Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

The USAF Thunderbirds will do a full airshow performance in September but only Canadians will get to see it.

Ditto the U.S. Army Golden Knights parachute team, the F-22 Raptor demo team and C-17 demo team. The London (Ontario) Airshow is going ahead September 12 - 13 as a drive-in event with room for 2500 vehicles.

The RCAF will also be sending aircraft to the show but the Snowbirds won’t be there. They’re on a stand down after a fatal accident in May.

It’s being billed as “Canada’s first socially responsible and physically distant airshow.”

Although the border is closed between Canada and the U.S., it appears some arrangement has been made to allow the U.S. crews to land and stay in London.

Source: www.avweb.com/aviation-news

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Here we have a timetable for Canadian Airways issued May 1933.

From the collection of Bjorn Larsson @ 
www.timetableimages.com/ttimages

Gary Macdonald posted this photo on Facebook on May 24, 2020.

Nordair DC-8 at Shannon, Ireland (SNN) on May 7, 1977.

Art Rijkse found this photo on Instagram and posted it on Faceook on April 28, 2020.

Editor's note from Ken Pickford:

This aircraft is a Curtiss C-46 at Edmonton Municipal Airport (YXD), closed for redevelopment in 2013. CPA acquired 8 used C-46's in 1955.

They were used on CP's scheduled passenger and cargo routes from Edmonton to northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories and to transport supplies during construction of the DEW Line radar warning sites in the Arctic in the mid-1950's.

CPA sold the northern routes to Pacific Western Airlines in 1959, including at least a couple of the C-46's.

Found in the PWA “Flightlines” magazine issue August 1986.

Eleven people from Pacific Western joined hundreds of visitors at Kamloops' new jet airport on Saturday, August 2, 1986.

Pictured at left from top (left to right): Captain Dave Geekie; Flight Attendants Deborah Whelan, Brian Binkley, Kathi Parsonage; Greg Wittig, Purser; Arlene Craig, Supervisor, Promotions; Ken Hinatsu, Manager Product Development, Western Region; Brad Potentier, Charter Service Representative.

Missing from the photo are F/O Ron Muller; Cliff Beck, Flight Technical Analyst; and Marilynn Knoch, who took the photos.

Here is the cover of the enRoute magazine issued August 2013. 

(Source: issuu.com)

1992 - May 23 - Service between Toronto and Berlin introduced.

1993 - May 3 - Inaugural service between Toronto and Houston with A320 equipment. Captain John Sturdy was in command of the return flight.

2003 - The Air Canada in-house magazine was renamed "New Horizons" with the March 2003 issue.

Here we have copies of some TCA passenger tickets from the personal collection of Gklavas Athanasios that he started over 40 years ago.

Source: airtickethistory.com

Issue dated August 1993.

Pionairs gather in Los Angeles for 16th AGM.

More than 430 Pionairs from Canada and the U.S. gathered in Los Angeles for their 16th Annual General Meeting.

Guest speaker’s included Paul Garratt, retired Vice President - Human Resources; Captain Ray Lank and Captain Charlie Simpson, retired Executive Vice President - Operations.

Wilse Jessee was introduced as the new Pionairs President. His committee includes Sheila Snow, 2nd Vice President; Marvin Lohnes, 1st Vice President; Bill Nicholson, Treasurer and Vera Hoare, Secretary. Next year's Annual General Meeting will be held in Miami.

Here we have this photo of the executive from the July 1993 issue.

Air Canada’s Pionairs elected their new national executive, which will serve for the next two years.

From left to right: Marvin Lohnes, 1st Vice President; Sheila Snow, 2nd Vice President; Wilse Jessee, President; Vera Hoare, Secretary and Bill Nicholson, Treasurer and John Innes, Past President.

Issue dated November 1993.

German hospitality makes for a "guten" trip.

ACRA Frankfurt hosted an autumn tour of Germany and France for Air Canada employees, spouses and friends. The trip included a visit to Strasbourg and Colmar.

Ursula Severin, ACRA Frankfurt and President Tony Kervin, Senior Sales Representative – Berlin helped organize the memorable trip.

A side trip to a winery in Dambach-La-Ville was enjoyed by Marilyn Reynolds, North Bay, Ontario; Gord and Marion Hykle, Montreal; Bill and Lorraine Biggins, Winnipeg; Georgia and Ziggy Buchburger, Toronto; Clara and Alf Berting, Winnipeg; Tony McLeod, London, Ontario; Jurgen Severin, Frankfurt; Georgina Farrell, Toronto; Tom and Andrée McChesney, Toronto; Julie Legaré, Montreal; Carole Turgeon, Montreal; Art Reynolds, North Bay, Ontario; Ursula Severin, Frankfurt; Linda Dwyer and Dan McPhee, St. John, New Brunswick; Jeanne Turgeon, Montreal; Tony Kervin, Berlin; Dolly Koning, Düsseldorf; John Boubalos, Athens; Margie and Melody Masters, Montreal.

LaGuardia celebrates 110 years of service.

Anniversary celebrations were in order for several Customer Service Agents at New York's LaGuardia airport.

