Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter
Since 1995 Saturday, September 13, 2025
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Former Air Canada Fin #631 now with My Freighter of Uzbekistan
Kazakhstan - November 2024 Photo courtesy of Mehrad Watson |
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Dear Welcome to The NetLetter, established in 1995 as a dedicated newsletter for Air Canada retirees.
We have evolved into the longest running aviation-based newsletter for Air Canada, TCA, CP Air, Canadian Airlines and all other Canadian-based airlines that once graced the skies. The NetLetter is self-funded and is always free to subscribers. It is operated by a group of volunteers and is not affiliated with any airline or associated organizations. The NetLetter is published on the second and fourth weekend of each month. If you are interested in Canadian aviation history, and vintage aviation photos, especially as it relates to Trans-Canada Air Lines, Air Canada, Canadian Airlines International and their constituent airlines, then we're sure you'll enjoy this newsletter. Please note: We do our best to identify and credit the original source of all content presented. However, should you recognize your material and are not credited; please advise us so that we can correct our oversight. Our website is located at www.thenetletter.net Please click the links below to visit our archives and for more info about The NetLetter. |
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 We have welcomed 117 new subscribers so far in 2025.
We now have 4519 subscribers.
We wish to thank everyone for the continuing support of our efforts.
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 Back issues of The NetLetter are available in both the original newsletter format and downloadable PDF format.
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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.
We will try to post your comments in the next issue but, if not, we will publish it as soon as we can.
Thanks!
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Submitted by Kent Davis -
I enjoy all of your posts. It makes my day. Your story about the DC-8-51 triggered my memory.
I am a retired pilot from Air Canada. In 1984, I took a three-year leave of absence as there was a downturn for the airline, and they were offering an attractive deal.
I took a job as the Director of Flight Operations for a startup airline, Maldives Airways. It was based out of Male, the capital of the Republic of the Maldives. We purchased 3 operational DC-8-51 aircraft from a broker. We were told that they had been Delta aircraft and were used exclusively on domestic routes.
The aircraft did not have the same fuel tank system as the regular 40 or 50 series aircraft, carrying much less fuel. The deal to acquire them had been sealed prior to my arrival. I would never have bought them.
We operated them from Male to various cities in India, and the Middle East. We also ran an operation to Colombo, Sri Lanka which was on a par with Air Canada's Rapidair. Every hour. One of the aircraft was a freighter and it was based in Dubai mostly. Except for the lack of fuel range, it was pretty much a standard DC-8-50 series.
Please keep up the great work,
Kent Davis
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John Rodger forwarded this request to us -
In the month of July 1968, my brother in-law Tony Leon (who worked in stores at the base) along with myself, delivered my nephew, Christopher Leon in the front seat of my car on Queen Mary Road (Montreal) outside of Woolworths.
Air Canada posted a photograph in the Horizons Magazine of me, Tony, my sister Joan and the baby Chris. This was in the July, August or September issues. I'm wondering if there is any chance of finding and getting a copy of this issue. Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
John Stanley Dair
Editors' Note: We found the photo in the September 1968 issue of Between Ourselves.
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Baby makes four, and he also made an early arrival as young Christopher Ponce Leon was delivered by his father Tony amidst Montreal's Monday morning traffic. Proud papa Tony is seen with wife Joan, impatient young Christopher, and brother-in-law Stan Dair who chauffeured the memorable ride.
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Paul Goodman submitted this photo of a CP Air ski tour at Innsbruck, Austria - March 1981
Editors' Note: Paul wonders if we have seen this photo before. We did some research and found that it originally appeared in the April 1981 issue of CP Air News and in the February 2, 2013 issue of The NetLetter.
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Submitted by Dave Edward -
Hi...going through some old files and came across this.
It was quite a day. St. John's weather was typical. Captain Ralph Leek , Chief Pilot DC-9 at the Montreal base, felt that the inaugural DC-9 should not divert to our alternate of Stephenville.
We didn't. He called it "'a pilot monitored approach'".
Cheers
Dave Edward
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On the air-stairs, descending: First Officer Dave Edward, Captain E.R. Leak, Flight attendants C. Legourriec and F. Todhunter.
