We have welcomed 225 new subscribers so far in 2022.

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

Back issues of The NetLetter are available in both the original newsletter format and downloadable PDF format.

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.

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 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!

From the Pionairs U.K. - E.C. district

Our next Christmas Lunch will be held at the
Best Western Ship Hotel

70 High Street, Monument Green, Weybridge, KT13 8BQ

Sunday,  December 4, 2022.

Drinks from 12.30 pm, lunch at 1:00 pm

Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

Explorations Courses – November Schedule

All times Eastern Time

• Thursday, November 17: How to Create a Video with Windows “Video Editor” Program (2:00 to 3:00 pm)
• Tuesday, November 22: Phishing e-mails (2:00 pm to 3:00 pm)
• Tuesday, November 29: Shopping for a Computer or Tablet (2:00 to 3:30 pm)

Pionairs.ca for full details

In reference to our Skyvan piece in NetLetter #1495

My name is Kent Davis, a retired pilot with Air Canada. I remember back in about 1969 or 1970, when I was flying with Selkirk Air Service, we acquired a Skyvan.

We operated it up and down the coast of Lake Winnipeg. We also took hunters out moose hunting. The aircraft could land and take-off on a dime. It operated into places that would appear impossible. I remember shortly after we bought it, a hunter discharged his shotgun inside and blew a good-size hole in the floor. Management was not impressed. I am not sure what happened to it but it might have gone to Transair. Just not sure. Thank you for your great work.

Kent ...

A country that forgets its past has no future - Winston Churchill.

Bob Baker sent this observation to his father, Terry Baker -

I noticed in the NetLetter #1494 a reprinted article by yourself from NetLetter #960 regarding LHR and personnel back in the day.

In the Customs section, you mention Phil Smythe, Wally Evans and Terry Baker. Should that have read Harry Baker or did you work in customs too? Just wondering if it was a typo.

Editor’s Note by Terry Baker: Actually, Wally Evans was responsible for comat shipments & customs documentation, Phil Smythe and Terry Baker (myself) were expeditors chasing up orders and AOG requests from Canada.

Harry Baker (my father, Bob's grandfather) was not part of the TCA crowd, but was senior customs officer; his job title was 'Chief Preventative Officer'. He originally set up the customs presence at Heathrow when it reverted from RAF to civil aviation in 1946.

Also a correction, we failed to identify Colin Bailey, Andy Cunning and Bill Cameron as being within the maintenance branch.

Just trying to set the record straight - Terry Baker.

Staying with NetLetter #1494

Jack Morath responded to same 'Remember When' article on the LHR staff.

Regarding your item about former colleagues, I will add my own 'bit' as follows:

I started in Import Cargo in 1958 with Alf Lake as the Manager.

Supervisors were Les Barett and Reg Stoakes. Imports consisted of George Bourne, Bill Lewis and Bill Brown. That was Imports!

At that time, we had one flight a day; except Tuesday when there was no flight.

Exports were next door with a few more staff. Our building was on the North Side of the Airport opposite the Air Hostess pub. I lived about a mile away on the Bath Road and went to work on my bike and went home at lunch time!

The aircraft operating at the time I was in cargo were Super Constellations. We had to wait a year before being able to use a pass to Canada, which was free at that time. The following year I took my first flight on TCA. It took sixteen hours flying time to Toronto, stopping at Prestwick, Goose Bay, Montreal and finally Toronto.

Those were the days!

Neil Burton found this item in the archives of the Kamloops Daily Sentinel of February 10, 1970.

Airline cancels flight to Spain.

More than 1,600 Canadians who had planned two-week vacations on Spain’s Costa Del Sol this year have been notified that their trips have been cancelled.

Wardair Canada Ltd. of Edmonton, the charter airline was to take the vacationers to Malaga, Andalusia. 

Funseekers International Ltd. of Calgary, the travel organization that arranged the package tour, expect to absorb heavy financial losses from the cancellation.

