We have welcomed 65 new subscribers so far in 2023.

We wish to thank everyone for the continuing support of our efforts.

We are very gratified that The NetLetter now reaches subscribers from all over the world. 

Click the image above or this link: www.thenetletter.net/subscriber-charts to view a group of graphs that indicate where our subscribers reside.

Many of of our subscribers do not have their country of residence listed.

Please review your personal profile at the bottom of this edition to see if your city/country of residence is listed. If not, we would appreciate it if would take the time to click the 'Update Your Profile' link and add that information.

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!

Events from the Montreal Air Canada Recreation Association (ACRA).

A system-wide bowling tournament will be held over the weekend of June 14-15, 2023 at the Gold Coast in Las Vegas.

Modalities of the hotel and further information about cost, the venue and registration are still being worked out.

The ACRA Softball Tournament is back and will be held in Toronto (YYZ) June 13-15, 2023.

Check the website, acrayul.com, for the latest information. 

Submitted by Anthony Herben

2023 CP Air Reunion 

For CP Air Employees who worked in the BC District, Yukon Territory and Grande Prairie, including Pilots, Flight Attendants and Line Engineers who served through this area. Employees who worked in Vancouver are excluded as they have their own reunion.

When: September 15-17, 2023 

Where: Chemainus, BC (on Vancouver Island) 

Registration Ticket: $125 (per person) 

Location: Chemainus in the Cowichan Valley.

An amazing location that is easy to get to from the ferry terminals. It is 45 minutes from the Departure Bay Ferry Terminal, 35 minutes from the Duke Point Ferry Terminal, 20 minutes from Nanaimo Airport, and 1 hour from Victoria. 

Accommodation:

Rooms are blocked at the Best Western Plus Chemainus Inn and held under the name of CP Air Airline Reunion. The rooms are being held at the group rate of $199 for single or double queens and include a full breakfast. 

The reunion cost is $125.00 per person. This will include the Meet & Greet Friday Night with appetizers, wine & beer provided (held off the lobby of the hotel starting at 17:00), your lovely dinner and entertainment on Saturday and any other incidental costs incurred.

Contact Anthony Herben at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further details. 

From Bill Tate referencing NetLetter #1507 -

As always I really appreciate the stories. As an FYI the cockpit section of one of two RCAF Comets is located in the storage hangar of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa. To access the storage hangar it is an add-on fee including a guided tour of the storage hangar.

Regards,

Bill Tate, Retired Air Canada A-330 Captain

Clint Ward, retired B-747 Captain sent in the following:

Hi Netletter Team - I have been a subscriber for many years and on the latest issue an idea popped into my head and inspired this letter.

I was a close friend of a great aviation artist, Jim Bruce who passed away suddenly this past year.

When I first visited his home, I noticed a painting on the wall. I admired his rendition of the Viscount that was the first aircraft type that I flew as a captain. When he sensed my excitement he offered me a print. It hangs proudly in my workspace, a constant reminder of the 12 years the Viscount occupied in my aviation life.

I am a member of RAPCAN and a little over a year ago I made a suggestion to the editor of our magazine to use a painting by Jim, "At The Blast Fence," on the cover and devote the entire issue to stories about the Vickers Viscount.

The idea was accepted and the May 2022 issue used the cover photo. I was just thinking that it would make a wonderful lead image in an issue of The Netletter. I am attaching the lead article from that magazine.

A memorial service for Jim Bruce will be held in the Montreal Aviation Museum on May 18 of this year.

Clint Ward

Photo: Terry Slobodian (left), President and CEO of the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada with Robert W. Arnold (right) are shown holding the artwork.

Editors' Note:

Mr. Bruce's artwork was first brought to our attention by Robert W. Arnold, Viscount Project Manager for the Viscount restoration at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada, and published in NetLetter # 1486.

We wish to thank Mr. Ward for his suggestion and additional information.

