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Neil Burton sent us this memory - I just about missed this important date, as I was one of the staff making the move. It was 35 years ago, Friday, April 12, 1985, that the 4th passenger terminal of Fulton Field (Kamloops B.C.), constructed in 18 months at a cost of $6.6 million, was officially opened by John Fraser, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Mr. Fraser attended on behalf of Don Mazankowski, Minister of Transport. Selected dignitaries attended the ceremony, while the public got to use the new terminal on Monday, August 15.
Our employees spent the weekend, between scheduled flights, moving check-in materials and air cargo on hand, to the new terminal. P.W.A. moved from the 3rd terminal (now the Airport administration), which was originally opened on August 15, 1964, by The Honourable J.W. Pickersgill, Minister of Transport. Opening of the reconditioned airport had a western theme. This terminal, costing about $100,000, housed airport manager’s office, coffee shop and weather station. Work on the airfield, begun in 1962, amounted to $3,000,000 in upgrades. The air radio station, previously at Ashcroft Manor, was then moved into this terminal building by April 1966 and then the Department of Transport (D.O.T.) took over the weather observation, previously observed by the City of Kamloops staff, on June 30, 1966. Alterations to this terminal were made in 1968 to accommodate the increased passenger loads of the Boeing 737 aircraft. The second passenger terminal building (R.C.A.F. vintage era 1943) was that used by Canadian Pacific Air Lines for its pre-inaugural air service from Vancouver, through Kamloops, and on to the municipalities of Williams Lake, Quesnel to Prince George and return, on April 15, 1950 using DC-3 equipment. That terminal housed the C.P.A. offices and the weather office over the years. Beginning in May 1957, Mrs. Franson applied to have a lunch bar in this building. This structure, when not needed on the airport, was moved to 2680 Tranquille Rd, just a short distance from the east end of the runway and is still used as family accommodation. Building No. 1 was constructed prior to the official opening of Kamloops Municipal Airport on August 5, 1939. It was a hangar, with an attached building, believed to have been the clubhouse of the Kamloops Aero Club. In 1942, this building was either disassembled and moved, or just moved to the entrance of the present airport, near the present Progressive Air Services building, when construction began on the airport. Kamloops Aircraft Ltd. sought to purchase this building from the City of Kamloops, when the city decided to turn the airfield back to the Department of Transport (March 31, 1961). The D.O.T. saw the need for the hangar during reconstruction of the airport, which began in 1962. |
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The materials were sold to Jack Duffy of Anglemont Estates, located on the north Shore of Shuswap Lake. This photo of the structure, still bearing Pacific Western Airlines Ltd. name appeared in PWA "Flightlines" magazine Vol 11 #14, August 15, 1986 – page 15, with this caption: "This neglected hangar was found near a little grass landing strip near the Anglemont resort in B. C." Research: Neil Burton, April 16, 2020. |
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Jack Morath sends this memory -
Peter Baldry and myself organized it using the poster as an entry ticket as well. This pub was used in earlier times by Douglas Bader the famous second world war pilot during his courting days with his future wife. Another event Peter and I organized was a Hawaiian themed evening in Staines. |
