Air Canada photographer, Brian Losito, has decided to retire after an extremely productive 36 year career. 

If we may be a little self-indulgent, we believe that The NetLetter has had a very special relationship with Brian over the years.

Much of our Air Canada-related content is subject to copyright and we must ask for permission to publish photographs and articles from Horizons and other internal media. 

Brian was our contact and always generously granted us permission; it is our pleasure to say 'thank you' to Brian.

We wish you only the best in your future activities. 

Click the image below to view a video tribute to Brian posted at the Air Canada Mediaroom.

More on Brian's career from Skies magazine.

We have welcomed 70 new subscribers so far in 2023.

We wish to thank everyone for the continuing 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!

The Canadian Aviation Historical Society is pleased to invite you to our annual convention in Kingston, Ontario, Wednesday June 21 to Saturday June 24, 2023.

We are looking forward to what promises to be an exciting event, building on the traditional excellence of our conventions as reflected in our rewarding and successful gathering at Winnipeg in 2022.

The convention opens with a Meet and Greet on Wednesday evening. Reconnect with your friends and meet aviation enthusiasts from across Canada at this informal evening.

On Thursday a bus will take us to Trenton, Ontario, where we will tour Canada's largest air force base and the National Air Force Museum of Canada. The CC-177 Globemaster, the CC-150 Polaris, the CC-130J Hercules, and the CH-146 Griffon are all based at Trenton.

We are also planning a tour of the air force museum, featuring one of the only two restored Handley Page Halifax bombers. The museum also features an extensive air park of retired RCAF aircraft. 

Click Here for full details and registration. 

Submitted by Ed Copeman, retired Air Canada captain - 

While reading the latest issue of "The Netletter" and seeing the letters BOAC, a story came to mind.

I spent quite a few years flying from Dorval, became a second-officer instructor during that time, and that is where (and when) I was told this story.

It was a 'dark and stormy' day at CYUL, and a BOAC B-707 was doing a non-precision flight to runway 24R.

Through a 'hole' they spied the runway, and stuffed it down to that runway, flared for landing 'chopping' the power and  touching down hard only to discover that the runway was nowhere near as long as the approach-chart mentioned!

Full reverse, maximum brakes and the B-707 came to a halt near the western end of R/W 24 at Cartierville; not at Dorval which is several miles further west!

BOAC flew in a new crew of supervisory pilots to ferry that B-707 to Dorval, and since then...

BOAC came to mean Been Over At Cartierville, tho' not any BOAC pilots ever repeated that!

Yours truly,

Ed Copeman

Editor's Note from Terry Baker:

Hello Ed,

Thank you for taking the time to send us this item which we will pass along to our readers.

BOAC could always be Better On Air Canada.

There is also an instance when an Air France aircraft landed at Cartierville in error.

Viewing the article on the Viscount in NetLetter #1508 prompted Louise Ingram to send this comment -

Thank you for the article on the Viscount. It brought up so many fond memories for me. I started my career with Air Canada as a stewardess in March 1966 and was based in YWG.

My favourite aircraft to work on was the Viscount. I’ve visited the Winnipeg museum and the museum in Sidney, B.C. which both have a Viscount. Love it!

Louise Ingram

Neil Burton has sent us an excerpt from the Kamloops Sentinel issued June 28, 1950.

One of the most recent businesses to take up its headquarters in Kamloops in 1950 is Central British Columbia Airlines, with its base at Fulton Field Airport, Kamloops, B. C.

The work of Central B.C. Airways constitutes the constant vigil against forest fires, servicing of mining properties in Central and Northern B.C. and taking charter flights to any point in Canada.

The company operates 11 modern type aircraft, from bases at Kamloops, Penticton, Prince George, Fort St. James, Burns Lake and Nelson. It also owns and operates Kamloops Air Services, providing charter service, to lakes and resorts of the Kamloops fishing, hunting and ranching district.

Under the direction of F. Russell Baker, hero of many a mercy flight in the central and northern interior, the newly acquired Kamloops business will undoubtedly expand with the progress of the Central and northern interior.

Pilot Baker is one of the few persons not of American citizenship ever to receive the United States Air Medal, presented to him by President Harry S. Truman for dramatic rescue of crews of three American bombers forced down in the north country during the war.

This ambitious company at present operates 3 de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beavers, 2 Junkers freighters, 1 Fairchild 71C, 2 Republic RC-3 Seabee amphibians and 2 Cessna T50's.

