Remembrance Day has passed for this year but Digital Poppies can still be bought online and the Royal Canadian Legion needs our support!

The original article below was created by Alan Rust for NetLetter #1402, November 9, 2018. It has been updated for 2020.

The Royal Canadian Legion’s Remembrance Day Poppy Campaign has a digital option for an online fundraising at www.mypoppy.ca.

Canadians will be able to personalize it, dedicate it and share it online – and add their own family stories and images – as their pledge to never forget those who served and sacrificed for our freedom.

We have once again created a Poppy in Alan's name.  Alan joined the Forces in 1968 where he was first introduced to his career as an aircraft maintenance engineer.

We have welcomed 281 new subscribers so far in 2020.

We wish to thank everyone for your support of our efforts.

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: Canadian Airlines, CP Air, Pacific Western, Eastern Provincial, Wardair, Nordair, Transair, Air BC, Time Air, Quebecair, Calm Air, NWT Air, Air Alliance, Air Nova, Air Ontario and Air Georgian and many more (let us know if we have omitted your airline).

Please feel free to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We will try to post your comments in the next issue but, if not, we will publish it as soon as we can.

Thanks!

The memory of the Great Blizzard at Dorval (YUL) in NetLetter #1445 sent in by Marty Vanstone prompted Lorne Paterson to share this memory -

Reference the story from Marty Vanstone re that period of the great blizzard, there is a lot more to that story than what the crew recalls. Firstly a little earlier history re the Maintenance crew in YUL. Our boss at the time will go by the initials of DJH which almost all maintenance people of the time will recognize. Nothing was impossible to him.

Thus, the reason all this occurred as it did. He decided that we had to have a plow for our new T300 tractor but it could not be just any plow. He had us measure the width of the DC-8 main landing gear and had a plow made that was one foot wider on each side. This plow was enormous and I guess we figured we would never use it. How wrong we were.

This plow became our saving grace in many storms, certainly not only this one. Our parking gates were always clear when nobody else could access theirs and many a towing operation occurred because we cleared our own way. In this case that is exactly what we did. The aircraft got onto the gate because the old plow cleared the way. It got to the hangar only because we plowed the way for it to get there. Getting to the runway the only way the aircraft was able to make it was the maintenance fellows cleared a path down the hangar line to allow the aircraft to taxi. In actual fact we had to plow twice the width so that the engines would not swallow all the snow. We actually got a visit later in the day by the DOT crew asking us to stop plowing because they could not move the piles we created. I remember this well as the duty crew, which was the PM shift worked basically round the clock for 2 days before we got sufficient replacement people to allow us to try and get home.

DJH showed up in the first morning on a skidoo he had gotten from a long-time friend of the maintenance people in YUL.

And I can still remember one of our very best engineers calling into the office. DJH answered the phone and the individual advised that he just could not get to work. He lived a couple of miles from the airport but all the roads were blocked. Being typical DJH the reply was “Can’t you just walk”. The YUL Maintenance crew were an amazing bunch of dedicated workers and I am proud to have been one of them. There are many offshore aircraft recovery stories one could tell. NO, was never a acceptable answer for DJH. When they wanted him to move to YYZ he refused and one day left his company and MOT identification on his desk and disappeared, never to return again to the hangar

Lorne Paterson,
Retired Manager Int'l Maintenance and Contracts.

Editors' note: Pity there is no photo of this monster.

Vic Bentley sends us this information -

I am retired from the airlines and volunteer at the Canadian Museum of Flight in Langley, BC. We come across lots of amazing stuff hidden away in corners of the library. So your 'NetLetter' got me looking up some of the files on aircraft.

This ‘mystery’ aircraft is a Fairchild 82. The registration under the wing is CF-AXC. It was registered to the British Yukon Navigation on 28 Sep 1935.

The file comments, 'Overran airport boundary in heavy snow Dawson, Yukon YT,  15 -11-36. Rebuilt as CF-AXK'

Below is a sister ship, CF-AXL of Canadian Pacific. 

