The NetLetter

For Air Canada Retirees
(Part of the ACFamily Network)

 

April 20, 2013 - Issue 1251
First Issue published in October 1995!
(over 5,400 subscribers)
In This Issue
Reader Submitted...Photos
TCA/Air Canada People Gallery
Alan's Space
Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc
Reader's Feedback
Odds and Ends
Terry's Trivia
Smileys
NetLetter Past Issues

Past Issues
Web Site Information

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Greetings!
Terry Baker
Welcome to the NetLetter!

We welcome you to allow the NetLetter to be your platform, and opportunity, to relive your history while working for either TCA, AC, CPAir, CAIL, PWA, AirBC, Wardair, etal and share your experiences with us!

Terry Baker and the NetLetter Team


Reader Submitted Photos - Compiled by Terry Baker

Readers Photos 

Reader Submitted Photos -  The photos and information below have been submitted to us by our faithful readers.   

 

Here is the final photo which Robert Arnold has sent for our Vickers Viscount aficionados - CF-TIG c/n 387 was delivered new to Trans-Canada Air Lines May 2, 1959 as fleet number '651'. The above photo was taken at Hurn, Bournemouth, Dorset, England on November 24, 1958 with the fuselage front and rear sections being joined together by the construction of the centre section in one of the main jigs. The photo was taken during a visit by TCA representatives who were checking on the progress of a number of their Viscount aircraft under construction at the time. (TCA/Air Canada Viscount Blueprint Archives are now administered by Robert W. Arnold)

TCA/Air Canada People Gallery - Compiled by Terry Baker
 
TCA/Air Canada  LogoBelow we have musings from the "Between Ourselves" and "Horizons" magazine, Air Canada publications from years gone by, as well as various in-house publications.

The NetLetter has been fortunate enough to have our readers donate vintage Trans-Canada Air Lines and Air Canada publications from as far back as 1941 to share with you. These have been scanned and are being prepared for presenting in a special area of the ACFamily Network for archival and genealogy research.


Jack Morath, a Pionair who is the Social Director for the U.K. Pionairs organizes events such as daily visit to the continent, tourist places in the U.K., evening strolls around down town London and visits to theatre shows.

In past years, Jack and his wife Aureen have been organizing an annual trip to a city in North America, which has included Halifax, Quebec City, Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington DC, and Boston amongst others and, several years ago, the final trip was a 4 day cruise out of Miami.

These trips were very popular, but very labour intensive for Jack and Aureen who would travel to these cities, sometimes several times, to arrange for bus transportation, hotel and an event. The trip consisted of 2 days, but various retirees would arrive several days early or stay several days after, to make a real vacation of the opportunity.

Here are a couple of photos of the event in Vancouver during September 1999 (left) and Washington DC in September 2003 (below). 

(Perhaps someone could identify these in the group photo - eds)
washington-visit

At the U.K. Pionairs Christmas dinner in December 2012 held at the Burnham Beeches Hotel, Jack Morath was presented with a framed scroll in recognition of his 20 years of commitment to the U.K. Pionairs, mainly as Social Secretary. Here is the photo Jack Morath receiving his prestigious award from Greg Connon with Stuart Hyde.

Issue dated - June 1947
Some items gleaned from the "Between Ourselves" magazines.
Some TCA personnel at Cleveland. Left to right: Barry Blight, Agent-in-charge; Emma Lee Piriak, Stenographer; Sam Leonard, Station Manager; A. A. Stapells, District Manager.
Alan's Space - by Alan Rust
F-111 Belly LandingAlan's Space
In July 2006 an Australian F-111 bomber made an emergency landing after a wheel on the landing gear fell off after take-off.  The pilot circled the airfield for three hours burning off fuel before coming in with his landing gear retracted and arrestor hook deployed. The F-111 suffered only superficial damage.

Below is a very good quality Youtube video with an introduction to the F-111 as well as a video of the belly landing.



Real Top Guns F-111 Belly Landing 
Real Top Guns F-111 Belly Landing
 
 
Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc. People & Events
- Compiled by Terry Baker
CAIL TailsNews and articles from days gone by gleaned from various publications from C.A.I.L. and its "ancestry" of contributing airlines.
Issue dated - September 2000
Gleaned from the "Canadi>n Flyer" magazine -
In with the new and out with the old. Our storage warehouse in Richmond, B.C., which is connected to our Uniforms department, may be filled with new CON stock, but soon nearly 11,000 employees will change into AC's familiar colours. Some of those tasked with the job of making sure everyone looks and feels good are (left to right): Krista Laing, Beth Guingcangco, Lloyd Doyle, Manager, CDN Uniforms and Loretto Almonte.

Reader's Feedback - Compiled by Terry Baker
Reader's Feedback
Every week we ask our readers for their stories or feedback on what they have read here in previous issues. Below is the feedback we have received recently.
Robin Hadfield has sent us this update to the story in NetLetter nr 1250- I just read your recent NetLetter for retired employees and thought I would update the info contained in one of the stories.

