Vintage TCA 1950s airline video - National Film Board/Henry Tenby
(Submitted by: Vern Swerdfeger )
Below we have an image that links to a 1950's aviation video featuring Trans-Canada Air Lines and many other airlines of the era. The video was created from the National Film Board of Canada archives and was conceived, scripted, narrated and edited by Henry Tenby (Vancouver).
Henry is very active in airline memorabilia and also holds a Memorabilia event every fall in Richmond, B.C. He has been documenting the commercial airline scene for airline publications worldwide since the mid 1980s. These captured videos from the National Film Board Archives are of very high quality and contain a compilation of various video clips of TCA aircraft along with some other aircraft from the 1950's.
This video has been provided by Henry Tenby from his website at www.henrytenby.com/must-see-classic-1950s-propliner-video-51-minutes. There is a 3 minute introduction to the video by Henry telling us about this video and his other services and then 51 minutes of high quality videos narrated by Henry. Well worth watching! For further information about Henry and his various aviation services see: www.henrytenby.com
Zero Hour! to Airplane!
Did you know that the 1980 classic comedy "Airplane!" is actually a remake of a 1957 film called "Zero Hour!" based on a story by British/Canadian novelist Arthur Hailey?
After serving in the RAF during the war Mr. Hailey moved to Canada where he began his writing career. One of his first stories "Flight into Danger" (AKA Runway Zero Eight) was made into a teleplay broadcast on the CBC on April 3, 1956 starring Vancouver-born James Doohan who later became Commander Montgomery Scott in the original Star Trek series.
In 1957 Paramount Pictures reworked the screenplay and changed character names turning the story into the feature film “Zero Hour!”. I recently caught the original on a classic movie channel and was quite surprised at how the comedy (Airplane!) remained close to the script of the drama (Zero Hour!). Even keeping the exclamation point that was in the original title for dramatic effect.
In the original, Ted Stryker is an RCAF veteran dealing with personal issues whose wife leaves him and boards a flight from Winnipeg to Vancouver with their young son. Stryker discovers the plan and rushes to the airport to board the same flight to try to reconcile with her.
As in the remake, both pilots have fish for dinner and are incapacitated with food poisoning. Ted Stryker is the only person on board with flying experience and is pressed into service. In the context of seeing this film today; it is unintentionally funny and it is easy to see how the makers of Airplane! were inspired to rework it into a hilarious spoof.
Click Here for a YouTube video that compares the two films.
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Kelly has sent us these photos of the R100 airship which visited St. Hubert airport, Quebec during August, 1930. The inside photos of the R-100 are on a page of other photos from my Dad's album including the Montreal Light Aeroplane Club and one of him standing in from of one of his airplanes. |
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| Note: R100 was built as part of a British government programme to develop airships to provide passenger and mail transport between Britain and the countries of the British Empire, including India, Australia and Canada. Read full Wikipedia article here. |
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Looked into the CPA "Blue Skies" magazine issued April 1979, and found this cartoon.
Planning to be in Vancouver in April 2017?
The next Annual Pionairs Conference/Annual General Meeting (APC/AGM) will be held in Richmond, B.C. on April 30th, 2017, at the River Rock Casino.
Complete details to come in a later announcement.