­
Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter Since 1995

Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

Since 1995



=================================================================
|
|\^/|
T H E                    _| TCA |_
_|\| AIR |/|_
N E T L E T T E R   >  CANADA   <
>_./|\._<
|
( For retirees of the new Air Canada family)


Number 528 Oct 20th, 2000,  We first Published in October 1995



Chief Pilot - Vesta Stevenson   -      Co-pilot  - Terry Baker


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


================================================================



. Tom Grant sends us this update -
A-Crew Website Update
Air Canada Retired Employees' Website now encompassing retirees in AC,
Cd>n, Regionals and related companies in the Air Canada family.
New Home
A-Crew has a new Internet home at www.acfamily.org/acrew
(note: the change being from the ".net" domain to the ".org" domain)
Network Re-structuring
The new url for A-Crew was brought about by the re-organization and evolution of
the ACFamily Network which now consists of -
www.ACFamily.NET our main site and member area.
www.ACFamily.ORG is dedicated to non-profit and community service
interests of which A-Crew is a part. We invite any interested group associated
with ACFamily members to make an online application for our support.
www.ACFamily.COM our web hosting and web design area with special
discounts to our ACFamily members.
New Section
A new service for our registered members is the new  Classified Ads section
which is available to all ACFamily members - over 2500.
An effective way to sell and buy in a target market.
New Section
Canadian Airlines archive information and update on Air Canada archives -
click CAIRE on the web site menu. We have currently put online information relating
to these activities. In the coming weeks and months, we will be putting Cd>n
memorabilia online with the assistance of Cd>n corporate archivist Andrew Geider.
Travel Section
A-Crew website will no longer have a stand-alone travel section. The Travel page will
be the access point for the new ACF_TravelGuide and Employee/Retiree
Travel section which is under construction on www.acfamily.net .
This work is subject to the ongoing integration of Air Canada and Canadi>n Airlines.
Contacts List
The Contacts List of the A-Crew website has been taken offline pending security and
re-structuring considerations. It is hoped that an all new Contacts search engine will
be online by November 15th.
Photo Galleries
There are always new additions to all the galleries.
Reminder
* Your comments and submissions are always welcome at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
* Don't forget you and your family are entitled to feature your personal and
* business websites on the A-Crew website.
* The Classified Ads section is free to registered members of the A-Crew
*  website.
Thank you for supporting the Air Canada Retired Employees' Website
Tom Grant, Editor


