Robert Arnold has sent us this information -

This is a 1/24 scale Viscount Cutaway model of CF-TGI. It was made by the Westway Company located in the UK which made professionally built models for the airline industry. The wingspan is 47 inches long and the fuselage is 40 inches long. The base alone is about 17 by 10 by 12 inches high and weighs about 30 pounds.

What makes this model so unique is that it is a "White Top" version. Most Viscount models of this size that were made for TCA, emulated the earlier 40 passenger, 1954 bare metal version of CF-TGI. The seating configuration of this model has also been changed to reflect the new 44 seat layout with a more modern selection of fabric colours. Based on the history of the "White Top" and the "44 seat configuration", I would put this model as being made sometime in early 1957.

JAZZ AIR (Air Canada) plans to begin four-times-weekly Toronto-Atlantic City, NJ flights (using Q400 equipment) on May 22, 2015

Looking back.

• The first flight (experimental) from Moncton to Montreal was November 1st, 1939.
• The first scheduled westbound passenger flight from Moncton was February 15th, 1940 under the command of Capt. J.D.Storey.
• The first TCA Lodestar to arrive at Moncton was on March 11th, 1941 under the command of Capt. R.F.George.
• First scheduled Lockheed L10 to arrive at Patricia Bay Airport, Victoria under the command of Capt. Don Brady, with First Officer Norman Ramsay and Stewardess Mina Wood. Victoria became the western terminus of TCA's transcontinental system.

Located in the "Between Ourselves" magazine - Issued October 1959

As a result of an article in NetLetter nr 1301 regarding the new office uniforms worn by the ladies in Toronto District Sales and Reservations from "Between Ourselves" issued March 1959, we spotted this photo of the Reservations Office ladies in Edmonton who decided to follow the Toronto example and wear uniforms. Modeling the navy, blue serge skirt and jacket being worn are, from the left: Dorothy Baker, Glorio Irving, Lois Barry, Esther Chow, Betty Ashdown, Lorna Edwards, Barbara Park and Joanne Switzer.

An arch technical feat is this main hangar in the Dorval Maintenance and Overhaul base. In nearing completion in 1959, the 815 foot long, 110 foot high structure was believed, at the time, to be the largest single cantilever project in the continent and will accommodate five DC-8 aircraft. The facilities were to be ready to accommodate TCA's first DC-8. Construction of the base, to cover 18 acres of the 84 acre site, commenced on September 1st, 1958.

Maintenance instructors who attended a four week course at the Douglas plant are seen checking the schematic of the DC-8 air-conditioning equipment with Douglas Instructor Irv Bordihn. They are, from the left: Ed Mullan, Bordihn, Dave Ramsay, Bert Smith, Fred Fish, Ed Lewis, Phil Pawsey and Reg Gifkin.

Denoting co-operation between Union and Management, this sign was placed behind the head table at the 20th anniversary dinner of Airline Lodge 714, held in Winnipeg during September 1959. Showing 20 years of progress, the billboard was painted by Jim Eaton of the paint shop in Winnipeg.

The first union to be organized in TCA, known as Airline Lodge 714, International Association of Machinists, (IAM) celebrated its 20th anniversary September 1959. To mark the occasion, a dinner was held at the Royal Alexandra Hotel in Winnipeg. Winnipeg is the historic starting point of Airline Lodge 714 in 1939 and although the celebration was held in Winnipeg, the membership, spread throughout the world, acknowledged the growth that had accompanied the efforts of the organizers and sustainers over the 20 year period. The first formal agreement was signed February 25th, 1941, with effectiveness of the 1st day of February, 1941. Three of the original 29 charter members of Lodge 714, who attended the anniversary celebrations. Talking over Union business with the three veterans is W. Winpisinger, of the International Union on the right. The charter members left to right are: Jim Toby and Harry Walberg of Inspection and Ed Kiely of Viscount Overhaul.

Gleaned from the "PWA-Flightlines" magazine - Issue dated March 1986.

Meet some of the PWA SOC staff in 1986. SOC was initially set up in Vancouver by Ken Gray and Ed Pazzot in 1974 and moved to CAB in August 14th, 1984. Here are some of the staff.

