The NetLetter
For Air Canada Retirees
(Part of the ACFamily Network)
March 18, 2014 - Issue 1295
|
|
| |
|
First Issue published in October 1995!
(over 5,400 subscribers)
|
|
NetLetter Past Issues
|
 |
|
Donation Information
|
Send cheques payable to "ACFamily Network" to:
ACFamily Network
#800 - 15355 24th Ave, Suite 523
Surrey, BC V4A 2H9
|
|
Sponsors
|
 |
|
|
| |
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
|
2014 Pionairs AGM and Reunion! - compiled by Alan Rust
|
 |
2014 Pionairs AGM & Reunion
April 26th to 28th, 2014 |
An event you won't want to miss! Visit this page or click on the image above for more information.
We are inviting all Pionairs members to come and visit the city of Calgary and attend our 37th Annual General Meeting.
All members from TCA, AC, PWA, CP and CAI and their constituent airlines are welcome to join us.
Not a member yet? - You can join by following this link.
|
People Finder! - compiled by Alan Rust
|
|
 Looking for Karen Kaufman
(we received the following from Mary Yirka)
I have an odd request. I went to grade school with Karen Kaufman in Kitchener Ontario, in the sixties. I have been trying to locate her for years. She was my best friend for years as a child and I would love to find her.
I know she works for Air Canada and I have tried to find her whenever I was in Vancouver. My request is that you help me find her. Her maiden name is Karen Kaufman and I am Mary Yirka. If she wants to reunite with me it would be a wonderful dream come true.
Karen is an awesome person and I would love to talk with her and talk of our lives Thanks for reading this and I hope you can be the catalyst to bring our friendship together again.
Sincerely,
Mary T. Yirka
(If you can help re-unite Karen and Mary, please reply to this NetLetter and we will attempt to connect the two)
Note: the NetLetter never gives out anyones email address or any other information without their permission.
|
| Reader Submitted Photos - Compiled by Terry Baker |
|
 Reader Submitted Photos - The photos and information below have been submitted to us by our faithful readers.
|
 Robert Arnold has sent us another photo which requires some sort of identification -
In this TCA photo, #6924, it shows some sort of device that appears to have something to do with the flaps. This is completely an uneducated guess on my part but if there are any readers who might know what it is and what it does, and how it was used on the aircraft, this would be great.
With Kind Regards, Robert
|
|
|
| |
| TCA/Air Canada People Gallery - Compiled by Terry Baker |
 Below 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.
|
|
Issue dated - September 1978
Some items gleaned from the "Horizon" magazines.
|
| The 30th of October saw the introduction of "Couriair" by the Cargo department. Three B-727 were purchased and dedicated to the service, the first delivered during September and went under conversion to all-cargo, and opened the service between Mirabel, Winnipeg and Calgary/Edmonton. A DC-8 freighter was assigned YYZ-YUL for small packages. |
 Dispatchers "dispatched", aka retired
When Air Canada's western most dispatch center at Vancouver International Airport shut down, this group of flight dispatchers opted for retirement. Judging by the happy smiles on their faces, they are all looking forward to their leisure time on the West Coast.
A special reception honoring these men was attended by Leo McIntyre Director Payload and Operations Control Montreal, who was on hand for the retirement presentations.
Shown from the left are: Al Nedelac, Ken Oie, Ozzie Candy (Flight Dispatch Manager), Jim Dickie, Del Horn, Keith Howard, Ray Chapman and Leo McIntire.
|
 After three years as Manager, Benelux in Brussels and nine years in the European Region in London, Ed Gallant was transferred to Montreal as Agency and interline Manager. At his sendoff his co-workers in Brussels presented him with a photograph of the Hotel de Ville on the Grand'Place in Brussels.
Shown in the photo from the left are: Gilbert de Herder, Passenger Agent, Jackie Stassen, Ed Gallant, Passenger Agents Georgette Messeimans, Michel Fournier, Herman Pesters. and Archie Segers.
|
| Alan's Space - by Alan Rust |
 Planes that vanished without a trace
(from CBC News)
The mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has investigators scrambling to find the Boeing 777-200ER jet which disappeared shortly after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur. Ships, surveillance planes, and submarines are sweeping the ocean in a bid to find the missing aircraft.