This is from the files at the Canadian Museum of Flight in Langley, BC.

Regarding this photo in NetLetter #1447, Vic asks -

Did you notice the signature on the photo of the Barkley-Grow? It is Robert Service of "The Cremation of Sam McGee” fame!

He is shown with the pilot. Who was the pilot? Any historians out there?

Mae Wilson, after reading NetLetter #1448, sends this memory -

This is a great issue. I read it “cover to cover” and so much interesting stuff. I worked for Nordair Administration in the In-Flight and the Financial Departments until we became part of the ‘new’ Canadian Airlines International.

I was there as Supervisor of Office Services (across Eastern Canada) until I retired in 1990.

I really enjoy reading the Newsletter. Keep up the good work...and stay safe!

Mae Wilson

Jack Miles referring to the information from Mike Nash in "Subscriber Feedback" in NetLetter #1448 sends this information -

This may be of interest to the readers regarding the "DC-3" weathervane in Whitehorse.

Technically, it is not a DC-3, that was the commercial version. CF-CPY was built for the U.S. Army Air Force, as it was then known, and delivered as a military C-47 DL "Skytrain" type on August 28 1942. Canadian Pacific took possession of it on December 11, 1945.

I quickly add that I was not there for either of those dates.

Regards, Jack M. Miles.

Editors' note: Construction number 4665, U.S. Army assigned 41-18540, CPA acquired the aircraft from C.H. Babb Inc., Glendale, California and assigned fin # 275 during April 1946.

The aircraft was sold to Connelly-Dawson Airways, Whitehorse on April 28, 1960.

Source: Canadian Pacific Air Lines, Its History and Aircraft by D.M. Bain.

Francoise Cohen sends us these photos -

May be of interest!

Caz Caswell has sent us this photo of the Wardair Silver Streaks – Georgetown, Ontario 1989.

Back row, left to right: Steve Bayan, Tony Shevski, Doug Nicholson, Bill Curry, Ralph Clark, Terry Nord and
Glen Tibbles.

Front row, left to right: Murray Tremblay, Peter Smith, unknown goalie, Doug Stenhouse, Dale Paul and Benny.

Editors' note: Caz generously allows us to publish many of his aircraft images. Click Here to view his Flickr Galleries.

The picture below article was spotted by our Terry Baker in the "Between Ourselves" magazine issued July 1957. It shows a scene at the London Heathrow Airport (LHR) in 1957 at the TCA ticket counter with Passenger Agent Bill Ferguson handing a shipment of the Salk vaccine to a Canadian journalist. 

The photo and details were sent to Jack Morath, the UK Pionairs Social Director in London, who sent us this response -

Regarding the picture received from Terry Baker of Bill Ferguson in the North Side temporary departure lounge.

I spoke with Bill yesterday and he doesn't remember the picture being taken but confirms that he was a passenger agent when he joined TCA in 1956. He is very well and sounds great too. He is 88 now and living in a small village near Dartmouth, Devon. As he is not on the computer I have sent a package of pictures to him in the mail. He sounds just the same as I remember him.

Jack

Francoise Cohen sends copies of the staff tickets with this comment – 

It was a fringe benefit; Vacation Pass.

This particular pairing:  Montreal - Vancouver - Honolulu - Nandi, Fiji - Sydney - and back for upcoming Lima trip and later seven days lay-over-flights from Montreal to Amsterdam with shuttle to Athens and Tel Aviv.

Three other free passes tickets pictured were for Acapulco stays at the Acapulco Princess.

Anyone who may wish to contact Francoise can contact her via the NetLetter at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; we will pass along the information.

Organizers par excellence.

The 1995 Canadian Women in Aviation Conference was an unqualified success, bringing over 30 aviation enthusiasts together for three-and-a-half days of stimulating conversation and camaraderie.

