We have welcomed 7 new subscribers so far in 2023.

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!

Canadian Aviation Historical Society (CAHS) 

January 19, 2023 

Royal Canadian Legion Branch #057, Pointe Claire, Quebec @ 11:00. 

Source:
www.cahs.com/cahs-montreal-chapter.html

(Scroll to the bottom of the page)

Guest Speaker: Bob Davis from of Air Inuit.

We welcome back airline executive & chapter member Bob Davis who will outline the history of Air Inuit. He was the Executive VP (1979-1997) of this Quebec based airline providing scheduled & charter service throughout Nunavik before serving as President & CEO (1997-2008) of First Air.

Montreal Air Canada Recreation Association (ACRA)

You are invited with family and friends to a FunSpiel at the Baie d'Urfé Curling Club on Saturday, February 4, 2023 at 5 PM

63 rue Churchill, Baie d'Urfé (By Highway 20 Exit Boul. Morgan, near Lakeshore Road).

Like in previous years, we'll have a time sheet to reserve a period on the ice to give everyone a chance to learn and play. (Come early to put down your name on the ice reservation sheet, first come first served basis).

For the menu, we'll have a buffet type cold cut, side orders, bread, vegetables/dip, cheese, chips, desserts, coffee, tea, etc.

Bar at the Club (cash or debit card accepted)

Cost: per adult (12 and up) - $20; per child (8 – 11 ) - $10; per child (under 8 ) - Free!

Click Here for full details.

The 70th anniversary edition of the AirVenture Oshkosh (Wisconsin) fly-in convention.

AirVenture Oshkosh 2023 opens its turnstiles on July 24, 2023 at Wittman Regional Airport and closes out on July 30, 2023.

The mammoth fly-in typically hosts more than 10,000 aircraft every year with more than 600,000 clicks of those turnstiles. Aircraft range from ultralights to jumbo jets —with homebuilt, factory-built, antique/classics and warbirds in between.

Source: www.eaa.org/airventure

Gail Bennett responded to the photo in NetLetter #1500 -

So pleased to see a photo of the Georgetown Girls Pipe Band at Toronto. I have a newspaper photo of the band posing on the stairs up to the aircraft. This was before my time but I was a member for almost 50 years. The band, formed in 1942, dropped "Girls" in 1996 and is still performing today.

See www.georgetownpipeband.ca

By the way, my husband, Keith Bennett, was a cargo agent for 30+ years in Toronto.

Bob Sheppard, of The NetLetter team, shares this story -

We were in Scotland in 1997 for the World Pipe Band Championships.

On our return flight, on a B-767, one of the Flight Attendants became aware that there was a piper on board. She asked our son, Ashton, if he had his pipes on board and yes, they were in the overhead bin.

Soon, Ashton was putting on a private performance, to the delight of our fellow passengers.

A whimsical tale of volunteering by Terry Baker, member of The NetLetter team.

In NetLetter #1500, in his column "Wayne’s Wings", Wayne told us about his volunteering efforts.

This prompted me to tell of my volunteering, which goes way back, to 1954, together with Jack Morath, social games for the Douglas mechanics repairing the DC-8 of the 'Cabbage Patch' fame, including a memorable evening on the river Thames.

Social events for my Purchasing & Supply co-workers, horseback riding, ten pin bowling, golf. There was no ACRA formed at LHR during that time.

When I transferred to Montreal, I was secretary/treasurer for the housing development I lived in, fighting the builder, CMHC and city for better completion of homes. A winter carnival involving professional husky race teams, and the building of a swimming pool, which enlisted twisting resident's arms to sign a promissory note for $200.00.

I volunteered to referee the P & F pick-up hockey games, usually at midnight, also weekend canoe trips, BBQ's.

While on secondment to Antigua, I volunteered to make arrangements for social events for the UK mechanics doing the spar change to HS748 aircraft of LIAT, the local commuter airline.

In recent years, I volunteer in a senior’s independent complex, where I now reside, called 'Berwick on the Lake' in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

I live in an ordinary suite on the top floor of a four story building. I call my suite a penthouse. To those who know better, after all most penthouses are on the top floor, and mine overlooks a park - albeit the car park.

For my exercise, each day, I walk the hallways on all four flours, a total of four times, which equates to 3.12 miles approximately. During the early walk I drop off the daily newspaper at the door of those residents who have ordered one, making me Nanaimo's oldest paper boy - unpaid I might add.

I also monitor the "Tuck Shop" which has most of the necessities of life, such as toilet paper, Kleenex, chocolate bars, for those physically challenged and don't get to the local stores.