	Shirley Kelly gets ready to take over her shift in Inflight Control from Steve Petersen.
	Scotty Schira, Maintenance, checks a detail with Gren Peterson at the terminal, while Alan Hanna checks over information while preparing to come on shift.
	Here we have Colette Nixon and Sandi Evan, Crew Routers, taking a minute to smile at the camera.
	Joyce Lowe a Crew Router checking on the crews and Rick Lightbown a Dispatcher.

Bob MacCallum refers to NetLetter nr 1315 -

In regard to the comments from Tony Walsh in regard to Type II fluids. This product was phased out many years ago and is now Dow UCAR Type IV fluid used as Anti ice fluid after De-icing with Type I fluids. - Bob MacCallum

Karin Fulcher has sent us this family bio -

A few weeks ago you did a great article about a flying family and I wrote saying that the "boys" in my family comprise 3 generations of aviators also.  My father in law Victor Henry Fulcher learned to fly in the 1930's and for a while gave "barnstorming" rides to paying passengers along with his friend and business partner Rene Giguere. Here they are pictured at Winnipeg in 1938.

This scanned page from The Gazette, a Montreal newspaperdated December 17th, 1948 annouces Vic Fulcher's promotion to director of traffic procedure. Vic had joined TCA in 1938 working in Traffic Management, when it was first organized, as secretary to the general traffic manager and later as office manager, until 1944 , when he was named assistant to the general traffic manager. In 1947 he was made general supervisor of methods. Vic stayed with TCA/Air Canada in management positions until 1963 when he retired from Air Canada.

My husband Bob learned to fly in the late 50's - loading baggage on the ramp in Montreal with Air Canada to pay for flying lessons at Cartierville Airport. Bob went on to fly in Northern Quebec, Labrador and Greenland before joining Canadian Pacific Airlines in 1962. Bob was a line pilot and management pilot for many years finally retiring from the Boeing 747 in late 1996 after he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. He died in April 2006.

Our son William learned to fly before he was 14 - first on ultralights - soloing on his 14th birthday. This photo shows William with his instructor Todd Fleury. Then he went on to Cessna’s at the Boundary Bay Flying Club where he soloed on his 16th birthday - making him, for a brief period, "the youngest pilot in Canada" !! He is now a training captain with Sky Regional, flying the Embraer 175 out of Toronto International Airport. He is married to his high school sweetheart Cheryl, an IFR controller at Pearson, and they have two boys Mason 6, and Remy 1, and live in Caledon. I wonder whether either of his two boys will continue the tradition, and if so - what kind of flying machines may be in the air at that time!!

I so enjoy the NetLetter!! Thanks for all the work you do putting it together for each issue. - Karin Fulcher

(We would welcome any other "flying families" out there who would like to share their stories - eds)

George Brien, refers to the Christmas issue of the NetLetter with this comment -

Many thanks for this great issue. I was excited to download the January, 1946 Between Ourselves. This was only 7 years before I had joined TCA so many of the names and even faces were familiar.

Under the entry from Kap. was a picture of James Moore who was a best friend down in Yarmouth NS in later years. Although this picture was taken 70 years ago, my wife even identified it. A great look back into the early history of TCA and I can’t wait until more copies are available. Keep up the good work.

Cheers, George Brien

Bill Grenier recently released his book "From Miles to Millions" and sent us this information -

Well in the first year of publication we have won a Bronze medal for that publication. Just a reminder that all proceeds go to aviation scholarships.

Sharon and I will be going to New York at the end of May to attend the ceremony and to pick up the medal. I understand there were over 6000 entries but of course the many categories reduce that to several hundred per category.

It is nice to know that the effort that goes into the writing and publishing is worthy of some independent review and acclaim. From the positive feedback I got from all of you, it seems it has been well received. My thanks to you all. SBN 978-0-9937764-0-3 www.billgrenier.com

Betty Draper sends another article from The Leader-Post issued January 18th., 1939

- Noise to tell flyers location.

"Squawking" area over Radio Range stations planned. Possible revision of part of the radio range system that guides Trans-Canada Air Lines planes across the continent was indicated by Commander C.P.Edwards, chief of Airways services of the department of transport at Ottawa, who was in Regina recently.

Instead of the "cone of silence" directly above the present range stations, which indicates to the pilot that he is over the range, "squawker" apparatus may be installed to give a definite sound signal or light a rad bulb on the plane's instrument board, commander Edwards said. "That cone of silence idea is very poor engineering" he said. "The pilot doesn't want something to stop happening... like the range signals... he wants something to start happening, like a squawk in the signals or a light on the instrument panel."

