Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

The NetLetter

 (part of the ACFamily Network)

3rd Annual Retirement Tea for Air Canada Flight Attendants, Past and Present

Date: Thursday, June 2nd 2011 1400-1600 hrs

Location: IAM Hall, 7980 River Road
Richmond, B.C.  R.S.V.P. by May 25th

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

Registration: You can register online at: http://4094retirementtea.eventbrite.com

This will be our 3rd annual Retirement Tea to recognize our retired colleagues for their contributions to the Canadian Aviation Industry and Local 4094. We are inviting all retired and current members of our local to join in on some tea, coffee, cake, and old friends. Please pass the word around and come out and join in the fun of seeing familiar faces from the past and present.

Meet and Greet to follow at Pier 73 at the Delta Hotel (same place as last year just a name change). Please validate parking at hostess stand. Staying overnight? Show your Air Canada ID at the Delta Hotel in Richmond and you can get a rate of $59.99 per night plus taxes.

Jack Morath, UK Pionairs, sends this photo and comment - I obtained this picture of the Avro York aircraft from the RAF museum. I actually obtained two and I kept one for my Family History write up as this was my first flight in an aircraft which was in 1953 during my National Service.

We took off from Stansted Airport on 1st June 1953, to Fayid in the Canal Zone in Egypt. We had to stop on the way in Malta for refueling. It was a very noisy aircraft and we were given ear plugs to use.  After a week or so in Fayid waiting for a posting, I was sent to  Habbaniya in Iraq, 55 miles from Baghdad. Can't remember which aircraft it was, but it was an RAF one.

A PRETTY veteran of the air lanes, who as a stewardess has flown in aircraft ranging from a 14-passenger Lodestar to our giant Super Constellations, has been chosen to represent our company on a goodwill tour of South America.

She is Anita Elizabeth "Gypsy" Germaine, of Montreal, who has been flying as a TCA stewardess for more than 10 years. She will take part in the pre-inaugural ceremonies of Pan American- Grace Airways' new service to South America. The tour is sponsored by Panagra. During her time with our company, Miss Germaine has logged upwards of 10,000 flying hours and has flown on nearly all our routes including services in Canada, United States, Britain, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany and the Caribbean.

A GROUP OF 17 PA (Tel's) from various stations across the system recently completed basic training.

Back row, from left: G. B. Findlay, XF; A. B. Lock, WG; R. C. Climie, (Instructor); C. 0. Robbins, UL; K. M. Tyron, UL. Middle: D. J. Rogers, XF; Miss B. J. Walters, UL; Miss R. D. Guest, VR; Miss M. Demers, QB; A. Lussier, UL; P. P. Mathewson, UL. Seated: Misses E. L. Cossitt, SD; L. 8. Campbell, QG; M. L. Lamb, XF; M. Hillicker, YZ; B. M. Hopkins, UL. Miss B. Wrynn, QM, not present.

SIXTH GROUP OF PA (CNTR) since the first a! the year recently graduated from basic training in Montreal.

From left they are, back row: R. J. Warren, (!nstructor) C. M. Irwin, LON M. A. Nicholls, WG; C. Rigby YZ D. Copeland, YZ; S. I. Clark, (Instructor). Middle row: L. D. Findlay, WG; .J. Gray, YZ; D. F Woolward, UL A. A. St. Laurent, UL; G. Tobin, UL. Seated: Misses B. J. Brunker, QG; I. P. Cossell, WG; P. Lepine, UL.

THIS GROUP OF counter agents recently completed basic PA course in Montreal.

From left, back row: R. E. Mason, YZ; Misses S. Wilson, OW; M. Brousseau, QBI; R. .J. Warren (Instructor); Miss B. A. Young, YZ; V. Peever, WG. Seated: Misses M. E. McTavish, WG; P. M. Whittle, QG; M. R. Walters, QX; G. D. Davidson, QG.

BUILDING Maintenance HIGH JINKS
Our Vancouver building maintenance mechanics have just completed a mammoth construction job. 

A stand has been built that will enable mechanics and painters to reach the top of the tail assembly on our Boeing 707's and 737's. It has two decks, each of which can be adjusted to the required height at which the work is being done. The decks themselves, are shaped like a U' so that they go on both sides of the tail assembly. This is very convenient, because the stand has only to be moved into place and does not need moving again until the work on the tail assembly is completed.

Many hours of work went into this structure. The amount of welding required was a task in itself. Much of the credit is due to Harry Wahl, Keith Lane, Bob MacCullough and Jack Hill.  In these photos we assume these mechanics are pictured.