I also monitor the library, labelling the spine of the books with the first alpha of the author, shelving returned books, tidying up the books, relocating misfiled books. Although it is a library, it is surprising how many residents who use the library do not know their alphabet nor the difference between a hard cover and paperback which are separately shelved.

I have volunteered for many years and enjoyed it and get great satisfaction in helping others. What goes around comes around is my philosophy.

Salmon n’ Bannock now open at YVR, becomes first Indigenous restaurant in a Canadian airport.

Under the stewardship of proprietor Inez Cook, a member of the Nuxalk Nation and a former Air Canada flight attendant, 'Salmon n’ Bannock On The Fly' will give international travellers a taste of Canada’s Indigenous cuisine

Vancouver's only Indigenous restaurant, Salmon n’ Bannock, opened at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) on Monday, December 19, 2022 making it the first Indigenous restaurant in a Canadian airport. Before co-founding Salmon n’ Bannock in 2010, Cook was a flight attendant for 33 years; she was based out of YVR for 25 years.

Source: 
www.yvr.ca/en/media

United Airlines is ordering 100 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 100 737 MAX airplanes, a major order as the air carrier pushes for post-pandemic growth and replaces older less-efficient aircraft.

The Chicago-based airline's order for 200 airplanes has list prices of about $43 billion and is a big boost to the U.S. plane maker that has faced political and production issues for the two planes this year.

Source: boeing.mediaroom.com

• 1973 - March 15 -
  • Inaugural flight between Toronto-Vancouver with L-1011 TriStar equipment.
• 2022 - December 16 -
  • Inaugural service by Jazz from Halifax (YHZ) to Newark (EWR) with Dash 8-Q400. 

Issue dated July / August 2016

Air Canada Rouge began operations on July 1, 2013 with a start-up fleet of two Airbus 319 aircraft and two Boeing 767-300ER aircraft.

On launch day, the airline operated its first flights—Montreal-Athens, Toronto-Athens, Toronto-Edinburgh, Toronto-Venice, Toronto-Kingston and Toronto-Liberia (Costa Rica), welcoming 775 customers onboard.

New non-stop service introduced by Air Canada Rouge during 2016.

• May 19 - Toronto - London-Gatwick
• May 29 - Toronto - Prague
• June 2 - Vancouver - San Diego
• June 3 - Montreal - Casablanca, the first route to Africa in the Air Canada network
• June 10 - Toronto - Budapest
• June 10 - Vancouver - Dublin
• June 13 - Toronto - Glasgow
• June 14 - Toronto - Warsaw

From the early days of Trans-Canada Air Lines.

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

Issue dated July 1955

Editors' Note: The photos below are of groups of 'Passenger Agent' trainees for both telephone and counter service as provided in the mid 1950's.

We have identified people as well as we can, however, the lists are incomplete and may contain errors. Click the photos to view larger versions with the original captions.

Please feel free to let us know if you can clarify the identity of anyone on the photos.

Group of Passenger Agent (telephone service) trainees from various stations across the system completed basic training.

There are 16 people in the photo but only 10 names are mentioned.

Included in the photo are:

G. B. Findlay, A. B. Lock, R. C. Climie, (Instructor),
C. O. Robbins, K. M. Tyron, D. J. Rogers, M. L. Lamb,
M. Hillicker, B. M. Hopkins and Miss B. Wrynn.  

Another group group of Passenger Agents (counter service) graduated from basic training in Montreal during 1955.

From the left:

Back row: R. J. Warren (Instructor), C. M. Irwin,
M. A. Nicholls, C. Rigby, D. Copeland and
S. l. Clark (Instructor).

Middle row: L. D. Findlay, J. Gray, D. F. Woolward,
A. A. St. Laurent and G. Tobin. 

Seated: Mrs. B. J. Brunker, l. P. Cassell, and P. Lepine. 

Another group of trainees:

From the left: 

Standing: R. E. Mason, Mrs. S. Wilson, M. Brousseau,
R. J. Warren, Miss B. A. Young and V. Peever.

Seated: Mrs. M. E. McTavish, P. Whittle, M. R. Walters, and
G. D. Davidson. 

Issue dated April 1982

CP Air Holidays sales reps (from left) Janet Campbell, Nanettee Kyle, Penny Stevens, Melanie Watts and Anna Miller are busy spreading the word around London's travel agents about the newest charter flight program between the U.K. and Canada.

Many early retirements - Suddenly, we're different.

The inner character of CP Air is taking a sudden and dramatic turn this spring with the early retirement of many veteran staff members, along with the grounding of the DC-8-63 fleet.

Between 50 and 60 employees are taking early retirement this year under the company's staff reduction plan, brought about by a fickle economy which continues to adversely affect the airline business.