John Paddon of Vancouver, Wardair branch sales manager, said a sudden decision by the Spanish government to impose a punitive landing surcharge had forced the cancellation.

He said he understood the surcharge would amount to about 30 per cent of revenues, or $15,000 a flight. Ten Boeing 707 flights were planned, including six from Western Canada, starting February 23, 1970.

Neil Burton commented "Definitely short notice of cancellation".

In NetLetter #1495, Atty Heise submitted a photo of her husband, Murray, with an unidentified friend, working for Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope.

Atty has since been advised that the name of the gentleman (on the left in the photo) is Lorne Collins.

From a blog by Pierre Gillard of the Quebec Aerospace Museum. 

(Translated from the original)

The successor to the Vickers Viscount, the Vickers Vanguard, did not have the same success as its predecessor.

One of the aircraft of this fleet (former TCA registration CF-TKC) is pictured below after it was sold to Europe Aero Service and registered as F-BTOX.

We see it here at Le Bourget in October 1974 with a livery which leaves no doubt about its Canadian origin. 

Editors' Note: CF-TKC Fn # 903 c/n 726 Vickers Vanguard type 952 delivered December 14, 1960, sold to Europe Aero Service June 1972. Last noted as derelict at Perpignan.

A memory by Terry Baker -

My one and only flight on a North Star was on October 20, 1957 from Toronto (YYZ) to New York Idlewild airport.

At the time, working at LHR, our passes were good for 500 miles, too short for an Atlantic crossing, but, as a concession, we were allowed one return pass to Canada, annually, from where our 500 mile pass applied.

Our trip started October 19, 1957 from LHR to YYZ via Goose Bay on a Super Constellation. Return, on October 30, 1957, from New York was a Viscount to YUL then a Super Constellation to LHR.

Story by Jeff Hill ex TWA captain retired.

Around the world in the “seven oh seven”.

Excerpt reprinted from airfactsjournal.com

One of the first large, long range, intercontinental jet airliners to come on the scene in the late 1950s and early 60s was the Boeing 707. For TWA’s most senior pilots, moving from pistons to jets was the biggest transition since the change from visual to instrument flying in the 1930s. Several of our older captains opted to bypass the jets and finish their careers flying the Connie. The younger fellows, on the other hand, could hardly wait to jump into a jet! 

But for many of us less experienced young bucks the transition was not easy either, as there were many differences and totally new concepts: thrust vs. horsepower and expressed as “EPRs” (Engine Pressure Ratio), making RPM and MAP obsolete; thousands of pounds vs. hundreds of gallons of fuel; high altitude meteorology and Mach buffet vs. stall buffet; spoilers vs. ailerons; split spoilers to control pitch in the event of a jammed stabilizer; Dutch roll, high altitude meteorology and physiology, and more.

When it came to flying the jets the first thing we learned was that jets don’t respond to power changes like prop planes, they will only go up or down if you point them up or down, and then they will—at alarming rates of climb and descent! Suddenly everything happened much faster than it used to.

Our first was the Boeing 707-131 (B-707 is the basic model designation, -1 is the first variation and the next two numbers are the customer code, in TWA’s case, 31). The first were the “water wagons.” The Pratt & Whitney JT-3 straight pipe engines were injected with water, boosting engine thrust for takeoff from 11,600 to 12,400 lbs. per engine. When re-engined with higher thrust, cleaner, and quieter fan engines, they became B-707-131Bs.

They seemed like rockets at fight training weights (low fuel loads and no payload)–practically unmanageable, it seemed! Most training was still done in the airplane as simulators had not yet advanced much beyond procedures trainers.

The National Aeronautic Association (NAA) has selected astronaut and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Eileen Collins as the recipient of the 2022 Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, citing “her perseverance in the advancement of aviation and aerospace as a teacher, astronaut. 

Source: AVWeb.com 

More about the career of Colonel Collins at: 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eileen_Collins 

June 1979 -

Service between Edmonton - Winnipeg - Chicago began with B-727 equipment.