At The Blast Fence

by Jim Bruce

The Trans-Canada Air Lines Vickers Viscount depicted in my painting on the cover is a 724 Series Viscount registration CF-TGQ #609 delivered June 5, 1955. TCA received its first Viscount 724 CF-TGI #601 on December 12, 1954. The Viscount became operational on April 1, 1955 with daily round-trip service, Montreal-Toronto-Fort William-Winnipeg.

The blast fence was erected on the tarmac near TCA’s line maintenance hangar to help mitigate the intensity of the engine run-up prop-wash from the Dart engines, thus protecting traffic and buildings on adjacent Ferry Road.

I joined TCA in Winnipeg on August 1, 1956 as an aeronautical draftsman assigned to the Engineering Department in the Overhaul and Maintenance Base at Stevenson Field (now Winnipeg International Airport). The Chief Engineer was an affable gentleman named ‘Baldy' Torell. My boss was Chief Draftsman Leo Styrczula who became a good friend.

The TCA Winnipeg Base was where the Viscount and Douglas DC-3 fleet received line maintenance and were overhauled. My work consisted of preparing engineering drawings for service manuals and modifications to the aircraft. 

Additional info at: royalaviationmuseum.com

Dave Baker has resurrected this jigsaw puzzle of a B-767 aircraft which was available, at one time, on our flights for junior passengers. 

Also this TCA ticket folder.

We wish to honour the careers of a couple of pioneer pilots of Trans-Canada Air Lines as suggested by our readers.

Suggested by Neil Burton

Zebulon Lewis "Lewie" Leigh, CM OBE (June 19, 1906 – December 22, 1996) was a Canadian aviator. He never used his first name and was always addressed as "Lewie". He was the first pilot to work for Trans-Canada Air Lines in 1937.

On April 2, 1939, he flew the first official westbound TCA flight from Winnipeg to Vancouver.

Lewie joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940. His first assignment was anti-submarine flying, but he was transferred to Transport Command in 1942. It is there that he is chiefly remembered for his excellent administrative abilities, almost overnight revolutionizing how Transport Command ran, more like a professional airline than the previous hodgepodge of assignments. Leigh frequently got out from behind the desk to oversee the work being done.

Leigh continued in RCAF service until 1957. He would write his memoirs after his service titled And I Shall Fly. 

He was one of the founders of the Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame and was inducted in 1974.

Sources and additional info:

Lives Lived by Dan Brown
submitted by Neil Burton

Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebulon_Lewis_Leigh

Suggested by Barbara Dunn

Norbert Jack Logan (June 9, 1921 - August 2, 2022). Jack was a long-time TCA/Air Canada pilot who rose to the position of Director of Flight Operations in the company.

Jack was born in Ottawa, the eldest of nine children of Jack and Neta Logan. He grew up and received his education there, before spending a short time in the Civil Service, but ever since he was a young boy he had a great desire to fly. WWII gave him the patriotic reason to accomplish that desire.

In November 1945, he joined Trans-Canada Air Lines. Jack wore many different Company hats in Montreal for TCA/Air Canada, but his Captain’s hat was always at the ready. He became Director of Flight Operations in 1971. In 1973 a career highlight for Jack was being selected to Captain the Royal Flight that brought Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip from London to Ottawa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and later flew them back home to London.

In total, Jack flew 25,000 hours; 3,000 hours with the RCAF and 22,000 hours with TCA/Air Canada, first learning to fly on Tiger Moth biplanes and ending his career flying Boeing 747’s.

Pictured: Jack with Canadian Museum of Flight director, Bruce Scott on the occasion of Jack's 100th birthday.

Sources and additional info:

www.canadianflight.org/content/jack-logan

www.delta-optimist.com

Pilots Kim McCully and Cristalle Fairbank didn't get into aviation by following in the footsteps of a family member, like many do. Instead, they both ended up at the flight controls by matters of fate.

Now, they work together at Red Deer, Alberta-based Air Spray helping to control wildfires in Western Canada.

In fact, McCully and Fairbank flew as an all-female airtanker team in an Air Spray Lockheed L-188 Electra during the 2022 fire season. 