These employees have a combined experience with CP Air of slightly more than 1,000 years. Many have been with the airline since its earliest days and have participated in its evolution from a collection of 10 founding bush airlines into one of the world's major international jet carriers.

Below is sampling of the early retirees, left to right:

Vic Geisler, Bill Klompas, Bob Howrie, John Wullum, Clyde Matheson, Don O'Grady, Bill Konowalchuk, Pete Howard, Karl Schaefer, Ed Lindsay, Red Stark, Miller Waling, and the Empress of Quebec.

CP Air leased several B-737's in the mid-80s; some received their full colours and a couple, like this Britannia one, barely received more than new titles.

Registration C-GXCP was delivered to Britannia Airways in April 1982. It was leased to CP Air in November 1985, returned April 1986 (resumed its original registration, G-BJCV) and then leased again by Canadian Airlines in October 1987, this time registered as C-GCAU.

It was again returned to Britannia in April 1988 and went through several leases. Last operator was Peruvian Airlines, acquired in July 2009.

Photo by Gary Vincent at www.airhistory.net

Posted by Joe Gipp

The Vancouver International Airport has sure changed over the decades. This is the one I remember the most, shown here around the end of the 1960's.

Photo credited to BC Archives

Posted by Peter Luzny 

The 21-seat Douglas DC-3 joined CP Air's fleet in 1946, replacing many of the smaller, older aircraft on the more important routes across the system.

Considered one of the most successful airliners, over 10,000 DC-3's were built for civilian and military use from 1936 - 1946.

Isn't it great to live in an age when so much history is readily available to view on platforms like YouTube?

Below are links to two 'Story of' documentaries videos that we found chronicling the lifecycles of two now defunct airlines, TWA and Pan Am.

Both videos are very entertaining and offer insight on the early years of transcontinental travel. Click the images below to view. 

First we have, 'Sky High: The Story of TWA' a PBS documentary. 

This documentary looks at the history of Trans World Airlines, an airline company that was based in St. Louis. TWA was bought by American Airlines the same year this documentary was released in January 2001. The story goes back to the very beginning of planes, and ends with the sale of TWA to American.

Next is 'Come Fly With Me - The Story of Pan Am'

Documentary telling the story of how Pan American World Airways kickstarted the jet-age and shrank the globe. Real-life 'Pan Am girls' recall a high-life of luxury and glamour; rubbing shoulders with celebrity passengers, international romances and having to wear the now infamous girdle. Stars of the jet-age such as Robert Vaughn and Mary Quant remember the food, fashion and girls that made them regular Pan Am passengers.

Narrated by actress Honor Blackman.

Name this propeller aircraft – 

Answer below in Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips.

OWG, standing for “Off We Go”, is a Canadian virtual airline and division of charter airline Nolinor Aviation.

Founded July 6, 2020, headquartered at Mirabel, Quebec, it commenced operations December 18, 2020.

Proud of not only being a Canadian, but a Quebec company, OWG is thrilled to be established in Quebec at the Montreal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL), located at the heart of our beautiful city – and at the Pearson Airport in Toronto (YYZ), home to the heaviest air traffic in Canada.

Source: owg.com

Final deliveries of the 'Queen of the Skies'

Boeing has delivered the second-to-last production B-747 to Atlas Air, leaving the US manufacturer one jumbo jet away from closing out a production programme that has spanned more than five decades. 

Atlas, on November 23, 2022, confirmed it has now received the third of four B-747-8 Freighters that it ordered from Boeing in January of last year.

“As we say goodbye to the 'Queen of the Skies', we’re proud of her legacy as an airplane that propelled aviation innovation and later laid the foundation of our family of freighters,” says Boeing 747 and 767 programme manager Kim Smith.

The single remaining in-production 747 – also a B-747-8F destined for Atlas Air – is now in the final assembly stage, Boeing says (see below).

Atlas parent Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings said earlier this month it expects to receive the aircraft in the first quarter of 2023. It intends to operate the last two production 747's for Swiss shipping and logistics company Kuehne+Nagel.

Source: www.FlightGlobal.com

Final Boeing 747 rollout for ‘Queen of the Skies’

The 1,574th and final 747 jumbo jet rolled out of Boeing’s Everett plant on December 8, 2022, marking a milestone for both the iconic airplane and the giant assembly plant that was built for the jet in the late 1960's.

The final 747-8 freighter model will fly to Portland for painting before Christmas and return to Everett early in the new year. It will undergo standard testing of fuel and other systems and then be inspected by its buyer, the cargo company Atlas Air that purchased Boeing’s last four 747's.

Atlas will take delivery some weeks after its return to Everett and at that point Boeing plans a farewell celebration of its “Queen of the Skies.”

