Neil Burton sends this  photo taken by his father when vacationing in Yellowknife, N.W.T in September 1972.

The plaque for this monument reads: "Bristol Freighter 170 MK 31 – This aircraft was donated by Wardair Canada Ltd. as a monument to commemorate the work done by this type of air freighter in developing Northern Canada by servicing trading posts, schools, mining properties, oil exploration crews, and un-named Arctic islands”.

This particular aircraft was retired from active service early in 1968 after making history on May 6, 1967, when, piloted by Captain Don Braun, it was the first wheel equipped aircraft to land at the North Pole.”

Neil Burton

Beryl Oborne sends us this photo and memory -

Hi from another retiree who enjoys your publication.

Here’s another Reader submitted photo. Maybe you can find the original photo and possibly obtain more details about it. This is just an iPhone shot of a framed photo.

I started with Pacific Western but used to car pool from North Vancouver to Richmond with my friend Lorna Dragman. Lorna worked at the YVR CP OPs Centre in Computer Services. I have always liked this photo she has on her wall.

The occasion was CP’s first 747 to travel YVR/HNL (the Empress of Honolulu) Hence the lei on the nose and Lorna with her champagne bottle. Lorna doesn’t remember why she was chosen for the promo shot. I think it might have had something to do with the way those legs of hers held up that mini-skirt. Maybe the guy who operated the lift and had ducked down out of camera range remembers??

Beryl Oborne

Cora Thomson sends this to correct the information in NetLetter nr 1325 “Photos submitted” -
Thank you so much for including the CPA stewardess luncheon pictures in the Netletter. I may have mixed the photo’s but the names were reversed on the two of them. The names on the first photo were of those on the second and visa versa. A great letter and so interesting. I enjoy reading each issue.

Cora Thomson
(With apologies for the mix up- eds)

Found in the "Between Ourselves" magazine issue - December 1959

A new slate of officers and executive committee for 1959 has been elected for the TCA Recreation Association (TCARA) in Sidney.

Newly elected were Gerald Hawley, President; Lloyd Doyle, VP; Kevin Earl MacKenzie, Treasurer. Executive committee is made up of Elmen MacCormack, Leonard Morrison, Ivan Melanson, Donald MacAdam, Ken MacDonald, and Gerry MacKeigan. There was no photo available.

Five stenos from different stations in the TCA system got together for this photo during their vacation at the Tower Isle Hotel, Jamaica. From the left: Rita Filyk, Gloria Pelletier, Marjorie Stephens, Natalie Semliw and Laverne Norenberg.

Flooded with requests for information about travel between Germany and Canada, Bill Ulshcefer, Sales Representative and Stewardess G. Kieser answer questions during the Christmas Fair in Toronto. Over 16,000 people attended during the six day event.

Drafted from the "Horizons" magazine issue dated October 1979

No, It's not a new addition to the company fleet but a photo by Peter Blyth of the British Airways Concorde being serviced at the Air Canada Malton hangar. Employees had the opportunity to inspect the supersonic jet during its shot visit to the Canadian National Exhibition.

Air Canada Pionairs were granted Letters Patent dated April 24th, 1979 making it an incorporated body.

Time is on their side.
At the beginning of the long tone the time will be exactly... as six Paris employees synchronize the new watches they won in the "We need you" contest sponsored by the Cargo branch earlier in 1979 for personnel throughout the system. Shown in the photo are, from the left: Jean-Pierre Juppe, Jean-Pierre Oiry, Peter Herold, Jacqueline Desaulniers, Pierre Paquin, Annie Camus, Maurice Demont, Jacques Masson and Yves Vallee.

Gimli Glider - Air Canada FIN 604 memorabilia parts prepared for display at Gimli Museum

Below are sequential photos of the 3-window fuselage panel off Fin 604 at Mojave MHV that was display-finished to our specs by a third-party aviation display company in Illinois, our only source in conjunction with the current aircraft-parts salvager owners of Fin 604 and other AC B767-233s at Mojave that have been parted out and the only few remaining to be cut-up for alloy recycle, Fin 604 among them.