In personnel, experience and equipment, the company is ready at all times to handle freight or passenger service anywhere in the country.

Source: Kamloops Sentinel issued June 28, 1950 via Neil Burton.

Editors' Note:

Between 1949 and 1952, Central British Columbia Airlines acquired seven other smaller flying services.

With each acquisition, the company expanded its base of operations, providing the much needed manpower and equipment necessary to maintain a rapidly expanding air service.

These companies included Associated Air Taxi, Kamloops Air Service, Skeena Air Transport, Whitehorse Flying Services and Port Alberni Airways. In 1953, the company adopted the name Pacific Western Airlines.

Acquired Queen Charlotte Airlines and Associated Airways in 1955. Acquired BC Airlines in 1970 and merged with Transair in 1979.

Source: 

airlinehistory.co.uk/airline/central-british-columbia-airlines/

Frequent contributor, Monika Hilson, has posted a series of podcasts chronicling her many years as a flight attendant. 

Click the image below to listen. 

Hello I'm Monika. I was a flight attendant based in Canada for 38 years. I circumnavigated forty countries, and even more cities around the world. It is interesting how they all varied in manners, customs, and lifestyles.

Join me here for lots of juicy stories about working and playing in these countries. Hopefully you will enjoy my experiences as much as I did.

Found in 'Horizons' magazine

Issue dated June 1984 

A history of CF-TCC.

Enclosed with the issue of Horizons dated June 1984 was an insert describing the various exciting plans to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary, starting in 1986.

One of them, involving the coast-to-coast flight of a Lockheed L-10A began last January when Captain Ray Lank brought the aircraft back from Florida.

CF-TCC has returned to its original owner to be used as part of Air Canada's 50th anniversary celebrations. The ten-seat Lockheed L-10A flew Trans-Canada Air Lines inaugural flight between Vancouver and Seattle on September 1, 1937.

The key to the aircraft and its log book were handed over to Air Canada in Florida prior to the flight to Canada.

From the left are: Captain Ray Lank; Al Scammel, Chief Inspector, Aircraft, Dorval; TCC owner Bud Clark and Ernie Sykes, a former Air Canada employee who discovered the airplane in Florida.

The Pionairs had advance notice of this project at their recent Annual General Meeting in Anaheim when guest speaker Captain Lank talked about the project. Here are some of his remarks which appeared in the 'Horizons' magazine issued June 1984.

"When I first set eyes on the L-10A at a small out-of-the-way airport near Tampa, it was parked all by itself in a corner and was in original U.S. Army Air Corps livery. It was clean and bright and did have the 'good Canada' seal of approval for the ferry flight.

Paperwork was completed by our project leader (whose brainchild the idea was) Ted Morris, Manager, Corporate Information. At about dusk (temperature 72 F) we started our three-day trek to frigid Winnipeg where temperatures of -24 C awaited us.

Our first leg was about four hours to Memphis, Tennessee. I was struck by two facts - I could see the strobe effect on the props, and I could actually look out and see the wings and engines. It all felt right, and looked right, and even smelled right with AV-gas perfume.

Second day took us into colder and colder weather, crisp and clear and looking good for a 'one-fuel-stop' then a direct to Winnipeg operation, just as Flight Dispatcher Bill Sansom had planned.

When we dropped into Omaha, the old L-10A was a little chilly to say the least. On landing roll out the right brake gave up the ghost in sheer annoyance at these decidedly un-Florida like temperatures!

After repairs, we were up very early next day - we got as far as the hangar and soon realized the ice fog would indeed be a factor. Finally about noon, we did get underway by doing all the checks inside the hangar and then started the engines and made a dash for the runway. We soon flew into a high pressure ridge where clear skies showed us more and more snow-covered terrain. I wondered if perhaps CF-TCC could appreciate returning home!

We did a slow-and-over' so our welcoming team could have a look. Then we landed, and breaking all rules, taxied into the hangar itself.

A brief ceremony took place where I accepted the aircraft key and log book on behalf of the company. I then sent a teletype to the V.P., Flight Operations which read:

'CF-TCC safely home - the adventure has begun.'

Three months later when I saw the aircraft again, it was no longer in flying condition. The maintenance crews had wasted no time in taking it apart. The engines have gone to Pratt & Whitney for zero timing by them as their contribution to the event. The interior and cockpit were literally stripped and even the wide twin tall was off.