On the ramp, left to right: W.W. Fowler, Regional Sales Manager, Eastern Region; J.J. Moriarty, Station Operations Manager and J.M. Connolly, District Sales Manager.
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Barbara Olexa (nee Cooper) sent in a souvenir from her youth -
I was an 18 years old from England and only in British Columbia for a year and had a difficult time adjusting to life here.
My purpose of the flight, homesickness, flying back to London Heathrow. I recall the passengers were told we were one of the first to fly the arctic circle route which was shorter than the straight route around taken in those days .
The plane refuelled in Gander, Newfoundland where we got off the plane, I remember it being so very cold with snow still on the ground and we, the passengers, were directed to walk to a Nissen hut a fair distance away to wait inside until all was done so we could reboard (see comment below).
Other than that I remember nothing about the flight which must have taken a long time. I say that because the year before on our flights to Canada we flew on Pan Am from London to New York and that was a 13 hour flight.
Thinking of the flight it today has come to me that the plane stopped to fuel in Frobisher Bay, not Gander. I recall hearing others tell of their flights in later times of a stop in Gander, not Frobisher as for my flight.
However a search on line mentions the airport was taken over in September 1957 although, It was a military base and would explain the Nissen hut, and the location would be why I remember snow.
Barbara
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Found in 'Horizons' magazine
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Issue dated November 1992
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Happy trails.
There’s no golf green in the future for this retiree.
November 21, 1992 marks the last day of flying for Air Canada's B-727 fleet, which has been sold to Federal Express. It was 18 years ago last August that the airline's first B-727-200 rolled off the assembly line.
The aircraft started out as the one-class, 144-seat backbone of Rapidair.
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Service anniversaries add up!
Edmonton employees are proud of their combined 150 years of service.
Celebrating 25 years each with Air Canada are from left to right: Customer Sales and Service Agents Shirley Shapansky, Lavina Lychuk, Dennis Haskell, Deanna Carter, Cliff Oatway and STOC Coordinator Tom Milloy.
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Team effort results in top performance.
The Auxiliary Power Unit (APC) section and the support groups in Dorval 's Power Plant Shop achieved a 100% spare engine availability, an Air Canada first.
'This resulted in the least amount of disruption to airline operations and contributed to the company effort to make the '92 plan work," said Ray Fournier, Manager, Power Plant Production. Some of the members of the APU team take time out to pose for a picture.
From left to right are: Raymond Fournier, Tom Fodor, Graham Geraghty, Hans Muller, Raymond Charron, Edward Sarvis, Gaston Denault, David Cordery, Oliver Martins, Louis Beauchemin, Philip Constantine-Gerrett, Francis Ruest, Raymond Mayer, Jacques Dionne, Allan Plamondon, Alain Godbout, Allison Weidlich, Denis Sauvageau, Richard Hum, Carl Olynyk, Geza Horvath, Les Lovasz, Peter Zeigler and Peter Ratcliffe.
Missing from the photo are: Garth Chapman, Gilles VailIancourt, Gilles Bouvrette, Réal Roy, Jean-Pierre Dupaul, Al Coull, John Charles Geall, Raj Chawla, Luc Parent and Ken Ashton.
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Issue dated December 1992
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A320 wing gets new lease on life.
When fin #211 took off from Dorval October 23, 1992 the pilot reported some slight vibrations. In fact, it was the main landing gear tire tread which had failed during the take-off roll and damaged the right hand inboard flap.
The A320 landed safely in Vancouver, but without a new flap, it was stranded.
Materials Management managed to secure a spare flap from a U.S. company within 24 hours, but they realized it was only a temporary solution. Wayne Pilling, Aircraft Maintenance Foreman - Dorval, says they were faced with two options — either repair the flap or purchase a new one.
"We chose the repair route because it was less expensive," says Pilling. "but that created a few problems. We had never worked on an A320 flap before and only two other companies were properly equipped to perform that kind of repair." This group was instrumental in ensuring the A320 flap work was completed on time.