This 3-window fuselage panel arrived at Gimli on August 11, 2015 to local admiration about the quality of the finishing work and celebrations of the return to Gimli (for a second time) of a touchable part of 604 to be held for a future Gimli Glider Museum or display in Gimli. This museum will commemorate not a negative event, but a safe, successful and inspiring landing at Gimli despite the extreme circumstance, attributed primarily to Flt. 143’s crew superb skills and indirectly to Air Canada’s flight and cockpit management training and company culture.

Please click on the thumbnails below for larger images. More news and further developments are coming regarding this project and a special web page is being built to present this project properly with more photos and information.

		Above photo courtesy of The Winnipeg Free Press

We'd like to thank Tony Walsh who was instrumental in making this happen and provided the photos above. Although he is a Delta, BC resident and does not live near Gimli, he states - “I am motivated to help the people of Gimli in this endeavor in memory of the late Rick Dion – Air Canada AME and close friend who as most of you know was on board Flight AC143 on July 23,1983 and in the cockpit for most of the glide to Gimli.”

Tony Walsh / Retired AC – Mgr – Airport Operations Services – Western North America & Pacific Rim – YVR based

If you would like to support this endeaver, then please send a cheque marked GIMLI GLIDER FUND to the address below. You’ll receive tax receipt in mail later from the Rural Municipality of Gimli:

RM of Gimli,
P.O. Box 1246
Gimli, MB
R0C 1B0

Tel: (204) 642-6650 (# needed if sending express)

Anthony Walsh will be keeping a tally of donators, and there will be a posted list of donors at the future Gimli glider pavilion, so please advise amount when you send off the cheque.

Anthony Walsh This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Found in the "Info Canadia>n" magazine issued June 1993.

Serving hot meals using Canadian's new half size Canadian Class trays is flight attendant Barbara Vandervelde.  The trays introduced in February 1993 for short and medium sector flights, will help save more than $1.9 million.

Vancouver sting snares swindler.
When Vancouver CTO Supervisor Fred Pattje received official confirmation April 19 (1993) that a $7,243 certified cheque he had received in payment for four tickets was counterfeit, the wheels of justice spun into motion.

With the cooperation of the Vancouver Corporate Security office, Richmond RCMP, TD Bank and Vancouver CTO, the culprit was set up at the Vancouver Airport check in and apprehended.

On April 27, the culprit was arrested for his fiscal fabrication and formerly charged with fraud and passing forged documents against Canadian Airlines. The fraud charges were dropped in lieu of a guilty plea on the passing forged documents charge. The malefactor was found guilty and sentenced to seven days in jail and 18 months probation.

How many sleeps to the Canadian Summer Games?

15 B-737 charters arrived in Kamloops during August 1993 carrying 1,599 athletes partaking in the first week of Canada Summer Games. Another 1,764 athletes were carried for the second week.

Employees at the Kamloops airport have been excitedly counting down the days: from left, Sandra Schmidt, customer service agent, Dave Harms, Cargo agent, Warren Cook, manager and Kim Pich, customer service agent

A close knit group
Taking care of the 121 flight attendants based in Halifax is from front to back, Debbie Bastow, senior administration clerk, Denise Chiasson. onboard service manager (OSM), Patty Jo Berardi, acting-OSM and Maria Judson, senior administration clerk. "We're a small and senior group,'' says Chiasson. "We've been flying together for so long that we've become a very tight knit group.

Pressing to get the job done.

Turning laundry into money are the employees of Laundry Services in Vancouver. Shown are foreman Jamie Aydon, dry cleaners, May Cheuck, Balraz Dhanowa, Lee Elliot, Bettina Grenier, supervisor Richard Hobbis, Debra Lacey, Terry Lawson, mender Audrey Lee, Katerina Malis, foreman Carlos Perez, Hilde Poerschke, Laini Puchalski, Theresa Quon, Alex Rios, Finley Roberts, Carla Schwarz, dry cleaner Leo Soriano, Sue Toor, Cori Tymrick, Shirley Vipond, mender Niki Vlachias and Connie Yu

Ted Beaudoin has been researching the Royal Air Force Ferry Command for his book "Earth Angels Rising".

This decade-long project, for which research began in Jan. 2005 and ended in January 2015, has morphed into a trilogy.