Issue dated June 1945

From the early days of Trans-Canada Air Lines

We peruse the early additions of the 'Between Ourselves' magazine to go back in time in case some readers are interested in genealogy information on their families. 

TCA purchases Three DC-3 Type Aircraft From U.S. Aircraft Disposal Board.

This is great news to a company badly pressed as is ours for additional flight equipment. We all know how inadequate our 25 Lodestars and 14-08's, with their limited seat and cargo capacity, have been to cope with the rising demand for air transportation in this country. Until now, however, wartime conditions of scarcity have made the obvious remedy impossible. 

They Knew Their Value.

When Vancouver airport set about the sale of Eighth Victory Loan Bonds, they found (among others) the three men pictured.

From the right: First Officer AL Dodd, formerly Flight Lieutenant Dodd of the RCAF, First Officer Fletch Taylor, formerly Squadron Leader DFC, of the RCAF, and Passenger Agent-in-charge Gil Minorgan also formerly of the RCAF.

They don't look like veterans, those two in the centre; but they are. By the standards of TCA, a young but powerful company whose early members did a great job in a very little time.

'Geb' Dempsey and Jack Goddard accordingly smoothed down their long white hair and beamed for the photographer as they were presented with their Service Pins up in Toronto's Central Reservation Control Office.

They joined a rapidly growing band of those who are entitled to wear the little white and gold circle in their lapels.

'Geb' Dempsey (second from left) started off with the Traffic Department in Montreal, moving later to Windsor and Victoria. He was Traffic Representative in Toronto's Royal York Office.

Jack Goddard (third from left) started at Malton Airport as a Passenger Agent, and was Space Control Agent-in-Charge at Central Control.

Wally Courtney, as Toronto's District Traffic Manager, stands beside Geb and Dave Paul, C.C's Space Control Supervisor, beside Jack. They, too, are five-year men.  

Yes, a new 3/4-ton station wagon for Kapuskasing.

It's rather outstanding and can be seen for miles around. The fenders are a bright red, the body grey with Trans-Canada Air Lines painted on both sides and it was, without a doubt, the talk of the town.

All kidding aside, it sure was appreciated and a great help to the station.

by Jack Johns

O. T. Larson trophy presented to the Winnipeg Champion 'Bombers'.

In late April, 1945 Winnipeg's Recreation Association (aka TCARA) closed out the 1944/45 bowling season with a banquet and dance at the Marlborough Hotel.

Left to right: Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Cheyne, Bert Tomalin, 'Bomber Captain', Mrs. Christie, George Cheyne, Vice President W.F. English, Jules Lemay and Jim Christie.

Submitted by subscriber Tim Johnston -

Wardair Boeing 727 CF-FUN 

The photograph (below left) was taken in the spring of 1966 at Edmonton Municipal Airport. It shows Wardair’s brand new Boeing 727 CF-FUN being introduced to the public. That’s Wardair’s DC-6B in the foreground, on that day becoming something of a relic having been usurped by the Boeing.

Max Ward is at the back door of his Imperial sedan, helping Mrs. Ward out for the christening ceremony. Note the air stairs lowered at the front port side of the aircraft. 

For the christening, the stairs were retracted into the fuselage and Mrs. Ward whammed a Champagne bottle onto the narrow aluminum door that covered the opening of the air stairs; twice! At that point, the engineer rushed up and stopped further damage to the fragile aluminum. A large steel hammer was then placed against the skin, the bottle was swung yet again and a successful eruption of champagne splashed upon the new aircraft, now christened Cy Becker. The public was invited to inspect the aircraft, entering by the air stair door that dropped from the rear of the fuselage and exiting by way of the front air stairs, now safely extended once again.