|
'---o-o-0-o-o---'
" ' "
. From the eMailNews issued by Duane Frerichs -
Phil Pawsey has been relating events in Joe White's life, and we thought the TCA/AC
portion  would interest you -
March 9th. 1944 Joe joined TCA (the first of a handful of RCAF pilots) and his first
training flight was with Capt. Herb Seagrim in a Lockheed 1408, He finished training
and was sent to Moncton on April 15th/44. He flew right seat for the remainder of the
year and names like R Smith, B Trerice, D Lawson, J Hattie, R Gunter, D Siple
and many more are shown in his log.
Aircraft flown were the Lockheed 1408, 1808, and in March 1945, the DC-3
shows up in his log.
By April 45, Joe was taking Captains training from one of my favourites
Capt. Jack Crosby. By May, he is shown in the left seat with some of his early First
Officers by the names of Burt Palmer, Laurie Paxton, Art Adamson, Dave Tribe,
Ab Freeman, Gus Cirko, Bill Bredt, and many more familiar names. Notice that
Percy Waddy flew with Joe on a practise flight in a DC3 in December 1946.
Transferred to the Trans Atlantic Service at Dorval in October 1947 and then completed
conversion to the DC4M1 (North Star), route familiarization to the UK by late
March 1947. More familiar names show up here as F/Os such as Hughes, Little,
Kelsey, Cartwright, Lamont, Wallace, Wild, Laing, Muir, Penrose, and many more.
March 1950 he transferred back to the Eastern Region on  DC-3s and Joe stopped
logging his time until December 1957 when the first entry is on a Lockheed 1049 from
YUL-PWK, Lon and with Navigator and Flight Engineer names showing up as part
of the crew. Many routine flights now appear and long ones at that, with one showing
14hrs and 25 minutes air time from VIE-DUS-BR-SA-YR-UL with F/Os Foulkes & Gray,
navigator Bridgeford and flight engineer Mathers.
One flight Joe remembers is a take-off at Prestwick when a cylinder parted company.
The Connie was approaching V1, but he managed to stop although by this time there
was a merry blaze around the defunct engine, which was quickly put out.  The next
morning a KLM DC8 blew its tyres on the cylinder remnants and White was blamed
for the incident.  It was pointed out that it was the responsibility of the airfield to check
its runway - doesn't this sound familiar?
Joe White appeared one Monday morning in December 1960 in the DC8 ground
school room where Joe Held and myself gave out all that pertinent information such
as how a fuel control unit worked, how the ZNSR worked.
Will never forget one time that a question on the exam required a Yes or No answer
but when the steno typed it, she left two full length spaces for the answer. I saw
Fearless Leek scratching his head over this one and when we corrected the exams
and Ralph saw the correct one word answer, he never failed to call me
"Two space Pawsey" for ever after.
The company was always after Joe to join the supervisory ranks but Joe did not want
to be Joed for that.   However he did aid in the development of Air Jamaica from 1971
until 1974, in a very big way. Joe converted to his final TCA/AC aircraft, the B747 in
late 1973.  I was very honoured when he asked me to be part of the crew on his
retirement flight from Frankfurt to Toronto in, I think, 1979.
I apologize for not giving any information regarding Norah and their great family, but I
was afraid I may make some mistakes without the aid of a log book. I do know though
that I express all the First Officers, Flight Engineers, Navigators, and subsequently
Second Officers feelings, when I say that it was always a great  pleasure to fly with you
Joe.
You were truly regarded as a highly professional pilot among all your peers.
.
Following up on the Joe White story, Phil received this response -
Subject: Feedback re Joe White
Have had considerable feedback from the fellows re the logbook entries etc.,
re Joe White and I would like to thank those that took the time to do that.
I will pass all the comments along to Joe.
The following is one example and it is from Herr Ray the Bick.


Buenas noches Phil,
Wow,some great stuff there!I was with Joe on that dark misty nite in
Prestwick,when the jug parted company with #3 eng and set her on fire!! My
recollection was that it was not put out quickly as you say! The
firefighters were 15-20 mins getting there and in the interim,Sir Thomas Dench roared to
the back of the Connie collecting all red coloured Fire extinguishers he cud lay his
grimy little hands on!he gave them all to Earl Mathers  who had the crew door open by
this time.Earl slid down the escape rope clutching the CO2's and proceeded to empty
them into the front of the eng. He did not have enough agent to completely snuff her out,
and the flames regenerated.The fire fighters showed within about 5 mins of this occurring
and put a big Ext. with wheels to work and finished the job! Earl wound up with a bloody
hand from rope burn,and Sir Dench promptly declared him a hero, which he was of course!
This little one act play was not quite over at this point. SAS DC-6 was waiting to depart
and did so, when we finally cleared the runway. It was not too much later that KLM landed
picked up our wayward jug and blew a one of mains and the jug seemingly adopting a life
of its own  after leaving our care and custody took flight and ruined one of the Connies
flaps! It's freedom was short lived and it was finally captured by a Ministry of Civil av. truck
and taken away.The fun started then, with Joe being accused of littering, the MCA of not
cleaning the debris off the runway, and the Wooden Shoers for attacking a  defenseless
inanimate object on Ministry property!!I Dont recall the disposition of this international
attempt to establish liability, as the next day Joe took Mathers and I on a 3-eng Ferry to
B.O.A.C. hgr at Heathrow for an Eng.change & fuselage repair where the wayward "JUG"
had attempted to claw it's way thru the right side of the fuselage in its mad dash to
freedom!!