The months of December 1939 and January 1940 saw the start of recruiting of air and support ground crews, and administration personnel, along with the delivery of aircraft from the USA into Canada. The actual flying of bombers across the North Atlantic Ocean only began on Sunday, Nov. 10th, 1940 with a Canadian National Railroad company… the Canadian Pacific Air Service which came into being earlier, in September, 1940. It came to be known unofficially as the CPASD - or Canadian Pacific Air Services Department, a branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway - CPR .

This same operation was also known by two other identifiers… ATFERO for Atlantic Ferry Organization and its Return Ferry organization/service, the RFO/RFS, for which no known logos have yet been “found” on the net, nor in corporate archives of the CPR. By April 1943 the fourth and final name change was made revealing the final “official” name of the operation, the one by which is was formally known and recognized throughout the world - the R.A.F. Transport Command. Little wonder it’s been difficult to find useful and accurate results on this incredible airborne armada by using only the words "Royal Air Force Ferry Command" or "Ferry Command".

I`m trying to find out how many men and women from Canada`s commercial carriers between 1939 and 1945 may have been `seconded` to the RAF FC... your NetLetter is about the only way I can find out about this. Canada`s civilian aviation - busy lines, larger regional carriers and Canada`s CP Air in its early days and TCA among others contributed greatly to the effort and I do not think they should be overlooked.

Perhaps some of you readers may have had relatives within Canada`s civil aviation community who did join, either as full-paid employees of the British Air Ministry - who funded the RAF FC, or were seconded to it by their own carrier.

Ted Beaudoin, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ken Pickford sets the record straight with these comments regarding NetLetter nr 1324 -

The AC DC-8 fire at YYZ was June 21, 1973, not June 22. Here's a related news item from the Montreal Gazette dated June 22, the day after the event: Click here for a photo of the same DC-8 at Vienna in August 1972, 10 months before its demise. The flight preparing for departure when the fire occurred was en route to Zurich and Vienna. CF-TIJ, FIN #822, was one of 3 DC-8-53s (Pratt & Whitney engines) acquired by AC in 1968.

We refer to the photo of the model sent in by Per Christensen in NetLetter nr 1324, and received several observations -

Richard Coulter had this comment -
I believe the model of the DC4 at the beginning of your letter is really a North Star as it has Merlin engines and square windows. the DC4 has oval windows and radial engines.

Ken Pickford also had some comments and some historical information -

Re the photo of the Canadian Pacific model aircraft submitted by Per Christensen which he refers to as a "Douglas DC-4", while based on the DC-4 design it was actually a Canadair C-4 (also referred to as DC-4M) with Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, and pressurized unlike the Douglas-built DC-4. The version built under license by Canadair in Montreal was of course known by the manufacturer's "North Star" name by TCA (and the RCAF which operated an unpressurized transport version). CP didn't use the "North Star" name, referring to their four aircraft only as "Canadair C-4". BOAC, the other original customer, called theirs "Argonaut".

The aircraft represented by the model, CF-CPR, "Empress of Vancouver", was unfortunately written off in a landing accident at Tokyo on February 9, 1950. Overran the runway into the water. No fatalities or serious injuries (a NetLetter some years ago had a couple of photos of the aircraft in the water at Tokyo.)

The other 3 CP aircraft were sold to TCA in 1952 to join the rest of their North Star fleet. That was about the time CP's more capable and economic Douglas DC-6Bs began arriving. CP also acquired several used Douglas DC-4s from Pan American around that time.

One of the ex-CP aircraft sold to TCA was the North Star lost in the mid-air collision with an RCAF Harvard trainer over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan on April 8, 1954, killing all 35 on the North Star plus the Harvard pilot and one person in a house in Moose Jaw struck by falling wreckage.

Regards, Ken

and this from Bob Barwick -

NetLetter Feedback - The photo of the model of the CPA DC-4 is of course the Canadian built North Star. TCA , CPA, BOAC and the RCAF operated these aircraft. My time on the North Star was on 426 Squadron, RCAF. TCA actually operated some of the RCAF North Stars until their own were delivered. BOAC called the aircraft the Argonaut. RCAF North Star 17515 is being restored at the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa by “Project North Star” volunteers and member contributors. This aircraft is described on my license as a DC-4 M2. You can see the Merlin engines in the photo.

