlantic ferry flights originated or terminated there. During the Ardennes offensive, one of the strangest cargoes of the war arrived in Prestwick when 250 Huskies were flown in. Great consternation prevailed upon receipt of a signal that "sleigh dog teams" wen arriving. Thinking the term a coding for VIP's, operation "Red Carpet" was initiated. But much to everyone's chagrin it was found that there actually were "sleigh dog teams" on board. Throughout the war period, many, notables passed through Prestwick. To name a few, the late King George of Greece, King Peter of Yugoslavia, Queen Wilhelmina of Holland with Prince Bernhardt and Princess Juliana, Prince Olaf of Norway, the late Duke of Kent, Prime Minister McKenzie King, General McNaughton, General Crerar, Air Marshals Breadner and Bishop, Eleanor Roosevelt, Admiral King, Genera Arnold and General Patton, along with numerous others. One day, a Russian aircraft stopped by en route to Washingtoi carrying Russian Ministers Molotov and Maisky. It was claimed that this aircraft had bombed Berlin two nights previous to leaving Moscow and that it had been built in 1936. It did in fact fly direct from Prestwick to Washington, non-stop. Few of us realize the great part that was played at Prestwick during the year 1939-45. A total of 2,392 return Ferry, flights left there. One day 74 four-engine bombers landed in an hour-more than one per minute. Throughout the month of October, 1945, BOAC Liberators alone operated 62 return ferry flights to Montreal as compared with a total of 7 in October 1941. Small wonder that we of TCA and all Scotland look with pride and a great sence of satisfaction to Prestwick and the part it will play in the future of air travel in this section of the world.

Terry's Trivia & Travel Tips Continental Airlines announced that beginning March 17, 2010, it will offer customers the option of purchasing, at check in, premium seat assignments for unreserved economy-class seats that feature extra legroom. Continental's OnePass Elite frequent flyer members and their traveling companions will be able to continue to assign themselves seats with extra legroom in economy class without charge. Continental joins several other U.S. and international airlines in offering customers the option of purchasing premium seat assignments.

Smilie Overheard on SoCal Approach frequency near a busy Southern California airport last year: N12345: "SOCAL, Cherokee N12345 is with you, with X-ray for the ILS to 26R." SOCAL: "Roger. N12345, fly heading 280 and descend to 3,000." N12345: "SOCAL, N12345. We have a problem. We seemed to have lost our squawk code. Can we have another one?" SOCAL: "N12345, would you look around the cockpit? Sometimes stuff falls on the floor."