Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

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

Pacific Coastal Airlines, a British Columbia based regional airline, launched its new Penticton - Vancouver non-stop service on Monday January 11, 2021, after Air Canada abandoned the small South Okanagan airport.

Pacific Coastal Airlines, which says it's the sixth-largest airline operating at YVR, now offers flights from Vancouver International Airport South Terminal (YVR) to Penticton Regional Airport (YYF) four days a week.

Source: www.msn.com

Peter Moodie sent us in this additional info and photo relating to 'Subscriber Feedback' in NetLetter #1453 -

My good neighbour forwarded your last copy to me and I would like to respond to Roger Slauenwhite. I am very fortunate to be the present caretaker of CF-EOH, one of the Fleet 80 Canucks from Central Airways.

We bought EOH in 1986 from the Edmonton Flying Club. Over the years I have met about 35 people in person or through correspondence who learned to fly in EOH or instructed in her. One of the earliest was Russ Brown who retired from CPAir off the 747. He had soloed EOH in 1952 and sent me a copy of his log book pages. Many of the pilots I flew with had time in EOH and of course there were a few stories.

EOH was the first Canuck converted to the O-200 engine. Transport Canada required a test program as it was considered a large increase from 85 to 100 Hp. On the thirteenth test flight an instructor demonstrated a short field and obstacle clearance take-off to his passenger, another instructor. A now retired Air Canada pilot witnessed the result. At somewhere between about thirty and a hundred feet the too steep climb angle slowed the plane until the wing stalled. He managed to keep the wings level to impact and the written off airframe was rebuilt over the slower winter period by the Flying Club maintenance department.

EOH now has about 22,500 hours on her, more than any other Canuck I know of and is in semi-retirement at a grass airfield near Winnipeg. In winter we operate on skis and visit various lakes and fields in southern Manitoba.

Happy landings,
Peter

Roger Slauenwhite sent in the two photos below relating to the arrival of the first TCA Viscount and, years later, an ad for sale.

"See for sale ad in Canadian Aviation Magazine dated September 1976. Price looks pretty good for a 48 seat aircraft with 5000 hours remaining to next overhaul. Wonder what price Air Canada sold them for"

Roger

Editor's Note from Ken Pickford:

I believe almost none of the Viscounts mentioned in that 1976 ad were sold and they remained parked at YWG and were later scrapped. The same applied for many Viscounts that were retired earlier. If you look at fleet lists, of all 51 Viscounts operated by TCA/AC, not very many found buyers that returned them to service. Some went to museums etc. Half a dozen or so went to an operator in then-Zaire fairly briefly.

You will probably have better info but I recall photos of many Viscounts parked derelict at YWG long after being withdrawn from service.

Additional info from Bob Sheppard:

When I worked in Winnipeg, from 1980-1987, I remember seeing Viscounts parked at the south end of the airport. Also there was one parked on Inkster Blvd. that I passed on my route to work.

It was purchased for what I think was a private recreational area with the engines removed. The area had previously closed down so I never had a close look at it. 

From Terry Baker:

Found in Horizons #411 from May 1974. 

Era ends with Viscount sale

Signatories to the Viscount sale were, from the left: Robert Pierson, United Aviation Services; Russel Scrim, Executive VP, Beaver Enterprises and President Ralph Vaughn.

The last 24 of the Company's Viscounts have been sold to two Montreal firms in an agreement signed last month.

The total package being sold to United Aviation Services Ltd., and Beaver Enterprises Ltd., also includes one simulator, spare parts including engines and propellers, and all applicable ground equipment.

The aircraft will be delivered to their new owners in phases to last over a one-year period,

The sale of the British-built aircraft marks the end of an era in North American aviation. The Company, then Trans-Canada Air Lines, put Viscounts into service on April 1, 1955 on the Montreal-Fort William-Winnipeg route. It was the first North American carrier to operate turbine-powered aircraft, thus setting the stage for the dawn of the jet age.

In all, the Company purchased a total of 51 of the mainstay of the fleet in the late 1950's and early 1960's.