RW (Bob) Barwick

Jack Mills refers to NetLetter nr 1323 and 1324

Just to add to Ken Pickford's very informative e-mail on the history of the ex Wardair and Canadian Airlines A310s, I thought it might be of interest to add a few additional comments.

A company that I started quite a few years ago, and that I recently retired from, had and continue to have a contract with the RCAF that provide some technical operational support for their CC 150 Aircraft (ex A 310s) that are now operated by 437 Squadron. These aircraft have been reconfigured to RCAF Specs and operate in various configurations.

Some operate as tankers in the aerial refuelling configuration. The others in passenger, Cargo and VIP. They support CF 18s and other aircraft in the tanker role. They are all very active. I thought that this might be of interest to know the activities that these aircraft perform in different roles during their lifespan.

Thanks Ken for your update. Sincerely, Jack M. Miles

Ron Carradine sends us this memory

Reading the Netletter often brings back memories, but the strangest one so far was the photos in Netletter#1324 of the DC-8 CF-TIJ (822) which caught fire during re-fuelling. Although I am not in the picture I have a weird connection to it.

At that time I was on " Lav" servicing on the day shift, and sure enough the "Lav" truck trapped under the tail section was the vehicle I was assigned to. (The fire occurred on the evening shift.)

Ron Carradine, (Retired)

Norman Hogwood, a reader from New Zealand was checking out “Alan’s Corner” and the information in Peter Piggott's latest book and came across this photo and made the comment -

One thing I, and thousands of others know, is that TCA had more than 22 Viscounts!

Cheers. Norm
(A total of 51 Viscounts were operated by TCA/Air Canada - eds)

Continuation of the story from NetLetter nr 1325 sent by Betty Draper more information of the early days in aviation in Canada.

Few spectators...

Airport and postal officials and some open-mouthed youths were the only spectators at the field to welcome the westbound plane.

The youths crowded at windows of the Trans-Canada Air Lines office to watch every move of Robert Williamson, dispatcher, as he talked with pilots of the incoming machines giving them weather directions along the route and they crowded around him as he conversed with the pilots from an extension telephone and on the field - everybody craning their necks upward to watch for the machine they could hear but not see due to the fog.

The flight was made in the scheduled time of two hours and 10 minutes from Winnipeg, but the fog blanket delayed the landing at Regina for about 45 minutes.

Pilots of the plane, their voices crackling over the radio system, reported they could see Moose Jaw when immediately east of Regina, but could not see the Regina field because of the fog.

Heard but not seen.

Notified of arrangements to land at Moose Jaw if the fog did not clear, the machine was flown at one stage far west of Regina, but visibility over Moose Jaw was clouding with fog, and on its return the machine landed at the Regina field, although it would be heard but not seen in the thick ground fog as it landed. The machine dropped two bags of mail in Regina and picked up two more weighing 12 pounds for the west, one billed for Lethbridge and the other for Vancouver.

Pilots Seagram and Smith were to fly the machine on to Lethbridge where the flight, if continued on March 1st, would have been taken over by two others. On hand to greet the machine were Squadron Leader H.A.Dolhaye, manager of the Regina airport; Postmaster Leo LaBelle; T.C.Russell, district postal inspector, Moose Jaw; W.C.Sissons, mail supervisor, Regina; H.Bennett, mail delivery contractor and George Bennett, mail delivery man.

Some of the mail, picked at random. was sent via plane at ordinary postage rates, although Mr. LaBell said majority of the matter carried airmail postage. One of the pieces of mail taken off the plane at Regina was a picture from The Winnipeg Free Press, published in the edition of The Leader-Post.

(The conclusion is in NetLetter nr 1327 – eds)

Larry Milberry, Publisher of CANAV books sends us this information -

I still have about 200 copies left of my ancient Canadair North Star book. Most of the TCA folks long ago have a copy, but who knows... some of the younger people could. Tucker and her husband, John, have an interest.

I'm having dinner tonight (July 31st) with Shirley Tucker and her husband, John. Shirley was a stew on North Stars (where she met a certain passenger - John - one day). There are a few other titles in the main list of Canadian airline interest. A new CAE book will be available by August 17th.

Check the list of books at www.canavbooks.wordpress.com