The NetLetter
For Air Canada Retirees
(Part of the ACFamily Network)
November 11, 2012 - Issue 1229
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First Issue published in October 1995!
(over 5,400 subscribers)
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NetLetter Past Issues
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Donation Information
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Send cheques payable to "ACFamily Network" to:
ACFamily Network
#800 - 15355 24th Ave, Suite 523
Surrey, BC V4A 2H9
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Sponsors
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Greetings!
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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
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| Our First 75 Years - Compiled by Terry Baker |
 To view the video put together for the 75th anniversary go to www.75.aircanada.com. |
 From the Collector's edition and Souvenir copy of "enRoute" magazine. |
Front covers of "Between Ourselves" magazine issue # 57 Jan 1948 through # 67 Dec 1948. |
1945 - May - Three DC-3 aircraft purchased from U.S.Aircraft Disposal Board.
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| Star Alliance News |
 Lufthansa to launch daily MUN-YVR in May. Lufthansa (LH) will launch a daily Munich-Vancouver Airbus A330 service from May 16, 2013. This is the first time it has offered non-stop flights on this route. It already offers Frankfurt-Vancouver daily. Inaugural 787 Service ---Ethiopian Airlines will become the first airline to operate the new Boeing Dreamliner 787 to any airport in Canada on November 10th. Effective with the flight on Saturday, November 10th, the 787 will replace the Boeing 777-200LR that had been operating the route for the most part. Scheduled arrival time will be 0810hrs local as flight ET502 and departure time is scheduled for 1100hrs. Flights operate on Tuesdays and Saturdays (source yyznews.com) |
| Reader Submitted Photos - Compiled by Terry Baker |
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 Reader Submitted Photos - The photos and information below have been submitted to us by our faithful readers.
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| 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.
It is irritating enough to read in the various media ie newspapers and magazines that the original title of our airline is shown as Trans Canada Airlines instead of the correct title Trans-Canada Air Lines. Especially disappointing when the incorrect title is in some of the recent "Daily", and the Pionairs called the previous name "Trans-Canada Airways" in their recent emails.
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Issue dated - April 1945
Stolen from the "Between Ourselves" magazines -
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 Due to the influx of new aircraft, more recruiting was undertaken - New Stewardess recruits - seated, left to right: Vivian Murdock, Monica Gillis, Mr. D. R. MacLaren (Superintendent of Passenger Service), Betty Hemingson (Supervisor of Stewardesses) and Marg Brezenski (Stewardess Supervisor - Moncton). Standing: Julia Ondrus, Jean Robins, Fern Nickel, Marg McCuaig, Mary Heffernan and Helen Dickie.
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 New Traffic recruits.
Seated, left to right: Graeme Gibson, Al Godbold (TrainingSupervisor) and Lawrence Adams. Standing: Murray Law, Max Eagles, Jack MacLean, Ken Denman and Crawford Burns. All seven graduates were previously in the armed forces, and five of them had been with TCA prior to enlistment.
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 Sydney staff on Cape Breton. A rarity! We may be wrong, but we suspect that this is the first time that a major station has been photographed whole. Here, for TCA posterity, are recorded our Cape Breton personnel as at February, 1945. Front row, left to right: P. Majdanik, radio op.; H. Harris, radio op.; J. E. Robidoux, radio op.; M. Atkinson, counter clerk; I. Beranson, clerk steno.; E. V. Morrison, passenger agent; R. W. Lockhart, Station Manager; C. E. Houlton, chief clerk; C. E. McCord, passenger agent; M. Topshee, teletypist; L. Parker, counter clerk; D. V. Dowling, agent-in-charge; R. H. Calder, passenger agent; and A. Goldman, customs inspector. Centre row: W. J. Tobin. collector-of-customs; J. Mullins, customs inspector; M. Macfarlane, immigration inspector; R. J. Murphy, immigration inspector; A. N. Steeves, cargo agent; L. G. Doyle. cargo handler; R. A. Steeves, cargo handler; J. A. Dyer, junior mechanic; E. A. Nevins, junior mechanic; H. D. Ball, mechanic; T. C. MacLean, immigration inspector-in-charge; G. W. Fitzsimmons, immigration inspector; and M. R. Roach, customs inspector. Back row: D. R. Walkinshaw, security control; J. Howley, Glace Bay Taxi; M. Howley, Glace Bay Taxi; C. McDonald, J. Cormier, S. Chiasson, J. A. McLean. M. O'Neil, L. Hilder -all of Isle Royale Taxi; and W. Harper, security control.
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 CF-TCW at Gander airport in 1945.
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| Alan's Space - by Alan Rust |
 Sack Lunches - submitted by Alan Watson
I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight. 'I'm glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will get a short nap,' I thought.
Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation.
'Where are you headed?' I asked the soldier seated nearest to me. 'Petawawa. We'll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being deployed to Afghanistan.
After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time...
As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch. 'No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch.Probably wouldn't be worth five bucks. I'll wait till we get to base.'