Congratulations to Cathy Fraser, Air Canada First Officer - A320 and Co-Chair; Anna Pangrazi, pilot and Speaker Coordinator, Captain Micky Colton - Military Coordinator and Denise Egglestone, Air Canada Flight Operations Ground Training Instructor - Co-Chair and Treasurer for putting together an extraordinary event.

Pioneering peers.

Below, left to right: 

• Captain Rosella Bjornson, B-737 - Canadian Airlines was the first woman to fly jets for a major airline in north America in 1973 and later became Canada's first female captain at a major airline. 
• First Officer Judy Cameron, B-767, was Air Canada's first female pilot in 1978. 
• First Officer Glenys Robison, DC-9 is the youngest female pilot ever hired by Air Canada. She joined the company in 1980 at the age of 21. 
• First Officer Suzanne Pettigrew, DC-9 has been flying for 17 years and rebuilt airplanes early in her career when pilot positions were unavailable. 
• First Officer Cathy Fraser, A320 was told by her high school career counsellor that becoming a pilot was not possible for a girl. She has been flying for 17 years. 
• Denise Egglestone was Air Canada's first woman Ground Training Instructor in Flight Operations and has been flying for over 18 years.

Source: Air Canada "Horizons" magazine September 1995

Women in Aviation International’s 6th Annual Girls in Aviation Day (GIAD) was celebrated virtually September 26, 2020, with the launch of the exciting new Aviation for Girls App, sponsored by the U.S. Air Force. Within the first week, this free, year-round experience for girls ages 8-17 has already connected thousands of participants in 55 countries.

Source: www.wai.org/news

Captain Judy Cameron Scholarship.

Air Canada is pleased to announce that the application process for the second annual Captain Judy Cameron Scholarship, established in honour of the airline's first female pilot with the goal of helping the next generation of women follow in her trailblazing footsteps, is now open. The scholarship is awarded in conjunction with the Northern Lights Aero Foundation.

"The aviation industry has undergone drastic changes over the last few months. Encouraging the next generation of girls and young women to pursue their aviation dreams is as important as ever. Air Canada remains committed to championing equal opportunities for all qualified people.

Last year, four pilots-in-training benefitted from this scholarship and we look forward to selecting the next honourees. Many capable and qualified women work at Air Canada as pilots flying the most sophisticated aircraft globally, as engineers maintaining technologically advanced airplanes and systems, and in specialized, multidisciplinary airline operations. At Air Canada, there is no glass ceiling. Women hold C-suite, executive and senior management roles across our airline," said Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources and Communications Officer at Air Canada.

Click Here to read the full News release.

Click the image below to view Judy's inspirational advice to young women. 

As Air Canada reported its third-quarter financial results Monday, the airline said it is looking to convert some of its recently retired Boeing 767s into dedicated cargo-only aircraft. However, first, the carrier needs to reach an agreement with its pilots.

The year 2020 has certainly meant a marked increase in the makeshift and dedicated freighter conversion market. As Air Canada has withdrawn 25 Boeing 767 from its leisure subsidiary Air Canada Rouge, it is looking to use them on the newfound up-and-coming cargo market.

Full story at SimpleFlying.com

Singapore Airlines launches Digital Connection Service.

The Star Alliance Connection Service was introduced in 2017 to facilitate time critical flight connections between Star Alliance member airlines and, until now, has required dedicated staff support to assist affected passengers in transferring between flights.

The digital version of the Star Alliance Connection Service embeds in the participating member airline’s mobile app, providing updated transfer information and intuitive navigational services through the customer’s smartphone at major hub airports, without further intervention.

Information provided by the digital version includes the optimum route from the arrival to the departure gate, as well as distance and time needed to get there. In the case of critical connections, passengers receive a digital express connection card that allows expedited passage through certain checkpoints.

Source: www.staralliance.com/en/news

1995 -

• June 1 - Air Canada went on-line with the internet and CompuServe networks.
• June 20 - Inauguration of service between Toronto and Tel Aviv.

Found in the "Horizons" magazine.