Source: skiesmag.com

Marhaba! Air Canada to Launch New Vancouver-Dubai Service

Air Canada announced today the strategic expansion of its international network with the addition of new, non-stop flights from its hub at Vancouver International Airport (YVR) to Dubai. The new route will operate four times weekly beginning Oct. 28, 2023 onboard Air Canada's flagship Dreamliner fleet. The carrier's new Vancouver-Dubai flights will complement Air Canada's daily service between Toronto and Dubai, broadening its presence in fast-growing international markets.

See: media.aircanada.com

YouTube video from Dj's Aviation

Issue dated March 1943

Aviation history - to hairstyling to meteorology - to meal service.

(Editors' Note: Terminology below is used in the historical context of the original article.)

No, not a cross section of an encyclopedia, but the stock in trade of our winged misses - the 'stewardesses'.

Initial entrance to their exclusive company calls for rigid specifications of age, height, and weight. Only registered nurses need apply - and only the unmarried.

From the ranks of the many applicants that make themselves known to the Passenger Service Department, our Supervisory Stewardesses, Miss M. Dickson and Miss M. A. Halstead, through personal interviews, hand-pick the final few who are to make the jaunt to Winnipeg for a month of initiation and instruction.

So you see, our girls are nearly as tailor-made as the trim uniforms they wear. Chosen carefully to fit an important job, they fit it well, making perhaps the closest contact of all with the public we serve, and identifying our T.C.A. name with good service and good-will.

In this photo, you see the second largest stewardess class in the history of T.C.A., assembled for their graduation dinner on February 11, 1943.

With lectures, familiarization flights, and exams all behind them, they have now been posted across Canada to assume their new duties.

From left to right, top row: Dorothy Barton, Toronto; Theresa Mulligan, Vancouver; Cecile Savage, Winnipeg; Priscilla Kavanagh and Audrey Chowne, Vancouver; Ina Molyneaux, Toronto.

Second row: Dorothy Gilmore, Moncton; Ethel Thompson, Vancouver; Jean Collins, Winnipeg; Miss M. Dickson, Chief Stewardess; Rosamond Shankel, Halifax; Alma McDougall, Toronto.

Front row: Jean Lillian Gray, Winnipeg; Muriel Wright, Vancouver; Faye Hart, Toronto; Catherine Kennedy, Westmount, Quebec.

Found in 'Horizons' magazine

 Issue dated November 1974

Presenting Bill McLellan, Cargo Service Supervisor, Prestwick with his 25-year annual pass is Alf Allwright, Cargo Sales Service Manager, on his left while Cargo Agent Roddy McPhee and Warehouseman Gus Mackay, on the right, look on.

Missing from the photograph are Cargo Agent Jim McCall and Warehouseman Robert Neilson. The presentation was just the beginning or was it the end? Cargo Sales and Services staff then took Bill out for a night on the town.

Issue dated November 1976

Jubilant Jet Jockeys.

The men's house league fastball champions are Montreal's 'Jet Jockeys' born this year, 1976.

The team was previously known as 'Pilots 2' or "'the other' pilots' team because the 'Boy Pilots,' boasting superstars such as Pat Relton, Ron Daley and Neil Elliot, walked away with the championships in the past.

The 'Jet Jockeys' are shown, front row, from the left: Pat Hirst, Mat Sattler, Bob Layzell, Frank Senechal and Jim Strang.

Standing, from the left: Tex Anderson, Ted Dodds, Dave Morris, Merv Kuruluk, Greg Robinson, Harry Leslie, Paul Jennings and Paul Debrone.

Missing from the photo are Jorg Bertram, Paul Florence, Jim Lemieux, Larry Olson, Lindsay Paxton and Bob Pearson. 

Issue dated December 1976

Cargo service from Los Angeles promoted.

Some 300 forwarders, consolidators and commercial accounts in the Los Angeles area were hosted by the company during November 1976, in a cargo sales seminar to promote the two daily L-1011's from Los Angeles and outline the excellent cargo service provided by our LD3 containers between Los Angeles and European cities.

The reception at the Proud Bird restaurant was an unqualified success and the transatlantic cargo business out of Los Angeles was starting to grow as a convenience, with several shipments to Paris and two to London already having been given to us following the evening. Attending the seminar was this strong cargo contingent from across the system.