When the work is done, however, the L-10A will look like a genuine 1937 aircraft right down to the Trans-Canada Air Lines lettering on the silver-tone fuselage. In fact those of us flying the machine will even be dressed circa 1937. Tentatively, the flight visitation program will begin April 10, 1986 and end up in Vancouver at Expo '86."

Editors' Note:

Additional NetLetter articles referring to CF-TCC -

Netletter #1378 issued November 2017, Roger Slauenwhite sent this information -

Since CF-TCC is airborne again for the 80th anniversary, here is a picture of the three people who 'discovered' the original L-10A aircraft in Harlingen, Texas at the Confederate Air Force airshow. It was flown in from Plant City, Florida. 

On the left is Roger Slauenwhite, retired Sales Manager and Pionair, Bob Rathwell, Sales Manager (now deceased) and Ernie Sykes, Airport Personnel.

CF TCC (at this time had an American registration) was parked directly behind this B-25, flown in for the show from Hamilton, Ontario.

On our return to YYZ we advised Ted Morris in Toronto P.R. of our finding. Ted called Montreal P.R. and set the wheels in motion. The rest is history. Ted was instrumental in making this all happen (a good P.R. man). Otherwise this aircraft might still be flying freight around the southern United States, which was its previous task.

Hats off to Ted Morris.

Roger Slauenwhite

Netletter #1380 issued December 2017, David Edward has sent this information he received from Paul Sanchez after the CF-TCC article appeared in NetLetter #1378.

"Dave, that certainly brings back some wonderful memories for me and I am quite impressed with the story of your family history. You are probably familiar with the CF-TCC, the Lockheed 10-A that Air Canada purchased in 1984.

The attached pic is of me in 1977 stripping all of the paint off of 'er! Of course, that was 40 years ago and I had a little more hair. What a way to start off in aviation!

I was 17 and you can see the brown spot underneath the wing which was Turco paint stripper. I stripped the paint off most of the airplane myself and that was not much fun for a 17 year old, but it paid off when we later found, etched into the aluminum skin, the letters: CF-TCC.

Memories by CF-TCC by Peter Larsen, excerpt from Airways magazine July 1999.

I enjoyed Tango-Charlie-Charlie (May 1999) about the Lockheed L-10A Electra and thought you might like some additional information about her past.

I knew CF-TCC in the late seventies and early eighties when she was registered NC3749 and owned by M. P. 'Bud' Clark of Plant City, Florida.

She was finished in overall bare metal with US Army Air Corps markings. Bud flew her annually to Harlingen, Texas, for the Confederate Air Force show and participated in the EAA Sun 'n' Fun Fly-In at Lakeland, Florida. During this time, he kept the aircraft at Lakeland Municipal (now Lakeland Linder Regional), where I rode my bicycle on weekends to help him out. 

From the "InfoCanadi>n" magazine.

 Issue dated July 1990

New revenue system could generate $10 million annually.

Canadian's Accounting department was moving into the future with the development of a new system for processing passenger tickets which will generate more than $10 million a year in benefits to the company.

"Our current system was designed to handle three million flight coupons annually, but in 1989 we processed more than 12 million," said Don Owen, director, Accounting Systems Development.

"Our tremendous growth as an airline and our commitment to customer service requires a more efficient way of processing customer information." 

Data entry operators, from left: Emelita Doneza, Marilyn Olson, Sat Rathor, Barb Acreman, Sarah Delfino, Stella Liu, Sean Sano and, seated, Jo-Anne McMillan with one of the new data entry terminals to be installed in August 1990.

Halifax hosted a slow-pitch tourney.

Employees from Canadian's Commissary Department participated in the Halifax Slow-pitch Tournament June 22 and 23, 1990.

In this photo from the left back are: Mel Price, Lock Doyle, James Wolthers, Cheryl Isenor, Beth McNeill and Roy McNeill.

In the front are: Sharon Wolthers, Roman Malinkoski, Jeff Urqhart, Terri-Lee Munroe, Mona Price and Dick Meadows.

Unavailable for the photo, Roger Harmon and Jerry Maloney.

Farewell to Canadian North's Boeing 737-200!

One Last Flight on a Classic.

Alex Praglowski has posted this tribute to the  Boeing 737-200 Combi operated by Canadian North to remote areas for over twenty years.

Aviation themed YouTube channels are very popular and new ones seem to be popping up frequently.

