Ken Starnes has sent us a group of photos of the Aircraft Maintenance Retirement Party held at the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club in Dorval in 1983 which appeared in NetLetter nr 1338 etc, here are some more –

In this photo from the left Phil Whittingstall, Mrs. Humberstone, Tom Humberstone (retiree ex foreman sheet metal aircraft maintenance).

Here we have Bob Jeffrey (retiree ex aircraft maintenance foreman), Mrs. Whittingstall, Mrs. Jeffrey, Phil Whittingstall.

And Jim Riddoch, Gregory Conides (retiree  ex aircraft maintenance foreman), Mrs. Conides, Micheline Poupart.

Balance of the photos sent to Jack Stephens by Don Heron. Others are in NetLetter nr 1339 and 1340.

This photo is of Ossie Candy (ham radio operator VE7KZ and CGTAS) with a Loran receiver in the radio shop at Dorval in 1944.

Here is the TCA return ferry service radio shop at Dorval in 1945. George K. Heron designed the shielded room in the background, used for testing transmitters and automatic direction finding (ADF) equipment.

George K. Heron is shown performing a Loran (Long range air navigation) receiver test in the return ferry service shop at Dorval in 1944.

This particular photo is on page 235 of "National Treasure, History of Trans Canada Airlines" by Peter Piggott, but did not identify George and listed the date as, erroneously, 1945.

Sylvia Kellner sends us this information and photos.

My husband John H. Kellner worked for Air Canada at Cleveland, Ohio this is a picture I found when I was going through some of his stuff so it’s still in the package. The special memento celebrated the company's 60th anniversary.

1948 - December 1st - Service between Canada and Nassau, Jamaica and Trinidad commence with North Star equipment.

1963 - November 22nd - Company announced the order for (6) DC-9 aircraft. (Pictured)

1983 - April 24th - Service resumed to Dusseldorf from YVR, YYZ, YUL with stops at LHR and Paris with L1011 equipment. Previously Dusseldorf was served from 1952 to 1966.

1986 - April - AirBC timetable from the collection of Bjorn Larsson. (Pictured)

 Found in the "Between Ourselves" magazine issue December 1963

A company Viscount, piloted by Captain Rene Giguere, made a symbolic flight on November 12th, 1963 from Winnipeg's old terminal and landed half an hour later as the first plane to touch down at a new $10m air terminal. Captain Giguere was the TCA pilot to operate out of the old airport in 1937, so it was appropriate that he was the last pilot out of the old airport.

The Viscount flight lasted for approximately 28 minutes during which the aircraft circled Winnipeg and then swooped low past the new terminal to allow the photographers to take a panoramic picture. Company officials, 50 newspapermen and Department of Transport officials were also passengers aboard the first flight into the terminal.

In the photo from the left: R. W. Lockhart, Station Operations Manager, Winnipeg; W. E. Fenn, DOT; Captain W. J. I. Montgomery, Check Pilot, Winnipeg; Captain R. M.Giguere, Flight Operations Manager, Winnipeg; Margaret Pascoe, Stewardess; J. N. Donnelly, Regional Operations Manager, Vancouver; J. E. Smythe, DOT.

Captain Giguere's flight preceded by a half hour, the first scheduled flight to use the new facilities which was a TCA DC-8 flight nr. 807, under the command of Captain Herb Russell. (Pictured)

Half a million homes were brightened during Christmas 1963 with Yuletide decorations such as the ones shown in this photo.

Vancouver ground hostess, Margaret Bishop, admires the samples which were part of a 44 ton shipment airlifted from Vancouver to New York. Made in Hong Kong (where else!-eds) they were brought to YVR by the Arizona, a US line freighter and transferred to the company flights.

Found in the “Horizons” magazine Issue dated January 1983

The Air Canada Pionairs Board of Directors held its sixth annual meeting in Vancouver in 1982.

Shown at the meeting are District Directors, back row. from the left: Ron Williams, Victoria, substituting for Tony Butler; Jack Somerset, Vancouver; Roger Alain, Florida; Don Jarvis. Calgary; Beth Ferguson, Winnipeg; Gord Smith. Toronto; Mary Young, Ottawa; Evelyn Desjardins, Montreal; and Tony Bruneau, Halifax.

Seated, from the left. are: Martin Betts, Pension Representative; Bill Spratt, First Vice President: Dorothy Grant, Secretary; Ozzie Candy, Second Vice President; President George Fox and Joe Lorimer, Immediate Past President. 

For the past 5 years, the Halifax staff had been entering a company float in a number of parades across the province of Nova Scotia, garnering a number of trophies along the way. Here are the crew for 1982.

Standing from the left. are Jim Kirby. Passenger Sales Manager: Gerry Simpson. In-Flight: Charlie Stock. General Manager. Nova Scotia: Joyce Burris, wife of Arnold Burris. Millwright: Ian MacKenzie. In-Flight; Jim McClue, Maintenance Manager: Ron Banks, Supply Supervisor arid Ken McLeod. Sales Representative.

Seated. from the left: are: Arnold Burris: Nicole Beland, In-Flight; Starr Williams, Statistics Clerk; Linda Tanner and Bob McKinnon, In-Flight.

Missing from the photo are: SyIvana McKinnon, Desiree Conn, Gloria Doyle and Sandy Molson, all of ln-Flight and Station Attendant Derek Burris.

(Does anyone know where the trophies would be? - eds)

1956 - October 15th -

Transair timetable from collection of Bjorn Larsson.

On the left is a photo is of a Canadian Pacific aircraft in distress. Does anyone have any information for this event?

From the "CPAirNews" magazine. Issue dated April 1984

Happy Selling!