His friend agreed.
I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill. 'Take a lunch to all those soldiers.' She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. 'My son was a soldier in Iraq ; it's almost like you are doing it for him.'
Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, 'Which do you like best - beef or chicken?' 'Chicken,' I replied, wondering why she asked. She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class.
'This is your thanks.'
After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room. A man stopped me. 'I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.' He handed me twenty-five dollars.
Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand and said, 'I want to shake your hand.' Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood and took the Captain's hand.
With a booming voice he said, 'I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.' I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.
Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five dollars in my palm.
When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to deplane. Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another twenty-five dollars!
Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base. I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. 'It will take you some time to reach the base. It will be about time for a sandwich. God Bless You.'
Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers.
As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals. It seemed so little...
A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'citizens of Canada' for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'
That is Honour, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.'
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Canadi>n/CP Air/PWA, Wardair, etc. People & Events
- Compiled by Terry Baker
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 News and articles from days gone by gleaned from various publications from C.A.I.L. and its "ancestry" of contributing airlines. |
 In December 1987, a booklet titled "Meet the Canadians" was issued containing photos of the North American Sales Group. Here we have the first page.
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Issue dated - January 1981
Items from the "CPAir NEWS" magazine -
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 It was a busy year for CP Air's Winnipeg staff which handled a 9% increase in passenger volume during 1980. Here we have Passenger Agents Marlene Sokalskl, Irene Lesley, Andrea Baker in Winnipeg.
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The heading of the article detailing Team Cargo was "Service is the name of the game" - (certainly the names of these employees here were not part of the "game" - any ideas? - eds)
 
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 Frederic Normand, 11, of Hull, Quebec, loves airplanes and wants to become a pilot, he said in a letter to the " Director General of CP Air" in Montréal.
CP Air staff responded by taking the boy on an airport tour, including a cockpit visit prior to the departure of Flight 87 for Vancouver. Welcoming Frederic aboard, from left, are Capt. G. A. Kenny, First Officer Doug Hyndman and Second Officer Robert McDonald. (Now, at 43 years old - did Frederic ever make it? - eds)
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 Here we have Joe Halaszy on the scrubber keeping shipshape the floor of the CP Air Ops Centre in Vancouver 1980.
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| 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.
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Ken Pickford discovers the gremlins again in NetLetter nr 1227, and points out that in the hijack story about Mary Dohey, the aircraft was diverted to Great Falls and not Grand Falls.
In the article regarding CP flying between Toronto and Sao Paula, the aircraft should have been landing at Sao Paulo.
Ed Valka spotted this error in NetLetter nr 1228 -
Excellent newsletter! However, there is an obvious typo in one article - "Aug 1980 - CP Air News" It states that in 1992 CP Air flew 22 refugee flights....etc. The August 1980 issue could not have seen into a future (1992) when CP Air did not exist. Regards Ed Valka (Our ever present gremlin caused this error - the date should have read 1979 - eds)
Jim Griffith has sent us yet another story for us - The Case of the Missing Friday Honey Bucket: Fact or Urban Legend?
In spite of admittedly futile and incomplete research I've never been able to define who "they", are but "they" say it isn't polite to discuss politics, religion or sex in polite conversation. Nevertheless, have you noticed that when at least one or more airline employees gather the conversation, although not always polite, almost inevitably sinks to toilet talk somewhere along the line.
At a recent summer Pionair's BBQ, one of the attendees, a former ramp rat, had an amusing story to tell. You might remember from my former miserable scratchings about the joke North Star pilots played on Newbie flight attendants using the stand-by manual hydraulic pump in the cockpit as an imaginary toilet flushing device for the cabin toilet. The irony being that on the North Star as well as later on the newer Viscount, the toilet facility consisted of nothing more than a bucket which fit in a restraining latched slot to prevent sloshing in turbulence. The bucket was partially filled with a heavily scented blue coloured disinfectant to a specified level leaving space for the added... well you know what, during flight. The bucket was oxymoronically called the Honey Bucket and had to be emptied manually by ramp personal at major station stops.
Some may remember that the Viscount toilet was at the very front of the cabin and the main door, through which the Honey Bucket had to be carried, right at the back of the cabin; a typically twisted British sense of aircraft design; probably somebody's after thought. The procedure was for the unfortunate and almost always the most junior ramp attendant to run a roll of thick brown paper from the toilet door to the main entrance to protect the carpets in case of unfortunate spills, pick up the bucket and carry it out through the cabin door for disposal.
The Viscounts were scheduled for regular maintenance in Montreal to check every system on the aircraft with each aircraft, one by one as its number came up, being routed to Montreal on Mondays for the work and back on Fridays to Toronto via several stops before the cabins had to be serviced. Imagine the chagrin of young Toronto rampie when he went to pick up the bucket one Friday and it was missing and further it had been hors de combat the whole trip. Now he and the rest of his crew had a major problem, but with their usual cheerful team spirit and unflinching company esprit de corps, they cleaned the repulsive, putrid mess, uncomplainingly up.
