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She earned her private license in 1934 and travelled to South Africa and became an instructor in the Royal South African Air Force on military aircraft. Bristol then went on to upgrade her qualifications and earn commercial licenses in the U.S. and Canada. During WWII, she became the first Canadian woman ferry pilot to serve with the RAF Transport Auxiliary. From 1961 until her retirement in 1969, she taught float plane flying on the west coast. Source: gmam.ca |
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Terry Baker shares this memory. The 1970's were the years when airlines began to operate interline tours in which their employees, and those of other airlines, could participate. Such tours could be golf in Hawaii by United Airlines while American and Delta offered various tours and Olympic Airlines with tours of Athens, Greece. The 'TAPTours' of Air Portugal, the only tour my wife and I used several times. In March of 1973, for $49.99 per person, we had a 3 day / 2 night trip (including meals except lunch), including a morning tour of Lisbon, an afternoon tour of the environs including Cascais and Pena castle and, most importantly, confirmed air space, the hotel was the Fénix Lisboa. The route, on a B-707, was via Santa Maria (Azores) airport (SMA) both ways. During this trip, we met another couple from England who happened to also be on a TAPTour. They lived just several houses away on the same street we used to live on. We had not seen them for 10 years. He worked for British European Airways. In January 22, 1973, at a cost of $79.99 each, we took the 7 day tour which included 5 days in Oporto. This flight from Lisbon, was on a Caravelle aircraft. We left Oporto on January 28, 1973 to Lisbon, but the flight to Montreal was full, so we were routed on a B-707 via New York (JFK), from there we used our pass on an Air Canada DC-9 to Montreal. During a 3 day / 2 night trip in 1974, as the flight was not busy, we got to chatting with the flight attendant who told us he used to work for TCA. When we deplaned, he handed us a bag with several small wine bottles, crackers and cheese, we devoured these as a picnic on the ramparts of the castle overlooking Lisbon which, in those days, was a bird sanctuary, with several birds joining us. With several co-workers, for the next several years, we would go on TAPTours for a golf weekend. During one visit, one of our members tried his luck on the tables in the casino at Cascais, watched by the rest of us in the balcony. Having settled at the table he glanced up at us and waved, during which time the dealer had dealt his cards and he had lost his bet. However, all was not lost as he bought an exotic metal waste bin at the market, complete with rain water, which sloshed all over us when he tipped the bin over to view the underneath. Our final golf trip was in 1976. The following year the price was $299.99 per person and included the airfare. In those early days, Lisbon was a nice looking city, with sidewalks composed of small stones hand laid in a pattern. Sadly, with the influx of tourists during the world fair, cars were parked on the sidewalks in most places and the oil drips has marred the appearance. The castle has since been remodeled as a tourist attraction. We have fond memories of our various trips on those TAPTours. |
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The Career Fair runs October 18, 2023 from 1 - 5 p.m., and October 19, 2023 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. On October 19, the third day of the weeklong trade show, NBAA will highlight nine career categories: airport business, business management, broker/sales, cabin attendant, innovation and technology, maintenance, marketing, pilot, and scheduler/dispatcher. Source: nbaa.org |
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We wish to thank everyone for the continuing support of our efforts. |
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We invite you to visit our website at www.thenetletter.net/netletters to view our archives. Restoration and posting of archive issues is an ongoing project. We hope to post every issue back to the beginning in 1995. |
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We always welcome feedback about Air Canada (including Jazz and Rouge) from our subscribers who wish to share current events, memories and photographs. Particularly if you have stories to share from one of the legacy airlines: Trans-Canada Air Lines, Canadian Airlines, CP Air, Pacific Western, Maritime Central Airways, Eastern Provincial, Wardair, Nordair, Transair, Air BC, Time Air, Quebecair, Calm Air, NWT Air, Air Alliance, Air Nova, Air Ontario, Air Georgian and all other Canadian based airlines that once graced the Canadian skies. Please feel free to contact us at We will try to post your comments in the next issue but, if not, we will publish it as soon as we can. Thanks! |
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