The last Viscount flights will take place on schedule April 27 on the Sault Ste. Marie - Toronto, Montreal - Ottawa-Val d'Or return, and the Montreal - Quebec City - Fredericton - Saint John - Moncton - Halifax return routes.

And from Wayne Albertson:

Registration CF-TGI was featured in a National Film Board documentary entitled 'Routine Flight' that was the subject of my article from NetLetter #1361.

CF-THS is preserved at Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada and its restoration was the subject of my article for NetLetter #1380.

CF-THG is preserved at the British Columbia Aviation Museum and is featured in this YouTube video. 

A passenger service agent waits for passengers to disembark from British Airways Concorde at the Vancouver Ops Centre in order to escort them to Customs and Immigration.

The red carpet is for British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher.

Nordair acquired

CPAL became a major aviation participant in Quebec on July 31, 1986 when the provincial government sold Quebecair's 35 per cent interest in Nordair to CPAL, which already held 65 per cent, and then sold Quebecair itself to CPAL commuter carrier Nordair Metro.

The transactions paved the way for CPAL and Nordair to merge, thus making CPAL a powerful force in domestic aviation. Full details were distributed to employees on August 1, 1986 in a News Alert bulletin.

Below is a photo taken at YVR on October 31, 1985 of an unusual hybrid livery of a B737-200 that CP Air operated on a short term lease from Britannia Airways in 1985 under registration C-GXCP.

In 1987, Canadian Airlines leased the same aircraft under registration C-GCAU.  It was registered as G-BJCV while flying for Britannia Airways.

Photo courtesy of Mike Head at JetPhotos.com. 

Here is the same aircraft while flying for Ryanair painted to advertise Hertz Rent-a- Car in 1994.

A full list of of this aircraft's career can be found at PlaneSpotters.net. 

Photo courtesy of Ken Fielding at Wiki Commons.

Retired pilot nominated for heritage award.

James McInnis spent more than 34,000 hours in the air during his career in aviation.

If you went to Disneyland in the 1980s, he may have flown you there as a pilot on the Vancouver-to-Los Angeles route for more than a decade. But the highlight of his 50-year career was flying the Queen across B.C. during her 1971 royal tour.

McInnis, 86, has been nominated for a City of Richmond heritage award by his friend, Helen Healey, a former flight attendant. The annual awards recognize the accomplishments of individuals and organizations for conservation as well as education and awareness about the city’s diverse heritage.

“He was a sharp pilot,” Healey said recently. “You had to be sharp on the B.C. district, with the rain and snow and ice.”

McInnis was born and raised in Vancouver. In 1951, at age 17, he became the youngest person to hold a private pilot’s licence in Canada. He joined the air force and flew fighter planes out of Vancouver after training in Manitoba. He also worked as a flight instructor.

In 1962, he began his career as a commercial pilot with CP Air in a propeller plane “just as jets were coming in,” he said. McInnis flew local flights, then moved on to North American routes, flying a Boeing 737 for 22 years as CP Air became Canadian Airlines. His work took him to many airports in Canada and the United States, most often Montreal and L.A. “I took my kids to Disneyland six times,” he said.

He later flew international routes, mostly to Europe, before ending his aviation career flying to Hong Kong, Bangkok and Tokyo.

Trips to Asia often lasted four days, he said, as he flew first to Hong Kong, spending a night there before flying to Bangkok, then back to Hong Kong, and finally returning to Vancouver.

“It was tiring,” he said. “I always did a lot of walking when I got to the ground. That really helped me.” 

McInnis recalled the 1971 royal visit when he was tasked with flying the Queen, Prince Philip and Princess Anne to several cities over two weeks. Prince Philip spent time in the cockpit, and at the end of the tour, the pilot shook hands with the Queen. “It was a great thrill,” he said.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he has missed spending time with his “airline cronies,” who would often have lunch at YVR on Sundays. He will also miss the Air Canada Pionairs Christmas party.

When he retired in 1994, he fulfilled a lifelong dream to fly a helicopter. He sold his private plane and took a few trips to Hawaii and Florida with his wife. But he thinks about flying often. “I miss it every day,” he said.

Source: The Vancouver Sun