Lead Agents Rich Kowel and Kathy Price marked 30 years of service, while Customer Service Agents Maria McIntosh and Valery Golowaty celebrated 25 years of service.

Back row, left to right: Tom Parker, Ramp Coordinator, John Ring, Airport Manager and Renée Heiser, Customer Service Agent (front row, far left) offer congratulatory wishes to McIntosh, Price, Golowaty and Kowel.

New flight kitchens open at Heathrow (LHR).

After a harrowing eight months during which employees endured appalling working conditions, Air Canada's new flight kitchens at Heathrow (LHR) were officially opened.

"To completely redesign a catering kitchen while keeping it operational and producing the meal service each day is quite an achievement," said Derek Buckell, Commissary & Catering Manager, at the ceremony.

“The fact that we managed to do this with little visible interruption is due in no small way to the attitude of all those who work in this department."

Commissary Agent Nigel Carroll likened the facility and morale prior to investment to an ailing football team in need of a complete overhaul.

Signing off on the new digs: A group from London's new commissary met Hollis Harris after he arrived to preside over the official opening.

In this photo, from the left: P.K. Bhal, Commissary Attendant; Nigel Carroll, Commissary Agent; Ali Alarakhia, Assistant Commissary Attendant; Peter Jones, Commissary Agent; Paul Duffy, Lead Commissary Attendant; Sue McNeill, Commissary Agent; Patrick Prince, Flight Kitchen Chef and Commissary Attendants Colin Wadsorth and Steve Bignell. 

Issue dated December 1993.

The official launch of our new image on December 1, 1993, captured the attention of employees, retirees, families, friends and the public from across Canada. In Montreal alone, the grand unveiling drew some 4,000 employees anxious to see the new image and curious to hear the reason behind the change.

Chairman, President and CEO Hollis Harris fielded questions from employees and media in Dorval after the roll out of a newly painted Airbus A320.

Redesigning Air Canada's image was no overnight task. It was an 18-month process that involved much more than just choosing new colours. Extensive customer and employee research, with hundreds of interviews across the system, was conducted to gauge the general perception of Air Canada and how the airline could improve its look.

The result: a complete new package with every element conveying a dynamic message about Air Canada and the country it serves.

On the fin (see B747-400 below), the deep evergreen background represents Canada and evokes images of the country's lush forests. Canadian designers created a more natural-looking maple leaf, reminiscent of Air Canada's predecessor, TCA.

From the "Horizons” magazine issue January 1994, we found this report -

How do you land a job like this?

What would you do to land a job in Western Samoa? Sell your soul? Fifteen Air Canada pilots and two maintenance engineers did not even have to do that. They were lucky enough to be stationed there.

Last May 1993, Air Canada entered a 2-year lease agreement with Polynesian to supply a B767-300 aircraft, pilots and maintenance personnel.

The aircraft serves the South Pacific, and flies to destinations such as the Kingdom of Tonga, the Cook Islands, Honolulu, Western Samoa, New Zealand, Australia and the Fiji Islands.

If you somehow missed out on being sent to Fiji, there is still hope. For those tempted by the palm trees and the surf, an interline agreement between Air Canada and Polynesian Airlines offered travel discounts of 50 and 75 per cent to all Polynesian Airlines destinations. 

It's a long way from home for these Air Canada employees, but they're taking it all in stride. The airline is supporting Polynesian Airlines with 15 pilots and two maintenance engineers based in Apia, Western Samoa.

From left to right: Jean-Paul Lalonde, Weight and Balance, Mirabel; Captain Alan MacLeod, Project Manager,  Polynesian B-767 and Bob Brown, Certified Aircraft Technician, Vancouver.

(Note: We apologize for the poor quality of the photo – eds)

Dragon Riders.

During the four months leading up to the Saint John Dragon Boat Festival in August 2015, the YSJ Dragon Riders, a team of Air Canada's Saint John Call Centre agents and managers, held many events to support this festival that raises funds for the St. Joseph Hospital Foundation.

"The enthusiasm and competitive spirit of Team Captain Shannon March, Customer Sales and Service Agent, inspired everyone to contribute to the festival's goals" says Beverly Murray, Customer Service Manager.

"The Air Canada Foundation is a huge supporter, providing us two Air Canada tickets which were raffled off. Each paddler on the team is given a quota of raffle tickets to sell and so everyone participates and contributes to the fundraising effort for the team."

This year the YSJ Dragon Riders raised more than $3,000 and the festival raised $230,000. The funds will support the purchase of new ultrasound equipment for the Women's Health department and a new computer system for the Health and Aging program. Up until 2015, the employees have been involved in the festival for the past 10 years and have raised thousands of dollars for the worthy cause.

In this photo are the YSJ Dragon Riders team include the following Customer Sales and Service Agents and Managers:

Team Captain Shannon March with Edie Kaye, Peter Carneron, Andrea Fowler, Zoe Lapierre-Thomas, Cassandra Jones, Sheldon Palmer, Stephen Fairbrother, Henry Espinal, Samir Cheriai, Jacqueline Mantle, Shelley Irvine, Terra Mahar, Sean Bayer, Rosalie Palmer, Mackenzie Gallant and Customer Service Manager and Team Manager, Beverly Murray.