I had become familiar with the airport as I was a student at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) at the time, and often visited the Northwest Industries hangar where I was photographing the restoration of Grumman Goose aircraft CF-UAZ, a 1940’s aircraft still earning its keep along BC’s west coast. On that day, I walked out onto the tarmac to photograph Ward’s DC-6B as it framed the newcomer, took this shot that includes Pacific Western’s own DC-6B, and walked back and photographed the christening. I didn’t ask permission from security as there wasn’t any. Ah, glory days at airports! 

In Wayne’s Wings article in NetLetter # 1336, CF-FUN served with Wardair until sold to a Brazilian operator in 1973. It continued in airline service for another 20 years and was then sold to a Colombian operator. It was withdrawn from service in Bogota, Colombia in 1977 and converted into a restaurant on a Colombian army base. 

I thought it would be a nice idea if I sent the original negatives to Mr. Ward and did so. He wrote me the attached letter. This image was made by photographing a 16 x 20 inch print that I made at NAIT for an assignment. The print is over 50 years old and hasn’t received the best archival storage. I made this digital copy using Aperture on a Mac desktop computer. 

Tim Johnston

Editors' Note: Click an image below to view the original story on Tim's website. While you are there, browse through his full photo library.

Ken Pickford adds the following memory:

I also watched the delivery ceremony of the Wardair B-727 from the observation deck of the Edmonton Municipal Airport (YXD) terminal.

I think the date was April 25, 1966 (I was then 18). I have a colour slide somewhere of the aircraft on final approach to Runway 34 on a clear sunny day, spewing black smoke as most jet engines did in those days (later modifications significantly reduced the smoke).

I also recall the efforts to break the Champagne bottle with resulting dent in the fuselage. By the way, that was the first Boeing jet sold to a Canadian carrier.

From the "InfoCanadi>n" magazine

Issue dated December 8, 1988

New Canadi>n city

District sales manager Helga Schreiber, sales representative Birgit Siewert and passenger agent Daniela Goetschel extend greetings to more than 500 travel agents and other travel industry personnel at a reception in Munich, marking the inaugural of Canadian Airlines service to the Bavarian capital.

Found on the Nordair Facebook page

Don Murphy posted this photo of ex-Britannia Airways B-737 G-BFVB at East Midlands Airport (EMA) on March 26, 1985.

Nordair leased this aircraft from May 1, 1985 and returned it to Britannia Airways on April 30, 1986.

Photo by Kerry Taylor.

Editors' Note: While with Nordair it was registered C-GNDW. Interestingly, after a few other U.K. charter operators, that aircraft spent almost 7 years with WestJet during their early years (from March 1999 to January 2006), registered C-GWWJ.

It was scrapped in the U.S. in 2007. The same C-GWWJ registration is now used on a WestJet B-737-800. Click this link to view the same aircraft departing YVR March 22, 2005.

www.jetphotos.com/photo/452529

Michel Lafrance posted this photo of Nordair Super Constellation at Iqaluit Airport (YFB), circa 1968.

Alex Praglowski posted this YouTube video about 54 year-old Air Canada Fin #719, registration C-FTLT, which is currently preserved at Thunder Bay, Ontario at The Aviation Centre of Excellence for use as an instructional airframe.

Rob Hemmett, retired Avionics Technichian, Vancouver, adds the following:

I went to Mojave from Vancouver to service and do a return to service check on this aircraft and bring it out of storage so it could be returned to Canada for a new paint job and then delivered to Confederation College.

I remember there was a big rush to get this airplane back to Canada to get the new paint job and be ready for a presentation to the college for a planned date.

At departure the standby inverter failed... a 'No Go' item...I had to drive several miles to the other side of the airport to rob a standby inverter from another Air Canada parked airplane in the field of dreams.

In Mojave there is a snake called the Mojave Greenback. Extremely dangerous, they liked to hide in the black tarps that were wrapped around the nose gear wheels. I drove down the line of parked DC-9's until I found one the tarp had blown off.