From left to right, front row, are: Yvon Comtois, Jean-Louis Hélie, Reggie Bowes, Jim Gelsthorpe, Bev Teague, Judy McKay, Diane Dryburgh, René d'Heilly, Angelo Rei, Normand David, Peter Ciarma, Gaspard Granata and Keith Routledge.
Back row: Bill Gibson, Bob Purcell, Yves Renaud, Rick Schofield, Raymond Lalande, David Tuff, Bert Walser, Max Eichner, Mike Kandiliotis, Wayne PilIing, Ross McDermott and Mohamed Benchabla.
Missing from the photo were: Bridget Gonsalves, Jacques Laberge, Mike Hawraniak, Brian Griffiths and Gerry Deshaies.
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Issue dated January 1993
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Christmas 1992 in Frankfurt.
Frankfurt's Cargo Handling department and some former colleagues gathered together for the annual ACRA Christmas party,
Smiling for the camera were back row, left to right: Mike Barker, Cargo Agent; Konrad Bossdorf, Cargo Sales and Service Manager; Cargo Agents Mattia Tauchert and Michael Weimer; Eckhard Hausch; Uwe Pochert and Alexandra Bieser, Cargo Agent.
Front row, kneeling: Michael Munster, Miguel Blaufuks, Ludwig Hamburger, Senior Cargo Agent and Thomas Hock, Cargo Agent.
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CP Air / Canadi>n People Gallery |
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From 'Canadi>n Flyer' Magazine
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Issue dated February 1999
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Far East get-together tackles tough issues
On December 11, 1998, Bangkok employees met with a few key Hong Kong staff to discuss sharing seats on our route Bangkok-Hong Kong-Vancouver return.
Fares, booking codes, blocking, seat restrictions by the Hong Kong government, and other concerns were also discussed to find the most profitable and amicable solutions for the airline.
Back row, left to right: Ninlawan Piriyasatit, BKKAA; Henry Yu, HKGRR; Doreen Hazell, BKKSR; Sukanya Rattanavadee, BKKSD; Patty Hatcher, DFW PYM; and Bernard Lu, HKGSD.
Front row, left to right: Nongyao Loasrivivat, BKKRR; Kay Kerman, DFW PYM; Natthar, BKKSD; Nuchaporn, BKKSD; Jesadporn Thanee, BKKRR; and Patcharee, BKKTO.
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Canadian unveils...
'Proud Wings'
Nearly 6,000 employees in four Canadian cities were given a first hand look at our new image in mid-January as we began a new phase in our journey toward long-term profitability
Employees in Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal attended employee meetings to hear plans to roll out the Canada goose “Proud Wings’ image on buildings, aircraft, airport signage, tickets and hundreds of other items over the next five or six years.
Flight CP30 arrives in Vancouver from Beijing on January 13, 1999 bearing the 'Proud Wings' logo which represents a Canada goose in flight. The new livery is designed to take Canadian Airlines into the new millennium and is just one facet of a comprehensive image redesign program that is expected to take up to six years to complete.
Click the image below for the full article,
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Issue dated March 1999
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In April 1949, Canadian Pacific Air Lines began a survey flight to Tokyo and Hong Kong.
Article by Peter Pigott
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 Canadian Pacific Air Lines flight crew are shown boarding the borrowed RCAF North Star aircraft, which took off from Vancouver International Airport on April 19, 1949, on the Company's first familiarization and survey flight to Tokyo and Hong Kong via Anchorage.
Top left: Captain J.K. Potter, Captain C. North Sawle (CPA's Chief Pilot), Captain Louis C. Stevenson, Captain M.D. Lee, Captain George W. Knox, Captain Len Fraser, Navigator P.D. Roy, Captain Robert Goldie, Captain Archie Van Hee and Navigator Fred Wicker.
The CPA survey flight landed at Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport, whose north-south runway had been built by British and Canadian prisoners of war.
Click the image for the full article.
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Pierre Gillard sends this information of his recent visit to Nolinor at Mirabel.
On Friday, August 15, 2025, Philippe Colin and I set off for Mirabel where Nolinor was organizing an event for spotters at its main base.
We arrived at Mirabel then proceeded to the entrance of the event, where we were warmly welcomed by the team from the communications agency BDK, a subsidiary of Nolinor.