One such marker beacon... as the "squawkers" are called officially... has been built about 50 miles east of Vancouver, to indicate to the pilot that he has safely cleared the Rocky Mountains and can start coming down for the Vancouver landing." Those marker beacons are the real thing" Commander Edwards asserted. "They throw a definite sound signal, light a bulb, and do almost everything but play the national anthem. The pilot knows without a shadow of doubt that he is where he is, and can put his mind to other matters."

The squawkers throw an upward radio beam, spreading out and creating a beam 15 miles wide and three miles across at 10,000 feet. The type which may be installed on the regular radio range towers would be a little different... they would throw a cone-like upward beam, with the apex on the ground and at 10,000 feet provide a "squawk circle" about a mile in diameter right over the range station.

Present experimental plans call for possible construction of marker beacons only in the regions where obstructions occur, like the mountains east of Vancouver. After that, they may be extended to include all range stations. It took two years to adequately test any such new development, Commander Edwards said. All the new apparatus had to operate through every season twice to prove its dependability and to give pilots an opportunity to form a definite opinion as to their value.

Air Canada teens can travel abroad-apply today for Summer 2015.
Do you want your child to travel abroad, learn about a new culture, further their foreign language skills, and have the experience of a life time? Teens of airline families can make this dream a reality with the help of International Youth Exchange (IYE), an innovative program that has matched more than 5000 teens during the past 20 years To learn more about IYE, visit www.intlyouth.org 

If you are travelling standby on a flight and don’t get on, gate agents will confirm with employees before transferring their names to the next flight. Ensure you are available at the gate to confirm your preference as the system does not automatically transfer the standby list.

More about my secondment work in Antigua started in NetLetter nr 1318 -
While I was in Antigua, a team of UK engineers arrived to do spar changes on the HS148's which were suffering from salt damage and fatigue due to the high number of landings the aircraft were doing. I finally got some things going to keep this group occupied during their off duty hours, such as bowling at the US base, games of darts, cricket, soccer, golf and windjammer cruises - all good fun! Of course the guys enjoyed it best when the Yacht week was held, and most of the girls went topless.

I did manage to get my family down there for a week while I was there - all paid for!

I would return to Montreal at each months end on a Friday returning Monday, and, naturally, only travelled with a briefcase - such fun when the customs officer would ask me how long I had been in Antigua, 'One month' I would reply, 'then sir your suitcase will be on the carrousel'. I would argue black was blue sometimes before convincing them that I had all my possessions in my briefcase.

Finally - I do recall on my last trip through Toronto, I was taking some give-aways for the staff and my ticket was not available at the BWIA desk. I made a phone call back to my office in YUL and got it sorted out just as I heard the final call for the flight, I grabbed my briefcase which, unfortunately, was unlocked and spilled everything onto the floor, some of the give-aways were AC mail openers and these went skittering across the concourse - such an embarrassment gathering this stuff up and people knowing I was going on an aircraft with such lethal looking items!

When I finally got to the check-in desk I was handed a first class boarding pass and the agent had a smirk on his face.

The conclusion is in NetLetter nr 1320 – eds)

Nattanya Anderson sends us this cartoon with a suggestion for new seats in the front office of aircraft in view of a recent rather unfortunate incident.

Did I read that sign right?
Toilet out of order. Please use floor below.

In a laundromat:
Automatic washing machines: please remove all your clothes when the light goes out.

In a London department store:
Bargain basement upstairs.

In an office:
Would the person who took the step ladder yesterday please bring it back or further steps will be taken.

In an office:
After tea break staff should empty the teapot and stand upside down on the draining board.

Outside a second hand shop:
We exchange anything - bicycles, washing machines, etc. why not bring your wife along and get a wonderful bargain?

Notice in health food shop window:
Cosed due to illness.

Spotted in a safari park: (I sure hope so)
Elephants, please stay in your car

Seen during a conference:
For anyone who has children and doesn't know it, there is a day care on the 1st floor.

Notice in a farmer's field:
The farmer allows walkers to cross the field for free, but the bull charges.

Message on a leaflet:
If you cannot read, this leaflet will tell you how to get lessons.

On a repair shop door:
We can repair anything. (please knock hard on the door - the bell doesn't work)