Ray Wattierhad sent a photo from the final flight and retirement of the DC8 withRoger Hadfieldin the left seat. Roger had his sons Dave, Chris and Phil on that final flight... I don't remember, but I think it was to Zurich. Dave is now a 777 Captain. Phil is a 767 Captain. Chris is currently Commander of the International Space Station. Dave's son Austin is the third generation of Hadfield pilots at Air Canada and is currently an F/O on the Embraer.

Dave and his father Roger did one other flight together to Boston while both were on the DC-9 at the same time. Again the whole family joined them on the flight. L-R in the photo: Chris, Roger, Phil and Dave.
Regards, Robin Hadfield Captain - RV6A & Fairchild 24W46 (pilot & wife of Dave Hadfield)
 

Ken Pickford sends us this comment regarding Alan'sfeature of the Gimli Glider in NetLetter nr 1250 -
Alan refers to the Gimli Glider as being parked in a "warehouse" in California since its retirement. As far as I know it's actually parked in the open air in the California desert at Mohave airport (MHV), one of several desert "boneyards" where many retired aircraft are stored.

December 2011 photo here:
(Yes, I should have caught that, I copied it from a news article and forgot to change the reference, there's not too many planes stored in warehouses... Alan)

Jack Stephens sent this email regarding
-
Nice to see my Dad, Bart Stephens, in the photo of the Winnipeg DC-4 Training Group. A typo I suppose, but his first name is "Bart" and not "Bert". Take care. Jack
(We rechecked the magazine and they definitely had the name Bert, but his son must know his Dad's real name - eds)


Jim Griffith
has sent us this story about cockpit visits -
This one is not the most memorable but one of the more entertaining but at the same time most frightening visits I've had. Probably the most memorable was a twenty minute conversation I had with Prime Minister Lester Pearson in the middle of the night returning on a chartered DC-8 from a Commonwealth Prime Minister's meeting in Lagos Nigeria in 1965. It was the one on deciding what to do about the devolution of Rhodesia and we all know how well that turned out don't we?

Just Flying Along
There we were, a crew of three, just flying along in the middle of the night in a Boeing 727 across the prairies taking flight-weary, hung over holiday makers from Montego Bay back to Calgary after a refueling stop in Winnipeg. We three were groggy from lack of sleep after being dragged from our beds in Winnipeg when the inbound crew exceeded their duty day and booked off. Just over Regina a flight attendant asked if we'd entertain thoughts of having a cockpit visit by two young ladies. This of course was before 9/11. Sounded good to me, might wake us up, so up came two, twenty-something debutantes who even in the dim cockpit lighting we could see were well tanned. The First Officer, a cheery outgoing worldly guy, seated on my right immediately engaged them in semi suggestive conversation and asked: "Did you ladies have a good time in Jamaica and drink lots of rum?" "Yes," They replied.

I have to set the table for what happened next. I, as Captain sit in the left cockpit seat and the First Officer sits on my right both obviously facing forward. The Second Officer sits facing his panel of dials, knobs and switches at 90 degrees to us on a chair which swivels, when necessary, to face the front like us. There is a fixed observer's seat facing the front immediately behind me with about the same skimpy leg room as the cabin seats of most chisel-charter low cost airlines. One of the two attractive well-endowed gals was in the observer's seat where it was impossible for me to see her. The other was standing well back and since I had the cockpit lighting on, dim, I couldn't see her well either. The Second Officer, a young man with strong religious convictions, had his chair swiveled toward the front, his head being a scant few inches from the bosom of the babe in the observer's seat. The First Officer had turned in his seat and was looking at the two femme fatales. I couldn't see any of the action so I stared soberly out the front window. 

I heard the First Officer brazenly inquire, "Did you get lots of sun?" "Yes," they replied. Next he probed? "Can you show us your tan lines?"

He was referring of course to lines left on the body caused by sun exposure where shorts, tops and or bikinis demark the tan from the unexposed skin. There was an awkward silence as much as there can be silence in a Boeing 727 cockpit which had a reputation for being comparably noisy. At last I wiggled enough to turn half way around in my seat and as my scan passed over the First Officer I saw that his eyeballs were virtually popping out of his leering face accompanied by a startled gasp from the Second Officer. Twisting further around in my seat I was just in time to catch a glimpse of both girls sheepishly lowering their sweaters. I'd missed all the fun. Never at a loss for words the First Officer chuckled and prompted further, "Well those were pretty good tan lines for the top, now how about the bottom?" Giggles accompanied the buxom beauties as they hurriedly escaped back to the cabin. Now we were really wide awake; even me who had seen nothing of the dog and pony show except the gleeful reaction of my crew. But alas more serious in-flight entertainment was in the cards that dark night.
(We will have the rest of this story in NetLetter nr 1252- eds)

Odds and Ends.

Image Blank 200pxSometimes we receive articles and information that just doesn't fit in our other areas. This is where it goes!