CP Air's German Sales staff was out in force for Consortium Canada, a two-day Canada travel school at Lufthansa Training centre in Seeheim.

At their display in 1984 are from the left: Peter Garms, sales manager, Germany; Passenger agents Angelika Schroder, Dusseldorf; Susanne Heger, Munich; Hedy Dresel, Hamburg; Helga Schreiber, Dusseldorf; and Martin Gross, district sales representative, Frankfurt. Gross conducted classes on transportation and Schreiber on winter activities in Canada.

Issued November 1983

The SFO Sales Office near the airport is an economic winner in two ways - it's more central than downtown is to the Bay area, and the rent is much cheaper than a downtown location.

Our photo, from the left: Garry Morton, supervisor, cargo sales and service Ina Mae Sutton, California sales secretary; Lynne Kerney, passenger sales rep; and Peter Carpenter, administrative assistant to manager Murray Bymes.

Staffing the podium in the departure lounge at SFO are Said Eghbal and Nancy Auld.

Issue dated Mid July 1984.

Mid-ocean ditching avoided.

Jim Rice, general manager, engineering and quality control, had taken early retirement in June 1984 but remembers the huge bird strike in the 1970's as one of the most momentous of his career. His decision to recall the aircraft saved a possible mid-ocean ditching. The drama started when a DC-8-63 radioed Vancouver shortly after take-off that it had over flown a large flock of birds, but the captain thought that he had missed them.

At the time, Jim Rice was a power plant engineer and he had a discussion with Flight Ops. A decision for the flight to return meant the DC-8 would have to dump its fuel load. Rice was firm in his hunch for the aircraft to return. So the fuel was dumped. Upon arrival back at Vancouver, the aircraft was found to be spattered from wingtip to wingtip with the remains of more than 200 birds.

Three of the four engines were damaged and two of them had to be replaced. It was doubtful if the aircraft could have reached Tokyo, its intended destination.

Ken Pickford, refers to NetLetter nr 1338, regarding the PWA timetable item quoted below:

1963 – June -Timetable from PWA announcing the first service in Canada between Edmonton and Calgary. That makes it sound like it was the first Edmonton-Calgary air service. While it was PWA's first service on the route, TCA operated Edmonton-Calgary for at least 23 years prior to PWA starting their "Airbus" no reservations shuttle service in 1963.

By then TCA had around 5 Viscounts a day from Edmonton International Airport (YEG) to Calgary, while PWA had remained at the more convenient Municipal Airport (YXD) near the city centre when YEG opened in 1960. At the peak of the PWA "Airbus" service sometime in the late 1970s, they had around 15 daily 737s in each direction on the route.

Coincidentally, my first-ever flight at about age 9 was on a TCA Viscount from YXD to YYC around 1956.

Regards, Ken

In NetLetter nr 1338, the article in "Wayne's Wings" about Wardair aircraft prompted Alan Evans in South Africa to send this information - Been a while since we have been in communiqué.

However I saw the article on the Airbus 310 bought by Wardair. I might add a bit to that in so much as I understand the 310 were bought from South African Airways.

The pilots were trained here. But the ironical side of that is that the world was sanctioning South Africa and all its products, including not being able to fly across Africa. Ward bought these Airbuses under the political sanctioned curtain so to say, and it’s a mystery how it was all organised. It was believed they were sold to a company in France which apparently Max owned. Farm possibly. Wards pilots were handsomely entertained out here, as is our custom. Just a bit of scuttle bug.

Cheers hope you are well - Alan

My "Wayne's Wings" artiicle in NetLetter nr 1340 contained misinformation concerning the circumstances of the B747-400 entry into service.

Captain Dennis Giguere sent along this clarification -

The Air Canada B747-400 combis were delivered to Air Canada from storage in the Mojave Desert by newly trained Air Canada pilots in the April 1992 and entered service shortly thereafter flying to CDG / LHR and FRA. Hollis Harris had just taken over as CEO and he wanted them in service ASAP.

I was one of the newly trained captains. Half of us were trained at Boeing and the rest at NATCO in MSP. Service to Asia began in 1994 to Seoul then Osaka and finally Hong Kong as I remember.

Dennis Giguere

We thank Captain Giguere for sharing his personal experience - Wayne

E. Murray Wadden who was a Manager in Fredericton and is now retired sends this memory -

"Long B4 I became a TCA/AC Employee , I worked with the Bank of Montreal and was transferred from YQY to YJT; my Dad was in His final Days of Life and I had a Lady Friend I wished to remain 'close to ' !; thus I flew home many week-ends for several months!

On more than one occasion our Home phone would ring and the Voice on the other end would say: are you going back to YJT today! The aircraft was a Vanguard, a Cargo carrying and passenger carrying ' Work Horse " !... which fortunately required more Ramp Time to unload than a usual Passenger on/off Load ! NEVER Missed a Day’s Work at the Bank!

Thanks to Passenger Service FAR Above and BEYOND !"

Betty Draper sent this information -

In a news article dated January 15th, 1929 it was reported that Howard Ingram, an instructor at the Moose Jaw Flying Club had been floating the idea of a Dominion Commercial Pilots' Association.

Feelers had been sent out to various clubs around Canada with a view to the early organization of such an association. With the favourable responses, it was hoped that the association would be formed in Toronto during January.

Richard Branson’s Virgin empire is now involved with a Silicon Valley-backed start up that wants to develop a small supersonic airliner. Branson, who once offered to buy British Airways’ fleet of Concorde’s before they were retired, is working with Boom Technology on plans for a 40-seat aircraft that could cruise at Mach 2.2 for the same ticket price as subsonic business class.

(Source ATW Mar 25/16)

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