The first 747 rolled out at the same airfield on September 30, 1968. With its distinctive humped upper deck, it’s the only airplane many flyers can recognize on first sight.

Source: www.SeattleTimes.com

 Former AC B-767's find a new home

For NetLetter #1500, we contacted photographer Rami Mizrahi for permission to use his photo of G-GHLV during its freighter conversion in Tel Aviv.

Mr. Mizrahi, very generously, sent us a group of his photographs including former Air Canada B-767 fin #692 (C-GHPN). This is one of two former Hawaiian Airlines B-767-300's that Air Canada acquired in 2011; the other being fin # 691 (C-GHPE). Among AC's very mixed fleet of B-767's, these were the youngest.

If I remember correctly, they had to be quickly pressed into service because the company was in the midst of major cabin conversions with the installation of the new (seatback) entertainment systems. Each conversion required an aircraft to be hangared for a few days, so they were used to replace these aircraft.

I do clearly remember flying to Montreal during that summer, looking forward to trying out the new entertainment system, and finding myself on board one of these aircraft; with no entertainment system at all. 

Both aircraft had been painted in AC livery but the cabins had not been converted. They were both still in their original all economy configurations. I spent the entire flight doing Sudoku puzzles.  

I don't actually know if their cabins were ever converted with the Thales entertainment system as both were transferred to Rouge in June 2013 where they remained until March 2020.

They were returned to the lessor and stored at Marana Pinal Airport (MZJ) until acquired by YTO Cargo Airlines of Hangzhou, China in 2021 and flown to Tel Aviv for freighter conversion.

Thanks to Ken Pickford for additional info. 

Sources and links:

AC 691 at Planespotters.net

AC 692 at Planespotters.net  

Former AC 691 in 'Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games' livery at Kunming: 

www.jetphotos.com/photo/10673274.

Former AC 691 at TLV
Photos by Rami Mizrahi

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

Answer to 'Name the Aircraft' in 'Odds & Ends'.

The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the earliest jet airliner—the de Havilland Comet—entered service.

No DC-7's are in operation today. A small number survive on display.

More info at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-7

Butler Aircraft Services DC-7 Tanker 66 takes off from Fox Field, Lancaster, California, during the October 2007 Southern California Wildfires.

Photo by Akradecki, October 29, 2007

Bombardier Names Launch Customer For Global 8000

Private jet company NetJets will be the fleet launch customer for Bombardier’s new Global 8000 business jet, the company announced this week.

Bombardier reported that NetJets has placed a $312 million firm order for four Global 8000s along with converting earlier orders for eight aircraft.

Following delivery of its first Global 8000, NetJets is also planning to convert its current fleet of Global 7500s resulting in a Global 8000 fleet of 24 aircraft.

Fly-by-wire for beginners

by Enderson Rafael at:
airfactsjournal.com/2022/11/fly-by-wire-for-beginners/

What makes a fly-by-wire airplane fly-by-wire? The term is broadly used nowadays, but not often explained. Since we have many GA colleagues here, and fly-by-wire is a concept more common to the military and airline world, it might be interesting to share some pilot perspective about its way of working and our way of flying it. Since I spent the last couple months transitioning between the only two Boeing fly-by-wire models, I thought it would be worth sharing it with you.

Well, conventional airplanes have control surfaces—ailerons, elevators, spoilers, rudder—that are controlled by cables, just like a bicycle gear or brakes. You pull a yoke or stick and the cable, directly connected to the control surface, moves it. Even huge airplanes, like the Boeing 747, work that way, although obviously assisted by hydraulic actuators, since the commands are too heavy for the pilots to move by muscle force alone. Fly-by-wire is somewhat different: the control surfaces are not directly connected to the control column, nor the rudder pedals; instead they are linked by electrical wires, through which pilot inputs, once translated into electronic signals, travel to actuators at the control surface. 

At an airfield on the outskirts of London, England, a precious Spitfire fighter that once flew with the Royal Canadian Air Force is taking to the skies once again. 

It's one of the world's most iconic aircraft and it's being kept airborne thanks to the efforts of the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar, the largest Spitfire restoration facility on the planet.

This particular model even made an appearance in the 1969 film, "Battle of Britain."

But today, only around 70 Spitfires can fly, and the value of the planes continues to soar.

Back in January, 2023, one Spitfire, that appeared in the film, was listed at an auction for a sky-high £4.5 million, or C$7.5 million. 

Source: www.ctvnews.ca

Our cartoon, by Dave Mathias, is from the 'Between Ourselves' magazine issue dated September 1955, with the caption "Nothing, thanks, I'm just browsing!"