We found this excellent channel, Airliners Live (linked below), where new videos are uploaded weekly. They are based in Manchester, England and Vancouver, British Columbia.

There are several videos where 'Captain Mark' provides insights from a pilot's point of view.

The world's oldest Learjet is on its way to its birthplace where a group of enthusiasts hopes to restore it to flying condition. The Classic Lear Jet Foundation found the first aircraft delivered by Bill Lear's upstart company. It was found intact but in need of restoration in Bartow, Florida.

Over a weekend it was disassembled and loaded on trailers for the trip to Wichita, where it will be rebuilt. A homecoming event was held February 28, 2023 at 4 p.m. at Global Aviation Technologies at Eisenhower National Airport. 

Learjet 23-003 was the third aircraft built by Lear's fledgling company and the first one to be delivered. The group tackling the restoration has deep ties to the plane and the history.

Source: AVWeb.com 

Express newsletter by the Musee de l'aerospatiale du Quebec.

These three photos from the collection of Pierre Gillard.

Chrono Aviation is the first Canadian company to operate a Boeing 737-800SF. The freighter conversion was performed by KF Aerospace in Kelowna.

Registered C-GVZB, it is operated from Winnipeg where it made its first commercial flight on February 15, 2022. On 18 and 19 February 2022, it came to St. Hubert for the first time.

During March, 2022 Boeing 737-229C registered C-GNRD of Nolinor came for maintenance at Saint-Hubert at the company's H18 facility.

Usually, this B-737, equipped with a cargo door, is operated from Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. The aircraft was scheduled to leave Saint Hubert on March 20, 2022, after the maintenance work was completed.

Here is a scanned Kodachrome slide of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 C-GCPD of CP Air photographed in Amsterdam-Schiphol on February 27, 1981. This aircraft flew, among others, under the colours of World Airways (United States) and DAS Air Cargo (Uganda).

 ZIP Revisited

 I first wrote about my memories of ZIP back in 2019, NetLetter #1414. During our NetLetter team ZOOM session a few weeks ago, we once again got into a bit of a discussion on how much fun the liveries were. They seem to be forever engraved in our memories.

While browsing through our library of internal magazines, I came upon a few pictures in a PDF document photo history of Canadian Airlines including photos up until the merger. Still fun memories.

Below is a small sampling of the 20 aircraft listed in the historic ZIP fleet with a brief description of their current status.

Editor's Note: I do not know if any of these photos are under copyright. No infringement is intended.

C-GCPS

Preserved in Mexico
as an instructional airframe. 

C-GCPN

Broken up in 2015

C-CFGP

Stored since 2014

C-GCPU

Preserved at Suwuk Beach (Indonesia)
for display purposes

C-GMCP

Candy Cane livery for Christmas 

Scrapped in 2005

C-GCPO 

Santa's Sleigh livery

Stored at Tucson International Airport

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

Extracted from TheAirplaneRestaurant.com

“Before the Wright brothers, no one in aviation did anything fundamentally right. Since the Wright Brothers, no one has done anything fundamentally different.”
-Darrel Collins, US Park Service, Kitty Hawk National Historical Park

Wilbur Wright was born April 16, 1867, on a farm 8 miles from New Castle, Indiana, and Orville Wright was born August 19, 1871, in Dayton, Ohio. Mechanics fascinated the brothers even in childhood. To earn pocket money, they sold homemade mechanical toys. Orville launched a weekly newspaper called “the West Side News,” with Wilbur as editor. Wilbur was 25, Orville 21, when they began selling bicycles. Then they began to manufacture bicycles, assembling them in a room above their shop. After reading about the death of pioneer glider, Otto Lili, the brothers became interested in flying.

Almost a century before Orville and Wilbur Wright took their place in history, the first fixed-wing aircraft, a kite mounted on a stick, had been conceived and flown. What the Wright brothers had accomplished was to design and build an aircraft that could be controlled while in the air. Every successful aircraft built since, beginning with the 1902 Wright Glider, had controls that roll the wings right or left, pitch the nose up or down, and yaw the nose from side to side. It is interesting that a sophisticated aircraft, recently tested, uses “warping” the wings to maneuver the plane. This is the same technique that the Wrights used in their epic flight. 

Issue dated January 1981

Caption reads:

"Howdy folks! Nobody but nobody over-discounts John's! Just check out our air-conditioned special for only $9.99 daily..."