From the left, standing: Gordon Froede, Los Angeles; L. Baril and Peter Henderson, Montreal; Alf Devenish, London, England; Dave Russell, Vancouver; Gordon Everard and Larry Conway, Los Angeles; Ron Law, Montreal; Bob Fuhrmann, Los Angeles; Frank Smith, London, England; Al Lock and Joe Patane, Los Angeles.

Kneeling are: Denny Bernier, Montreal; Mrs. Bonnie Lutz, Los Angeles; Ken Shaw, New York; John Scott, and Roy Ackroyd, Toronto; Mike Scullion and Bert Laing, Los Angeles.

Missing was Harry Medensky, Toronto.

From the "InfoCanadi>n" magazine.

Issue dated August 1990

The Sales team in Ontario has launched a promotion for travel agents to increase the number of bookings to international destinations and to better promote our routes.

The 'Speak Canadian' promotion has had a warm welcome from travel agents who can win all sorts of prizes, from tee-shirts to trips.

In our photo we have: John Percy, Karen Druchok, Glen Dierker, Cora Castellvi-Hapke, Kate Martell, Phil Sproul, Milton Triska, Derek Parker, Dorothy Jean Mar, David Chorley, Brad Burrough, Doug Vogl, Jack Green and Harry Wong.

Coffee, tea or...birdseed?

'Hogan', a military macaw, accompanied by Lisa Harris, left, and 'Rainbow', a hybrid macaw, accompanied by Renée Martin, experienced a new kind of flying when they migrated from their home at Bush Gardens in Tampa to Montreal on Canadian, August 3, 1990.

The birds, which participated in a promotion for Canadian Holidays, were able ride in the cabin thanks to a new cabin baggage tie-down system developed by Knut Ohm, Customer Service Supervisor, and Ian Anderson, Ramp Procedures Analyst and refined by Rob Mets, Engineer.

Though Hogan and Rainbow remained in their traveling cage (foreground) during the B-737 flight, they did come out long enough to greet Captain Frank Latchford and Ray Gaule, System Passenger and Ticketing Procedures Manager, upon arrival in Montreal.

Taking calls for a good cause.

St. John's airport staff participated in the Newfoundland and Labrador June 4, 1990 broadcast of the Children's Miracle Network Marathon which raised money for the Janeway Children's Hospital.

The group included, top row: Debbie Bastow, Jim Kendall and Jim Arnold.

Front row, from left: Pam McGrory, Sandra Brown, Glenn Moores, Teena Moores and Barb Hickey.

Issue dated February 1991

Fabulous fares for B-747-400 during training flights.

Employees, families and friends can experience service at special reduced fares when Canadian's second new B-747-400 is introduced between Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary from February 25 to March 16, 1991.

Canadian's newest aircraft, fin #882, was delivered February 15 and entered domestic service February 25 before beginning Vancouver - Tokyo service on March 17.

Special return fares of $197.47 Vancouver - Toronto, $157.47 Toronto - Calgary, and $97.47 Calgary - Vancouver were available for pleasure travel on flights operated by the B-747, with some return portions on other aircraft. Regular return Vancouver - Toronto economy class fare was $1,366.00.

"We're operating the B-747-400 on the transcon route to meet flight crew training requirements before the aircraft enters long-haul service and see this as a perfect opportunity for employees and friends to experience the B-747," said Terry Nord, Senior Vice-President Operations.

Editors' Note: Does anyone have any experience they wish to share from these flights?

C-FCRA (fin #882) delivered February 15, 1991

Photo by Aero Icarus

Posted by the Artificial Reef Society of BC on YouTube, our video chronicles the transporting and submerging of former Canadian Airlines B-737-200 (originally delivered to Pacific Western Airlines in 1975) registration C-GBPW to be preserved as an artificial reef in the Stuart Channel off the coast of Chemainus, British Columbia on January 14, 2006.

See Terry's Trivia below for more on this and other submerged aircraft around the world.