Issue dated July 1995.

At a ceremony at the 1995 Paris Air Show, capped by a spectacular fly-by, Air Canada took delivery of its first Airbus A340, making it the first North American operator of the four-engine, long-range aircraft. The market value of an A340 is approximately U.S. $120 million.

Whirlwind tour of Osaka.

Sixteen Passenger Sales Agents from Vancouver Reservations travelled to Osaka, Japan to learn more about Air Canada's newest destination.

According to Sakina Agha, it was an action-packed three days of touring. "This was a memorable trip," she said, "and it was hard to say 'sayonara' to Osaka. Our trip not only enhanced our knowledge of Japan, but also helped the group form a special bond with one another."

Front row, from left to right: May Bakhtiar, Jaydee Collins, Mila Ubungen-chee, Kyoko Kabaya and Adeline Chen.

Back row, from left to right: Nasrine Shambayati, Kirsten Park, Leslie Kozak, Carole Sehn, Dale Takasaki, Anne Mourton, Sakina Agha, Karen Friedrich, Olivier Grebert, Heather March, Junko Kono, Yoshi Takiya, Margaret Popkey and Barry Bakhtiar.

Issue dated August 1995.

Keith Wallace, Calgary Customer Sales and Service Agent delighted colleagues and customers by wearing his original TCA uniform on his last day of work after 36 years of service.

"How many of us could do that?," asks his wife Maureen who also works for Air Canada.

G-7 Summit Brings World to Halifax

Japan was one of eight countries to attend the Summit in Halifax where Air Canada performed all the ground handling for the event.

Members of the ramp team included Bev Sanford, Lead Station Attendant; Gerry Staples, Summit Office, Shearwater Airport; Kim Horne, Acting Training Instructor; Keith Sharon, Summit Office, Halifax Airport; Steve Macdonald, Customer Service Manager - Halifax; Mike Whitehead, Training Instructor; Lead Station Attendants Dereck Pepler, Al Young, Carl Skinner, Shaun Dauphinee, and Rob Pepler.

Industry Travel, Dorval, honoured Administrative Assistant Pascale Seguin-Tams on her 25th service anniversary.

From left to right: Denise Depass, Acting Coordinator; Coordinators Caroline Tune and Linda Kwoon; Irene Vazalinskas, Manager; Pascale Seguin-Tams, Valerie Woods, Coordinator; Ghislain Ouellet and Irene Thoma-Dore, PNR Assistant.

Missing from the photo is Judy Smandych.

Members of the crackerjack Tel Aviv start-up.

The team included, left to right: Jim McCall, Cargo Sales Coordinator - Prestwick; Mike "Mr. Belly" Bailey, Operations Coordinator - Heathrow; Steve Ruffle, Commissary Agent - Heathrow; Roddy McPhee, Customer Service Manager - Prestwick; Deborah Gilbrook, Customer Sales & Service Coordinator - Heathrow and Howard Lewis, Load Agent - Heathrow.

Jim Sterling and crew. Photo taken by Gail Cairns on September 22, 1974.

First Officer Doug Johnson, Edwina Rogers, Captain Jim Stirling, Brenda Knowles, Debbie Fulton and Gail Cairns.

Posted January 8, 2018. (Date of photo not mentioned).

Stewardesses with Eastern Provincial Airways are sporting new uniforms designed by Claude W. Vincent, of Dartmouth. There are three basic outfits in shades of brown and orange.

Left is Connie Em - (Editors' note: article was missing part of text), wearing a dress and brown jacket.

In the centre is Pat Laviolette wearing a brown tweed coat with a hood and tan coloured slacks, and right is Susan Giffin of Kentville, wearing a multi-coloured jacket and skirt outfit.

The three women were based in Montreal.

Posted December 31, 2016.

EPA's 3 Year Old Stowaway.