Over the past 50 years, dozens of planes have vanished, according to the Aviation Safety Network. Click on the map below to see where it plots incidents of missing aircraft that carried at least 20 passengers. When the page appears, select the red markers to read more about each flight.
 |
|
Missing Aircraft over the past 50 years.
|
|
Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc. People & Events
- Compiled by Terry Baker
|
 News and articles from days gone by gleaned from various publications from C.A.I.L. and its "ancestry" of contributing airlines. 1984 - 20th November - Approval from CTC for PWA to serve Thunder Bay, Ontario. |
|
Issue dated - December 1984
Items from the "Flightlines" magazine -
|
On the front page of the Christmas issue, were these three employees -
Ear l Benson
Joanne Hooper
Art Kalinchuk
|
The thirteenth meeting of the Pacific Western Airlines Retirees Association was held as a social luncheon at the Airport Inn on October 15/84. Sixty-four members and three guests were in attendance. Members from the whole system attended.
 Here we have a photo of the PWA Retired Employees Association Officers.
Left to right; Jack Wallace (Payload Control) Entertainment Officer; Captain Gene Gauthier (VR Flt Ops.) Vice President; Brian Hall (VR Maintenance) President; Gerry Levers (VR Maintenance) Treasurer; Roy Berryman (VR Maintenance) Liaison Officer; Captain Art Ralphs (VR Flt. Ops.) Vice President.
Not in picture. Bernie Bricklebank (VR Stores) Public Relations; Ethel Bryant (VR Accounting) Secretary.
|
| Reader's Feedback - Compiled by Terry Baker |
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. Ted Beaudon has sent us some additional information to complement the story about Prestwick which we serialized in recent NetLetters from 1290 through 1294. Some interesting developments in last couple of days arising from our various e-mails on the Prestwick Story which I am adapting in my manuscript. My gut feeling right now is that much focus has been placed by various writers on Gander, NL, being a vital stepping-off point for RAF FC flights, right from the first one in November, 1940, but little has been written about the key arrival point overseas - Prestwick ... and TCA's role there. Prestwick was not only known for its WX reputation, but was critical to the success of the entire ferry operation. If a departure point is essential, so is a main arrival point at the destination and these bombers needed to be received to be handled internally once on Great Britain soil. I "found" an interesting sidebar potential story originating in Prestwick on who handled what on incoming and outgoing aircraft - converting a plane destined for Bomber Command (unspecified as to which Bomber Command) to it being a plane earmarked for Ferry Command (again, unspecified as to which Ferry Command, because by then, an Air Transport Command was in the works both in Canada and in Great Britain to move the aircraft around on arrival)...intriguing. I have put other manuscript chores aside for next few days while I collect all my data on the Gander-Prestwick link Ted |
Odds and Ends.
|
|
 Sometimes we receive articles and information that just doesn't fit in our other areas. This is where it goes!
|
 Early photo of Vancouver Airport - sent in by Doug Robinson.
The photo is of C.K. Hamilton's first landing on the infield at Minoru Park on Lulu Island C1929.
The City of Vancouver, still smarting from Charles Lindbergh's rebuff and anxious to get in on the aviation craze, approves $600,000 for airport development. A new location, to replace the existing grass airstrip at Minoru Park on Lulu island, is selected at the current home of the airport on Sea Island, in Richmond. The city pays $300,000 for the land.
|
Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
|
|
 Terry is presently moving residences but has left some items to fill the space while he is away.
|
|
 Concluding the short history of London's Heathrow airport (LHR)
started in NetLetter nr 1290
- 24th May 1996 - The Queen re-opens Terminal 2, formerly the Europa Building, originally Heathrow's first terminal.
- 14th November 1997 - Terminal 5, public inquiry ends - the longest inquiry in UK history.
- 23rd June 1998 - The new Heathrow Express is in full service.
|
| Smileys - Compiled by Terry Baker |
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 was published in the "Between Ourselves" magazine issued April 1956. Seems conditions have changed according to the recently announcement that Air Canada was selected as one of Montreal's Top 30 Employers for 2014! (And this is only February! - eds)
|
|
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
To contact us, send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
|
|
| |
|