The standby inverter is accessed by opening the nose gear doors and then opening a pressure door into the Avionics compartment. The biggest fear was reaching blind into the wheel well to unlatch the nose gear doors and not feeling a snake.

I hope someone can save this magnificent airplane; it was a fully serviceable airplane when it left Mojave.

On Friday September 23, 2022, the BC Aviation Museum (BCAM), North Saanich, British Columbia received a donation of a Convair 580, a two-engine propeller aircraft.

Originally built in 1956 as a CV440 and delivered to Sabena. In 1968 the aircraft was sold to Frontier Airlines who fitted the turboprop engines and designated it CV580.

In 1988 the aircraft was sold to Sierra Pacific Airlines which operated it for 15 years before it was exported to Canada having being sold to Conair and converted for firefighting.

The aircraft will be on static display at the museum. 

Source: Times Colonist 

Rolls-Royce Quits Boom Supersonic Airliner Engine Race

A promising partnership between Boom and Rolls-Royce has come to an abrupt halt, leaving Boom to secure a new engine OEM to join the project.

In June 2020, Rolls-Royce and Boom announced they would collaborate to advance engine studies for the supersonic Overture aircraft. This week, news emerged that Rolls-Royce has left the building, declaring that supersonic aviation is not its priority.

Full story at: SimpleFlying.com

De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd. has announced plans to build a new aircraft manufacturing plant east of Calgary that could eventually employ up to 1,500 people.

The company says the facility, dubbed De Havilland Field, is to be located in Wheatland County between the communities of Chestermere and Strathmore.

De Havilland says it has acquired about 600 hectares of land in the area. It says construction could begin as early as next year, with its first buildings operational by 2025 though the project's full buildout could take years.

Source: MSN.com 

Canada Jetlines, latest airline to enter the crowded field, lands first flight.

The next airline hoping to pose a threat to the country's Air Canada-WestJet duopoly has landed its inaugural flight.

Canada Jetlines' first flight departed out of Toronto Pearson International Airport Thursday morning September 22, 2022 and arrived in Calgary International Airport to speeches and a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The new start up airline, headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, is offering service between Toronto's Pearson International Airport and Calgary International Airport twice weekly.

Canada Jetlines bills itself as an "all-Canadian, value-focused leisure carrier."

While Toronto-Calgary is its only scheduled route right now, the company's chief commercial officer, Duncan Bureau, said the airline plans to service the leisure market both domestically and trans border with flights to the Caribbean and the Americas.

The airline currently has one Airbus A320 and a second to join in December, with plans to expand the fleet to 15 Airbus A320's by 2025 at a rate of five aircraft per year, said Bureau.

Canada Jetlines is the country's newest, but not first, airline to emerge in the wake of the pandemic.

Edmonton-based Flair Airlines has been aggressively expanding in the last year and a half, and now serves 36 airports with 85 routes and a fleet of 18 aircraft.

Calgary-based Lynx Air, formerly known as Enerjet, launched last spring and said at the time it hoped to operate nearly 90 flights a week on nine routes by June, all within Canada.

Source: www.thestar.com/business

First Boeing 727

While passing some time well wasted in YouTube, I came across a video posted by Australian Videographer, Paul Stewart, on the first Boeing 727-100 ever built.

Registration N7001U was a prototype that first flew on February 9, 1963 and was delivered to United Airlines on October 29, 1963 and was used for pilot training before entering commercial service. It would later be dubbed the 'Spirit of Seattle' until withdrawn from service in March 1991.

It was then donated to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, stored at Paine Field for restoration and repainted in its original livery.

Ken advised me of a website created by retired Boeing employee, Robert A. Bogash, with a very detailed description and photographs of the restoration.

Visit: rbogash.com/ual727tx.htm

Addition Info:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_727

rzjets.net

Click the image below to view the video.

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

The last ever Boeing 747 built has rolled out from the Everett factory in Washington state.

The 747-8F freighter was completed to the green stage on October 4, 2022.