Three and a half year old Neil Saunders of Wabush ran away from home and, by evading security, managed to board our flight PV 115/116 just before it took off for Stephenville, Gander and St. John's. Captain Keith Lacey, First Officer Doug Bastow and Senior Flight Attendant, Barbara Clowater, discovered the stowaway while enroute to Stephenville.

The RCMP were notified and his parents advised. He was then flown on to St. John's where he took the return flight to Wabush a short time later. Neil told the Flight Crew and RCMP that he likes airports and planes and needed a holiday. The young boy was well looked after by the flight attendants enroute and was none the worst for his experience when he deplaned from our flight in Wabush, where his happy parents Mr. & Mrs. Barry Saunders were eagerly awaiting-his safe return.

Marilyn Saunders notes: Our son Neil's intention was to visit his uncle in Gooseberry Cove who he dearly loved.

Posted January 8, 2018.

Eastern Provincial Airways reunion 1995.

A British company envisions a day when a first responder will swoop down out of the sky to render emergency aid and it re-enacted what that might look like recently. Gravity Industries shot a video showing a man in its “jet suit” launching on the mission and landing next to the person in make-believe distress. The demonstration was carried out in cooperation with the U.K.’s Great North Air Ambulance Service and it might be something deployed in its rescue services.

“We think this technology could enable our team to reach some patients much quicker than ever before,” GNAAS Director of Services Andy Mawson told TransportUp. “In many cases this would ease the patient’s suffering. In some cases, it would save their lives.”

In the drill, the man in the suit launched from beside a road to a woman who was pretending to be a hiker with a leg injury.

The jet suit, which includes a backpack with the main thrusters and sleeve-mounted steering jets, propelled the “rescuer” to the woman in 90 seconds. It would have taken about 25 minutes to hike there. The suit uses a total of six micro-jets powered by either jet fuel or diesel.

Source: avweb.com/aviation-news

Trans Provincial Airlines, Ltd.: Canada (1964-1994)

Trans Provincial is established by a group of local businessmen at Terrace, British Columbia, in 1964 to offer charter and scheduled services from Prince Rupert to the Queen Charlotte Islands as well as to Stewart, Alice Arm, Hartley Bay, Bella Bella, Ocean Falls, Prince George, Smithers and the Alaskan town of Ketchikan.

Jim Pattison Industries purchases the carrier in 1979 as one of many acquired for the formation of Air BC, Ltd.

Source: worldhistory.biz/contemporary-history

'A pretty amazing feat': Centenary of first trans-Canada flight celebrated.

The trip took multiple flights over 2 weeks to journey from Halifax to Esquimalt, B.C.

This week marks 100 years since a group of aviators, many recently returned from serving in the First World War, made a daring first: crossing continental Canada — nearly 5,400 kilometres — by air.

The trip from Halifax to Vancouver, undertaken in segments using a series of planes at designated stops across the country, was originally supposed to take 48 hours, but the weather and aircraft troubles got in the way, explained John Orr, a retired colonel with the Canadian Armed Forces and a historian with the Shearwater Aviation Museum in Nova Scotia.

The first leg of the journey, from Halifax to Saint John — via seaplane — almost ended in disaster.

"It had been very rough over the Bay of Fundy. And the engine cowling ripped off, sheared off an engine-driven fuel pump, covered the pilot in fuel. He did a forced landing in the Saint John River," he said.

Crews secured another aircraft, refueling in Fredericton, and eventually landing on the St. Lawrence River "in the midst of a howling gale."

The crews switched to land-planes, and the trip from Calgary into Vancouver was another major challenge, said Orr, not just because of the raging snowstorm, but the geography.

"We have to remember that in those days, you didn't fly over the mountains. You flew through the mountains," he said. "So they had to navigate that. And that was really, really challenging."

Eventually, on Oct. 21, 1920, with a last-minute extension to Esquimalt, B.C., crews completed their trans-continental journey.

Source: www.cbc.ca/news

Australian airline Qantas conducted a seven-hour sightseeing flight in a 787 Dreamliner the weekend of October 10, 2020 operating out of Sydney Airport (SYD).