Express newsletter by the Musée de l'aérospatiale du Quebec.

From the collection of Pierre Gillard.

Here is a scanned Kodachrome slide of the Boeing 747-212B, C-FXCE,  the only aircraft flown by Fortunair Canada.

Fortunair Canada was a Canadian charter airline which began operations in June 1993, created by former Nationair Director, M. Joseph Sandoux, Founder and CEO, using a leased Boeing 747-200, built in 1977 for original operator Singapore Airlines, before being acquired by Pan Am in 1984.

Fortunair Canada flew every Thursday starting on June  24, 1993 from Toronto Canada to London and Glasgow, every Friday from Montreal to Paris and every Saturday from Montreal to Rome, with 485 passenger seats (25 first class and 460 economy).

It was photographed at Mirabel on July 10, 1994 by Pierre Gillard.

Additional Info:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortunair

www.planelogger.com/Aircraft/Registration/C-FXCE/526207 

Wreckers dismantle a SpaceJet M90 at Moses Lake on March 8, 2023.

Wrecking crews dismantled one of Mitsubishi Aircraft’s SpaceJet prototype regional jets at Moses Lake. Physically and symbolically closing a chapter on Japan’s once-ambitious regional jet programme.

Source: FlightGlobal.com

 A320 Special Liveries

As Air Canada's Airbus A320's are gradually being retired and and another era will soon come to an end, I thought that I would take a look at the status of a few of these aircraft that have flown with special liveries.

Two A320's carried the Star Alliance logo. C-FDRH (fin #203, pictured) delivered to Air Canada in February 1990 and C-FDRK (fin #204) delivered in March 1990

Both were painted in the special colours in April 2014 and withdrawn from service in September 2019 and are currently stored at Marana Pinal Airport in Arizona.

Photo by Bill Abbot

C-FDSN (fin #206) was delivered in November 1990 and later painted in one of the coolest liveries (my opinion) ever to commemorate the first NBA team in Canada (at the time playing home games at the 'Air Canada Centre'),

It has been stored at Greenwood-LeFlore airport in Mississippi since November 2020. 

Photo by Aero Icarus

C-FFWN (fin #212) was delivered to Air Canada in March 1991 and painted in 'Symphony of Voices (65th anniversary)' special colours from September 2002 to November 2009.

It has been stored at Marana Pinal Airport in Arizona since October 2019.

Photo by Makaristos

C-GQCA (fin #403) was delivered to Canadian Airlines in July 1991. Transferred to Air Canada in 2001, it briefly became a part of the 'Tango' fleet before being assigned to the 'Jetz' fleet in October 2003. It is shown here in special livery for the North American part of the  'U2 360 Tour' in May 2010. 

It was acquired by SU Airlines of Gambia in June of 2021 and is still listed as active.

Photo by John Murphy 

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

For the scuba divers –

Several airplanes are being used as scuba sites. Some are crashed WWII-era military aircraft and others are retired commercial airliners that were intentionally sunk for use by divers:

• WWI-era Japanese Navy seaplane off the coast of Palau in Micronesia.
• Airbus A300 submerged on June 4, 2016 at Kusadasi, Turkey.
• Boeing 747 aircraft is the largest aircraft to be used as an artificial reef and one was sunk in 2019, off the coast of Bahrain.
• Boeing 727 submerged at Mermet Springs, Illinois, USA.
• WW-II era Corsair plane off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii.
• Four-seater single-engine Piper airplane crashed into the ocean at Makronisos, Greece on October 1988.
• WWII-era U.S. B-17 bomber "Blackjack" at Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea.
• Boeing 737 at Chemainus, British Columbia (see link below).
• A Bristol Blenheim bomber at Delimara, Malta.

Source: ScubaDiverLife.com (includes videos)

Click this link artificialreefsocietybc.ca/boeing-737.html or the image below for more info and photos of the submerging of C-GBPW.

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Another cartoon by Dave Mathias which appeared in the 'Between Ourselves' issued February 1976.

The caption reads "Sure it costs more by Concorde but you'll arrive before the prices go up!".