The Boeing 747-8F (reg. N862GT) will be the last produced by Boeing in 54 years, and is now being readied for service with cargo carrier Atlas Air. 

On September 30, 1968, the first B-747 was rolled out of the custom-built Everett Plant, the world’s largest building by volume.

The first flight took place on February 9, 1969, and the 747 was certified in December of that year. It entered service with Pan Am on January 22, 1970. The 747 was the first airplane dubbed “Jumbo Jet”, the first wide-body airliner.

Source: Airlive.net 

that Trans-Canada Air Lines used St. Hubert airport before Dorval existed?

Moncton Milestone.

Birthday cakes were the order of the day at Moncton's downtown and airport offices on February 15, 1980 when employees marked the 40th anniversary of scheduled passenger service between Moncton and Montreal.

The events were reminders of that date in 1940 when Captain J.D. Storie carried a full load of ten passengers on a Lockheed 14H-2 from Moncton's Lakeburn airfield to St. Hubert airport.

Flight 24 with Captain Walt at the controls had landed at Moncton earlier in the day, marking the beginning of the eastbound service. This timetable issued January 1940 has this information regarding flight 24.

The little Lockheed’s described then by the Moncton Daily Times as "huge trans-continental airliners" have been progressively replaced by bigger and faster aircraft.

Lakeburn airport is now Moncton Romeo-LeBlanc International airport.

During the 1940's, civilian air services expanded and became available serving Montreal, Halifax, Charlottetown, Sydney, Saint John, Fredericton and Newfoundland.

The hangar of Trans-Canada Air Lines (later Air Canada), became the location for the first air terminal. In 1952, a larger hangar was converted into a modern air terminal but it was very shortly thereafter destroyed by fire. In 1953, a replacement air terminal was constructed.

Montreal Saint-Hubert Longueuil Airport (YHU).

In operation since 1928, it was Montreal's first and only airport until the construction of Montréal / Dorval International Airport (now Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport).

On 1 August 1930, the R100 airship arrived after what was possibly the first non-stop passenger carrying powered flight across the North Atlantic to land in Canada.

In the late 1930's the airport was used by Canadian Associated Aircraft to build the Handley Page Hampden.

Today, Pascan Aviation founded in 1999 operates scheduled flights within Quebec and Labrador as well as charter services, a fixed-base operator (FBO) at the airport. 

Additional source: Wikipedia.com

Wizz Air Sneaks A320 Out Of Ukraine

Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air has repatriated one of four A320s stranded in Ukraine in what looks like an off-the-books dash to Poland.

The airline has confirmed the flight, which operated from Lviv, about 40 miles from the Polish border to Katowice, about 200 miles inside Poland, but offered few details on how they pulled it off.

“Wizz Air confirms that, following an in-depth risk assessment and thorough preparation, its one aircraft based in Lviv departed from Danylo Halytskyi International Airport and successfully landed in Katowice on September 13, 2022”.

Based on tracking data from FlightRadar24, it appears the plane took off in the late afternoon with the transponder off and climbed to 10,000 feet before hitting the border and lighting everything up for the balance of the trip. The plane was based in Lviv before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 and had been trapped there ever since because Ukraine has closed its airspace to most civilian flights.

Wizz has three more A320's grounded in Kyiv but that’s 500 miles from Poland. The airline has said in the past that it intends to fly those planes out too but didn’t comment on how it will do so.

Source: www.AVWeb.com

A few thoughts about aging:

• “To get back to my youth I would do anything in the world, except exercise, get up early, or be respectable.” — Oscar Wilde.
• “The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.” — Will Rogers.
• “We must recognize that, as we grow older, we become like old cars – more and more repairs and replacements are necessary.” — C.S. Lewis.
• “Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what happened.” — Jennifer Yane.
• “Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you are aboard there is nothing you can do about it.” — Golda Meir.
• “I’m so old that my blood type is discontinued.” –– Bill Dane.

More at: www.gwinnettforum.com