Continuing the story of the DC-3 we started in NetLetter nr 1250 -  

 

 It is the very human scale of the plane that has so endeared it to successive generations. With no pressurization in the cabin, it flies low and slow, and unlike modern jets, it's still possible to see the world go by from the cabin of a Dakota. (The name, incidentally, is an acronym for Douglas Aircraft Company Transport Aircraft.) As a former Pan Am stewardess puts it: "From the windows, you seldom look upon a flat, hazy, distant surface to the world. "Instead, you see the features of the earth --- curves of mountains, colours of lakes, cars moving on roads, ocean waves crashing on shores, and cloud formations as a sea of popcorn and powder puffs.' But it is for heroic feats in military service that the legendary plane is most distinguished. It played a major role in the invasion of Sicily, the D-Day landings, the Berlin Airlift, and the Korean & Vietnam wars, performing astonishing feats along the way.


When General Eisenhower was asked what he believed were the foundation stones for America's success in World War II, he named the bulldozer, the jeep, the half-ton truck, and the Dakota. When the Burma Road was captured by the Japanese, and the only way to send supplies into China was over the mountains at 19,000 ft, the Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek said: 'Give me 50 DC-3s, and the Japs can have the Burma Road.' 


In 1945, a Dakota broke the world record for a flight with an engine out of action, traveling for 1,100 miles from Pearl Harbor to San Diego, with just one- propeller working. Another in RNZAF service lost a wing after colliding mid-air with a Lockheed bomber. Defying all the rules of aerodynamics, and with only a stub remaining, the plane landed, literally, on a wing and a prayer at Whenuapai Airbase.  

 

Once, a Dakota pilot carrying paratroops across the Channel to France heard an enormous bang. He went aft to find that half the plane had been blown away, including part of the rudder. With engines still turning, he managed to skim the wave-tops before finally making it to safety.  

 

Another wartime Dakota was rammed by a Japanese fighter that fell to earth, while the American crew returned home in their severely damaged --- but still airborne --- plane, and were given the distinction of 'downing an enemy aircraft'.  

 

Another DC-3 was peppered with 3,000 bullets in the wings and fuselage by Japanese fighters. It made it back to base, was repaired with canvas patches and glue, and then sent back into the air.  

 

During the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, a Dakota crew managed to cram aboard 98 Vietnamese orphans, although the plane was supposed to carry no more than 30 passengers. In addition to its rugged military service, it was the DC-3 which transformed commercial - passenger flying in the post-war years. Easily converted to a passenger plane, it introduced the idea of affordable air travel to a world which had previously seen it as exclusively for the rich. Flights across America could be completed in about 15 hours (with three stops for refueling), compared with the previous reliance on short hops in commuter aircraft during the day and train- travel overnight. It made the world a smaller place, gave people the opportunity for the first time to see previously inaccessible destinations, and became a romantic symbol of travel.
(Final part in NetLetter nr 1252 - eds) 

 

Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker

Terry BakerSome of the costs added to your travel expenses - The Canadian Parliament enacted the ATCG act to fund increased government expenditures on air travel security for travel in Canada in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001. For domestic itineraries, the ATSC is ca$7.12 each way to a maximum charge of ca$14.25. For trans-border itineraries, the ATSC is up to ca/us$12.10 each way to a maximum charge of ca/us$24.21. For international itineraries, the ATSC is ca$25.91. Departure tax from Bagoville, QC is ca$25.00. From Vancouver travel within BC/Yukon ca$5.00, outside BC/Yukon ca$20.00 (source Air Canada.com)


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Read more details at www.airwayvacations.com.

 

Smileys - Compiled by Terry Baker
Smileys
As we surf the internet and back issues of airline magazines we regularly find airline related jokes and cartoons. Below is our latest discovery.

This cartoon is by Dave Mathias and appeared in "Between Ourselves" magazine issued February 1947.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


The NetLetter is an email newsletter published (usually) once a week and contains a mixture of nostalgia, current news and travel tips. We encourage our readers to submit their stories, photos and/or comments from either days gone by or from present day experiences and trips. If we think that the rest of our readers will enjoy it, we will publish it here.

We also welcome your feedback in regard to anything we post here. Many readers have commented with additional information, names and personal memories from the photos and articles presented here.

The NetLetter, which is free, is open to anyone that wishes to subscribe but is targeted to retired employees from Air Canada, Canadian Airlines and all the other companies that were part of what Air Canada is today. Thanks for joining us!

We hope you have enjoyed this issue of the NetLetter, see you next week!  
Sincerely,
Your NetLetter Team

Disclaimer: Please note, that neither the NetLetter or the ACFamily Network necessarily endorse any of the airline related or other "deals" that we provide for our readers. We would be interested in any feedback (good or bad) when using these companies though and will report the results here. We do not (normally) receive any compensation from any companies that we post in our newsletters. If we do receive a donation or other compensation, it will be indicated as a sponsored article or link.

 

E&OE - (errors and omissions excepted) - The historical information as well as any other information provided here is subject to correction and may have changed over time. We do publish corrections when they are brought to our attention.
First published in October, 1995
  • Chief Pilot - Terry Baker, Nanaimo, B.C.
  • Co-pilot - Alan Rust, Surrey, B.C.
  • Flight Engineer - Bill Rowsell, Londesboro, Ontario 
  • Stewardess - Lisa Ruck, Brooklin, Ontario 
To contact us, send an email to [email protected]