Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

C-GDPW - End of 46 Years of Service 

Subscriber Vic Bentley contacted us to point out that a recent incident involving the ditching of Transair flight # 810 off the coast of the island of Oahu, shortly after takeoff from Honolulu, involved a Boeing 737-200C that was originally delivered to Pacific Western Airlines in October of 1975. 

Fortunately, the only souls on board the cargo flight were the two pilots who were both rescued.

(See: CBC.ca for more details about the incident).

Vic writes: "At that time it was fitted with a forward freight door and the ‘gravel kit' - a deflector on the nose gear and vortex generator probes extending under the front of the engine cowl. The retractable airstair passenger entry door was moved to the aft LH side of the aircraft".

Ken Pickford notes:

The name of the Hawaii operator is ironic considering the original operator, PWA, and their 1979 acquisition of a previous 'Transair', the Winnipeg-based regional carrier. The Transair name of the Hawaii carrier is a marketing name. The actual operator of the aircraft was Rhoades Aviation.
.
Boeing line # 427 (serial #21116) was delivered in combi configuration to Pacific Western in October 1975 and remained in the fleet after the creation of Canadi>n Airlines in 1987.

It was acquired by Canair Cargo 1995-97 and then to Montreal-based charter carrier Royal Aviation 1997-99.

It then was acquired by Transmile Air Services of Malaysia until 2014 when it went to Transair, a cargo operator of Hawaii.

At the time of the incident, on July 2, 2021, it had 46 years of continuous service; see the table below.

Additional Reference: www.planespotters.net

Editors' Note: The FAA has grounded Rhoades Aviation, whose Boeing 737-200 ditched off Honolulu July 2, and has also revealed that action against the operator has been in the works since last fall. 

Source: AVweb.com

C-GDPW

9M-PML

N810TA

Photo in transition livery from Pacific Western to Canadian Airlines, September 1987.

Courtesy of George Hamlin at Jetphotos.com.

In our last issue, we posted a few short videos of Fin #853 which has been painted in special Olympic livery.

Montreal videographer Mark Brandon has recently posted an excellent new video (runtime 9:28) of arrival and departure at Trudeau International Airport on YouTube.

Don't forget to check out Mark's full video library after viewing. 

Canadian Airlines International accepted delivery of its first Boeing 767-300ER (extended range) in Everett, Washington.

C-FCAB (fin #631) began its career on flight # 131, Vancouver-Los Angeles, on April 17, 1988. It was renumbered fin # 681 during the Canadian/Air Canada merger in 2001.

It retained the same registration during its entire 30-year career, retiring in October of 2017. 

As per planespotters.net, it was stored at Marana Pinal Airpark (MZJ) until broken up in December 2018.

Larry Milberry has put together a blog named 'The Great Lockheed Twins' and can be followed at www.canavbooks.wordpress.com (scroll down the page for the full article).

We have, with permission from Larry, some of the photos and story of those aircraft which ended up at Canadian Pacific Airlines. We will present these over several NetLetter issues.

Excepts via Larry Milberry below.

Ex-RAF Hudson CF-CRJ is one of my earliest Lockheed Twin photos. Here it is in a standard 3/4 front view at Malton Airport on October 9 (year unspecified).

Originally USAAC 41-23631, it was transferred to the RAF under lend lease to become BW769. It was delivered to RAF 45 Group (Ferry Command) at Dorval around October 1942, but some accident ensued. It then was acquired by Canadian Pacific Airlines in 1946, repaired and registered CF-CRJ.

CPA added six such Hudsons, but I know little about their use. Perhaps they were spares for CPA's small fleet of L14's. In 1949 CPA sold its Hudsons to the Photographic Survey Corp., which was more commonly known as Kenting Aviation Limited of Oshawa (base) and Toronto (offices).

My earliest copy of the Canadian Civil Aircraft Register (CCAR (1955)) listed CF-CRJ 'K and 'L. These served through the 1950s and early 1960s from the Canadian Arctic to South America, even distant Ceylon on aero-survey contracts.

By good fortune, in 1967 "CRJ” was donated by Field Aviation of Toronto to some history-minded Newfoundlanders headed by A.J. Lewington, DFC. Thanks to this foresight, it survives today in wartime colours at the North Atlantic Aviation Museum in Gander, Newfoundland.

Editors' Note: Our records indicate this aircraft was a Hudson 111, c/n 6448 registered at Canadia Pacific Airlines on May 15, 1946 fin # 241 and sold to Photographic Survey Corporation in May 1949.

(Source: CPAL Its History and Aircraft by D.M.Bain) 

Found on the Eastern Provincial Airways Facebook page

Posted on December 23, 2015.

Posted on December 31, 2016.

Yuletide season at Charlottetown.

A special effort was made by our staff to put "Our customers above all" and to capture the holiday spirit. Janet Anderegg and fellow staff employees were responsible for the attractive decorations at our counter. All female staff donned a Christmas corsage, and everyone participated by trying to do a little extra for our customers. As you may note below, we expressed our thanks and holiday message via an insert in the local newspaper.

Pictured from left to right are: Claude Goodwin, Joe Basha, Richard Chaisson, Helen Cox, Paula Kenny, Marilyn Norris, Libby Cox, Janet Anderegg, Janet MacKenzie and Paula MacKenzie.

Missing from the picture are: Marilyn Johnston, Carole Ellis, Terri Cheverie and Don MacCallum.

Posted on January 8, 2018.

Our cartoon is by Dave Mathias appeared in the 'Horizons' magazine issue January 1974.

The caption "According to regulations Mr Finchley, I must assume all you checked in was a black suitcase handle".