Phil Pawsey   <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>


|
'---o-o-0-o-o---'
" ' "


. Remember when?
Trans-Canada Air Lines history -
First male employee     D.R.MacLaren    May 15th 1937
First female employee   Lucille Garner    July 1st 1938
First pilot                      Z.L.Leigh           Aug 20th 1937
First mail & passenger flight
Vancouver - Seattle   Sept 1st 1937  17:00 local
pilots        - E.P.H.Wells
F.M.McGregor
aircraft        Lockheed 10A  CF-AZY
Passengers
D.R.MacLaren (Asst. to V.P.)
P.W.Baldwin, Auditor C.N.



First Chief Stweardess:    Lucille Garner, RN      July 1st 1938
First Stewardess:            P.Eccleston ,RN        July 1st 1938
R.Crispin, RN            Nov 16th 1938
L.I.Finlay, RN            Feb 16th, 1939


|
'---o-o-0-o-o---'
" ' "


. Terry's travel tips.
Cons who want to freshen up enroute no longer have to hope they get upgraded to
Business class. This month, flying in and out of LHR (Heathrow), any passenger can
take a shower, have clothes pressed and shoes cleaned have access to the internet
& email in the LHR classless lounge - all for $35.00 entrance fee.
Run by British Airports operator BAA, which opened its first pay-as-you-go lounge
at Stanstead Airport in Essex last year, the lounge also provides a range of drinks,
snacks, hot breakfast and a relaxation area.


Visiting Sydney, Australia?
Devere Hotel, 44-46 Macleay Street, Potts Point, NSW Australia, 2011
Phone +61 2 9358 1211   Fax +61 2 9358 4685
The Devere Hotel is a 3 star, 100 room boutique style hotel specializing in the
corporate and leisure market.  All guest rooms are equipped with individually
controlled air conditioning, colour TV, radio alarm clock, IDD telephone,
business desk, refrigerator, coffee and tea making facilities.
Only 2 km from Sydneys CBD and 10km from the airport. Just a short stroll to
Sydneys most popular restaurant and caf district, entertainment and night spots,
The Opera House, Botanic Gardens, Darling Harbour, the Museum, art galleries,
historic trust buildings, Government House, major theatres, shopping and sporting
venues are just a few minutes away.
Reservations in advance by phone, fax or email.
Airline employee rate AUS$79.00 +10% State Government Tax, per room
per night single or double occupancy.
(The normal rate is AUS$139.00 + 10% State Government Bed Tax.)
Discount offer based on availability.  Must show valid id at check-in.


|
'---o-o-0-o-o---'
" ' "


. Smilie.
It was 1977 and we were on an old DC8 Air Ceylon coming in to Colombo,
Ceylon from Bangkok. The landing approach was pretty bumpy, but the biggest
bump was saved for when we hit the tarmac - a massive shudder and  shake -
at least I hoped it was the runway.. We were soon however airborne again and
climbing steeply when a voice with a heavy Indian accent came over the PA
as follows:
I am sorry about the landing ladies and gentlemen, the pilot will now take over.


This time up in the Himalayas where we had been stranded for days. Each day
we would head down to the airfield only to be told the plane could not take off.
Finally on a day the weather was slightly better, the chief of police informed us as
follows:
The allocated pilot for today is the best pilot in Nepal, don't worry, he will
take the risk.
-- Tim Stuart, Great Aviation Quotes


|
'---o-o-0-o-o---'
" ' "


. DID YOU KNOW?
That you can read or retrieve back issues of  "theNetLetter" ?
Just visit our web site at:
http://www.acfamily.org/netletter
and click on the "Archives" button.
This area is only open to "the NetLetter"  subscribers and you will
need the following password to enter -
User Name: netletter  Password: vesta


================================================================
Mailing of 'the NetLetter" is a service of the ACFamily Network
**************http://www.acfamily.net **************
================================================================

NetLetter Subscription

­