On August 8th, W.R.Harris, VP and GM presented the "wings" to 16 graduating Stewardesses and 5 Stewards, climaxing four weeks of intensive training.

Here is a photo of the class and names, but we do not know where they stand in the scheme of things.  James Bisaillon, Giorgio Peggi, Hans Prins, Robert Pattison, Kenneth Merren, Annette Hansen, Sharon Blair, Nicole Bradshaw, Jo-Anne Gillis, Linda Harris, Dorothy Butchart, Susan Fraser, Cherry Lundy, Margeret Unger, Lesley Webster, Jacqueline Coady, Patricia McDonald, Nancy Campbell, Susan Wells, Geraldine Hollowachuk, Elizabeth Sutherland.

With all the business going on with the moon trip and Air Canada offering reservations, we, the staff in Penticton, decided to see if we could go. Here are the messages we sent and received:

PACIFIC WESTERN TO AIR CANADA:
ARNKYV I STANDELL 1 FORD 1 BABIY 1 RIMES 1 HORNER 1 HARRIS ACMOONFLIGHTF/F/ WHATEVER DAYYVR MOON NN6 OS' PLSE ADV IF 1/2 RATE ORDERS AVAILABLE FOR OTHER AIRLINES STAFF

AIR CANADA TO PACIFIC WESTERN:
ARNK YF 1 STANDELL 1 FORD I BABIY 1 RIMES 1 HORNER 1 HARRIS ACMOONFLIGHT 0001F32JUL YVRMOON KK6
OSI FAM PASS AVBL OSI SPACE SUITS AVBL AND 10 COURSE MEALS IN TUBE OSI STOPOVER PRIV PERMISSIBLE AND CNX TO MARS AND VENUS 051 ADNO.
(We at the NetLetter, assume the tickets are in the mail - eds)
 

Jack Stephens sends us this email regarding NetLetter nr 1162 - Another fine Netletter.  

I was pleasantly surprised to see the Materials Inspection department. I was the clerk-steno to Cy Paige who was the Chief Inspector. The identification on the caption should read, from left to right: Ross Smith, Wally Snyder, Jim MacKay and Cy Paige. Two inspectors are missing, Ted Chitty and Eric. Can anyone help with his last name?

The materials on the conveyor belt were most likely Viscount parts. As with the whole Stores building, the Inspection area was a hive of activity, as Viscounts started to arrive from the UK. As a clerk, I was kept busy keeping the Viscount manuals up to date. Thanks for a look back.

Sincerely, Jack Stephens  

(Thank you for pointing out the sequence of the names - we rechecked the magazine and the sequence was as we printed. We can only assume the photo was published in the magazine backwards - eds) 

In NetLetter nr 1162 we ran this photo with a request for identities - Bev May sends us this information - Re request for idents on crew CDN7. Can't help with the flight attendants but F/O Al Schmidt (hand on the overhead bin) and F/O Barry Moffitt (holding his hat) are the rest of the cockpit crew.  

Bev. May

Upon reading the information in "Our first 70 years" in NetLetter nr 1162, Sus and Dave Kerrigan sends us this photo and comment - 

I saw the note about fin 822 and thought the attached would be of interest. Not sure if you already have one or not. I can't seem to find one of the aftermath with the nose rolled on to the air conditioning truck and the tail resting on a lav truck.

MODERN day eyes, accustomed to the sexy, sleek imagery of the 21st century will probably consider BEA's choice of the name "Elizabethan" for its Airspeed Ambassadors 60 years ago to be quite apt, for the planes now look almost as antiquated as Sir Francis Drake's ship The Golden Hind. 

Yet despite its chubby, low-slung design, here was an aircraft considered to be so stylish in the early 1950s that it was immediately put to work on the airline's flagship Silver Wing service to Paris, whisking the well-to-do to the French capital in a flurry of subservience and luxury. Three of those pampered passengers are on view here, in a carefully-posed photo taken at London Airport (later Heathrow) in about 1952.

There is common belief that the Elizabethan was named in honor of the new queen, which is slightly puzzling, as King George VI did not pass away until February 1952. This particular aircraft was sold in 1960 and used by the King of Morocco. 

(Source Skyport-LHR, UK)

Terry Baker

Here is some information we received from the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, B.C. ( next to Vancouver).

The schedules show the free shuttle service from various hotels in the vicinity, assuming you are unable to afford the Casino Resort prices.

Some of the hotels listed may give an interline discount - try them - I have been sucessful in  obtaining a discount at the Travelodge, Delta and the Accent Inn in the past. The other schedule is for free transportation to various shopping malls - in case you still have some winnings left and you are staying at the Casino Resort.