According to the airline, the Great Southern Land scenic flight was aimed at frequent fliers who “wanted an opportunity to enjoy some of the airline’s Spirit of Australia hospitality even if they couldn’t travel as they normally do” due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The trip included low-level flybys of locations such as the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Byron Bay and Sydney Harbour.

Qantas previously stated that the 150 seats offered on the flight sold out in ten minutes.

Ticket prices ranged from AU$787 (US$564) a seat for economy to AU$3,787 (US$2,714) for business class.

It has been reported that the airline is considering offering similar flights in the future.

Source: avweb.com/aviation-news

Larry Milberry canavbooks.wordpress.com has these reading suggestions -

Gordon Mitchell, Bush Pilot

This delightful new book has several special features: it adds importantly to the Austin Airways story, it’s a model for combining aviation history with family legacy, it comes with many new archival bush flying photos + has a DVD with rare, old-time bush flying movies.

A real gem of a package, especially if you have our Austin Airways, Norseman or Air Transport in Canada books.

Dakota #12253

Benoit de Mulder’s breathtaking new book about this renowned Dakota.

A huge treat for any aviation bibliophile! Covers this Dak’s wartime role with 271 Sqn as FZ668, its harrowing D-Day and subsequent Normandy operations. In-depth history with magnificent photo coverage. Then, post-war “ops” until FZ668 lands at Cartierville to be converted by Canadair for Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA) – you know this story from various CANAV books.

Its TCA years as CF-TER, then 12253 goes to the DOT for years of valuable service as CF-DTD. It finally retires in 1993, then sits forlornly for decades at St. Hubert until rescued by the Buffalo Airways “Plane Savers” & returned to flight status in 2019.

All the details of how this “miracle” was performed, great credit is given to the dedicated restoration team. You’ll be fascinated at this process that almost defies possibility.

 Max Ward - Remembering a True Canadian Aviation Pioneer

While watching the CBC news during the coverage of the American election, I was surprised to see a scrolling message advising that Max Ward had passed away a few weeks short of his 99th birthday.

It seems to me that the life of this remarkable pioneer in Canadian aviation deserves much more than just a footnote quickly passing by.

When I joined Air Canada in the early 1980's, Wardair rented hangar space from Air Canada  in Toronto's '747 Hangar' for overnight 'A' checks. At that time, the relationships between employees of Air Canada, CP Air and Wardair were very cordial and exchange of aircraft parts led to frequent interaction between 'Stores' staff. 

The professionalism of Wardair people always impressed me. Mr. Ward's integrity was filtered down through the ranks and Wardair had a well deserved reputation for excellent customer service.

The events of the years that followed have been well documented and Mr. Ward was certainly a dominant figure in the headlines.

Always an innovator and never afraid to challenge the status quo, there is absolutely no doubt that Max Ward was a factor in the evolution of aviation in Canada for several decades. 

The National Film Board of Canada produced an excellent documentary (click the image below) back in 1984 focusing on Mr. Ward's fight for de-regulation of airline operations in Canada.

Additional Info:

CBC report on the passing of Max Ward.

Wikipedia Profile

The Max Ward Story at Amazon 

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

Answer for the mystery airline in Odds and Ends.

Air Serbia is the flag carrier of Serbia, headquartered in Belgrade. Founded in June 17, 1927 as Aeroput.

Aeroput was among the first civilian aircraft carriers, being the 10th airline company founded in Europe and the 21st in the world. The airline ceased to exist during World War II in Yugoslavia, but was renewed after the war under the new name Jugoslovenski Aerotransport (abbreviated JAT; English: Yugoslav Air Transport) until it was renamed and rebranded on October 26, 2013.

Here is a photo of a Potez 292 biplane at the old Belgrade-Dojno Polje Airport in 1929.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroput

Our cartoon is by F.G. Freeland which appeared in "Between Ourselves" magazine issue
July 1956.

The caption was "I understand they are putting on an extra section tonight".