Then, none other than the company's president, Marco Prud'homme, reviewed the safety instructions and guided us through the hangar.
Of course, at this kind of event, you always find one or two acquaintances, but, I would like to talk here about my 'friend' the B-737.
Marco explained that Boeing 737-2L9 C-GNLA (below, left & right) almost completely stripped down, has been taken out of storage to be restored to flying condition so it can return to service.
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I found a few of historic photos of C-GNLA in my collection, one when it was flying, in its original livery, for Maersk Air in 1979-82 as OY-APO...
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...and just after its passage to Quebecair in August 1982 as C-GQBA...
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...and at Vancouver in December 1995 in the colours of Canadian Airlines registered C-FACP.
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Also undergoing maintenance are some 'old acquaintances', namely B-737-248C C-GNLE (left) and B-737-229C C-GNRD (right).
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C-GNLE
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C-GNRD |
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Once out of the hangar, we were left free in an area surrounded by orange markers. Several of the company's B-737s were on display, and some were open for tours including C-GTUK (below).
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I remembered that I had photographed C-GTUK on approach to Brussels-National on May 17, 1993 while flying for Royal Air Maroc with the registration CN-RMM.
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I must say that Philippe and I had a good time in the Nolinor facilities before returning to the bistro for another beer before our return to Longueuil!
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Air Canada's First B-767-300ER - Fin #631 - C-FMWP
We had published a story in NetLetter #1434 (March 28, 2020) on the leasing of Air Canada's first B-767-330ER to Polynesian Airlines after delivery in August 1993. At that time. fin #631 was 27 years old and still in the AC fleet with Rouge. However, it was removed from service not long after and stored in the desert for several years.
It was acquired by Cargo Aircraft Management in May 2022 (re-registered as N230CM) and sent to Singapore for cargo conversion. It has been leased by My Freighter Airlines of Uzbekistan (as UK67017) since July 2014 and is currently active. It is once again active at 32 years old.
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During lease to Polynesian Airlines
Auckland, New Zealand - December 1993
Photo courtesy of Mark Ijsseldijk
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Original Air Canada livery
Glasgow - August 21, 1994
Photo courtesy of of Lewis Grant
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Rouge livery - note the addition of winglets
Las Vegas - October 28, 2018
Photo courtesy of Andreas Fietz
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During storage at Marana - Pinal Airpark
November 2022
Photo courtesy of Javier Rodríguez
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Current My Freighter livery
Amsterdam - August 2025
Photo courtesy of Peter van Stelle
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Editors' Note:
We always request permission from the photographer for photos that appear in The NetLetter.
Occasionally we may receive permission after the publication of an issue. Below are two photos of CF-CPN, the subject of my article for NetLetter #1564.
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Prototype - 1958
Long Beach - Daugherty Field
Photo courtesy of Peter de Jong
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Aeroméxico livery
Marana Pinal Airpark - December 1989
Photo courtesy of Bruno Geiger
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| Terry's Trivia
& Travel Tips |
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Terry Baker, co-founder of the NetLetter scours the internet for aviation related Trivia and Travel Tips for you, our readers, to peruse.
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Burrard Air was a Canadian airline that operated from 1984 to 1990, primarily providing scheduled services from Vancouver to Nanaimo.
It was established in Vancouver and later acquired Yellow Bird Air in 1984. Timetable image by Craig Morris at airlinehistory.co.uk |
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First scheduled flight lands in Terrace, British Columbia
Arrival of the first scheduled air service into Terrace May 2, 1951 by Central B.C. Airways.
Editors' Note: Airline name changed to Pacific Western Airlines in 1953.
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Thanks to Caz Caswell for these Top Gun Air cartoons
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Wayne, Ken & Terry Richmond, British Columbia - December 2019
(Bob Sheppard was not available for the photograph) |
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Wayne, Bob & Ken Richmond, British Columbia - December 2023
(Terry Baker was not available for the photograph) |
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We wish to honour the memories of
Vesta Stevenson and Alan Rust. They remain a part of every edition published. |
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E&OE - (errors and omissions excepted):
The historical information as well as any other information provided in the "NetLetter" is subject to correction and may have changed over time.
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