The next Friday the same thing happened and when it was repeated the following week some bright spark in the crew, starting to loose his enthusiasm and team spirit, figured out that a pattern was emerging. So in spite of their cheerful and loyal natures the ramp rats tried to and did solve the mystery. Montreal had signed off that all the maintenance work had been done but for some reason had not re-installed the Honey Buckets on Fridays much to the horror of the Toronto ramp crew and no doubt some onboard mortified passengers... and no one at the Montreal end had noticed that a burgeoning inventory of Viscount Honey buckets was accruing on the hangar floor. The story does have a happy ending. No there wasn't anyone going to receive a, "suggestion award", but in the event all the alleged culpable miscreants were experts at that famous institutional tradition of CYOA, and thus were able to escape the wrath of the company big wigs.
 Now the challenge for you, the loyal readers of the NetLetter is: fact or fiction?????
Jim Griffith
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Odds and Ends.
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 Sometimes we receive articles and information that just doesn't fit in our other areas. This is where it goes!
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Terry's Trivia and Travel Tips - by Terry Baker
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 If you are a British national and were born on or before 2 September 1929, you can get or renew a passport for free. (source: www.gov.uk )
From the UK/EC monthly Pionairs November newsletter - Standby availability on other airlines:
As the FLYZED web site has now closed up, Lisa Gopie in Radius Park has advised us of another site which gives similar information. It is www.amadeus.net. Click on flights and then on availability. You should then see how many seats are left to sell in each cabin. Thanks Lisa.
(At the NetLetter, we experimented and add the following information.
When the www.amadeus.net home page appears, Enter from/to/dates, select "Show additional options", enter "preferred airlines" or leave blank, click "Search". When the "Search" results appear point to "Seats available". I think the most you will get is "9" when there is more than nine so airlines can't track each others loads.(Although we selected an Air Canada and Westjet flight, we made no attempt to verify the seat availability.- eds)
World Airlines Clubs Association (WACA) presents "WACA Interline Festival", a 15 night journey through the Panama Canal from Miami to Los Angeles aboard the NCL Sun April 21st 2013 - May 6th 2013.
Calling at Cartegena, transit through the Canal, Puntarenas, Huatulco, Puerto Chiapas, Cabo San Lucas and Los Angeles.
Cruise pricing at Inside us$1099, Oceanview us$1499, Balcony us$2299. price per person based on double occupancy. Port taxes us$257.52 pp. WACA fee additional us$20.
Booking information at 1-866-979-1157 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Some deals offered by Interline Vacations
Globus Tours -
Britain Sampler
9 Day London to London - Dec 8 from $1189
Our most popular Britain vacation offers you the best of this great land. Guided sightseeing shows you all the famous landmarks in London: Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and visits to St. Paul's Cathedral and the Changing of the Guard, if held.
The Best of Spain
9 Day Madrid to Barcelona - Dec 22 from $1619
This is the best way to see the highlights of Spain in a short time!
A Taste of Italy
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You've heard about Italy-its romance, mouth-watering cuisine, excellent wine, fabulous art, splendid beauty, ancient ruins, extraordinary statues, and remarkable architecture. On this tour, get a taste of what Italy has to offer and explore its most famous cities-Rome, Florence, and Venice.
Tour rates are per person based on double occupancy.
Cruises -
Holland America Line
Veendam
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* Dec 03, In/Out/Bal/Dlx $329/329/799/2199
[Valparaiso, At Sea, Puerto Montt, Puerto Chacabuco, Chilean Fjords, Amalia Glacier, Canal Sarmiento, Punta Arenas, Strait of Magellan, Cockburn Channel, Beagle Channel, Ushuaia, Glacier Alley, Cape Horn, At Sea, Puerto Madryn, At Sea, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, At Sea, At Sea, Rio de Janeiro]
Eurodam
7-night Caribbean - Fort Lauderdale round-trip
* Dec 15, In/Out/Bal/Dlx $299/349/449/799
[Fort Lauderdale, At Sea, Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas, At Sea, Half Moon Cay, Fort Lauderdale]
Maasdam
10-night Caribbean - Fort Lauderdale round-trip
* Nov 30, In/Out/Bal/Dlx $399/449/899/1899
[Fort Lauderdale, At Sea, At Sea, San Juan, St. Thomas, Roseau, St. Johns, Road Town, At Sea, Half Moon Cay, Fort Lauderdale]
Princess Cruises
Grand Princess
7-night Caribbean - Fort Lauderdale round-trip
* Jan 05, In/Out/Bal/Dlx $499/549/699/899
[Fort Lauderdale, At Sea, San Juan, St. Maarten, St Thomas US Virgin Island, At Sea, Princess Cays, Fort Lauderdale]
For more information on these and many other deals -
In U.S.A. or CANADA 800-200-7170 (toll free) or +1 512-691-4501
or visit on-line at www.PERX.com .
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| 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.
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 This cartoon is from the "Between Ourselves" magazine issued January 1944.
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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
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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.
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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 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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