Aviation Memorabilia Newsletter

It's about the people!

We are a different breed, us aviation people.

Whenever I get together with past colleagues and new friends, I am amazed at what characters they are, myself included (of course)! Everyone has stories to tell, usually with a wry sense of humour.

 At a recent Pionairs' Coffee Club meeting, I was asked what The NetLetter is all about. The question actually caught me off guard because I have never really thought about it.

However, my response came to me very quickly.

It's about the people!

In the moment, I think that what came to mind was a Stores (aka Purchasing & Supply) print newsletter, originating in YUL, titled 'Parts & Pieces' with the slogan:

'A Newsletter for Stores People - by Stores People'.  

It fascinates me that there are people I have known for 40 years (or more) but have never actually met in person. Acquaintance was always by telephone or email (at one time, teletype) messages. 

For twenty years, Parts & Pieces put faces to the names and helped stockkeepers, communicators, expediters as well as managers and clerks feel familiar with each other and part of a larger family.

For most of its life cycle Frank Pedder was the chief editor. Frank encouraged contributions from other Stores points including YYZ (Earle Coffin, Les Stevenson & Ken Biggers) YWG (Linus Endicott) and YVR (Ann Senko, Ted White & Julian Ireland).  Apologies to those not mentioned, the list is very, very long.

As time passed and Frank was approaching his retirement in December 2003, he sent out a heartfelt issue thanking everyone for their participation over the years. He had hoped that a new editor would assume the job of editor but it did not happen. 

I contacted Frank and, happily, he is enjoying an active retirement as he explains below:

"Our camping season is coming to an end with our 35 foot motorhome. Great retirement so far since 2004. I am still working part time driving a minibus for a 50 + club in Lachine Non Profit (THE TEAPOT) and Chartwell, which is a seniors retirement home so I am keeping busy at 80."

The NetLetter wishes to say thank you to Frank and all the other contributors to Parts & Pieces. We plan to include several excerpts in our upcoming issues.

At left, a caricature of Frank upon his retirement by Ken Biggers. 

Below, Frank receiving best wishes from a few notables.  

Click the icon to view Frank' 'thank you' edition.

Click the Icon to view one of the original copies of 'Parts & Pieces (bilingual edition) from December 1983.

Our 'Featured Video' has been published on YouTube by Ernest Gutschik Aviation on his visit to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum Air Force Air Force Day 2022 in Hamilton, Ontario.

Confirmed performers included Royal Canadian Air Force C-17 Globemaster III, CH-147 Chinook, C-130J Hercules, Waterloo Warbirds' T-33 Mako Shark and Vampire, Great War Flying Museum and the Oshawa based private P-51 Mustang flown by Hannu Halminen.

Found in 'Horizons' magazine

Issue dated July 18, 1988 - Supplement

Lookin' good...by design

This summer Canadians and people around the world will notice a subtle change in the public face of Air Canada. An Air Canada which will still look reassuringly familiar, but which will have that extra touch of class and freshness.

Below, it looks like an exotic insect, but it's actually our Boeing 767-200ER, Fin #613 (C-GDSP), sporting a coat of base paint. Once the job is complete, Boeing will have applied about 500 lbs. of paint.

After the white and gray areas were painted, Boeing applied the red and burgundy markings.

The finished product complete with new signature and new burgundy stripe.

Checking out the new look firsthand are two of the designers, Jim Donaldson, Director, Facilities Design & Chief Architect, left, and Bob Reid, a design consultant.

Found in 'Above and Beyond' magazine

Issue dated August 1990

Here are some of our Heathrow-based colleagues who have been rewarded for going the extra mile in delivering topnotch customer service:

Aircraft Services Supervisor Bill Anderson ensured that several passengers arriving off one of our customer airlines - Thai International - were rushed over to the domestic terminal to catch the last flight to Edinburgh.

Station Attendant Henry Harris (left) who along with Kim Ray helped save three dogs, receives a shopping voucher from Tony Coleman, Aircraft Services Manager, while Lead Station Attendant Bill Harding, (right) who went beyond his normal duties to assist a passenger and her children board an aircraft, is congratulated by Peter Baldry, Airport Services Manager, UK and Ireland.

Passenger Agent Jorge Rebocho (left) was rewarded for spending a lot of personal time sorting out the correct documentation for a Portuguese passenger, while fellow Passenger Agent
Caroline Stanley (centre) took two unaccompanied children to her home while their visa problems were being sorted out.

And when an irregular operation at Manchester Airport diverted passengers to Heathrow, Passenger Agent Katie MacDonald (right) made ground transportation arrangements for them. On hand to present them with their awards are lan Thornton, Passenger Service Supervisor (second from left) and Peter Baldry.

Information Services -

At its 1990 semi-annual meeting, Information Services presented nine outstanding employees with their awards, as part of the branch's 'PROS' program which began in January.

The Information Services 'PROS' winners are (back row, left to right):

Phil Walker, Art Shibuya, Steve Charlton, Hamed Haeri, Wendy Williams and Anne-Lise Simond.

And in front (same order): are: Cliff Pearen, Serge Villeneuve and Joe Richard.

Posted by Peter Christian on July 5, 2022, who tells us "While reorganizing my toolbox I found my old stickers from YUL.”

Posted by Don Buck on June 13, 2022 - a 1974 newspaper article

Nordair ice patrol.

The 1974 Ice Patrol sponsored by Environment Canada is now in full swing with a four engine Lockheed Electra aircraft owned by Nordair operating out of Gander.

The aircraft, which is equipped with the latest in navigational equipment, will conduct patrols off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador to plot the movement of ice from the Arctic areas into the major shipping lanes.

The ice patrol program is a service to shipping that utilizes the major sea routes of the north west Atlantic during the winter and spring seasons.

The aircraft took up its station several weeks ago, and will be operating out of Gander until the month of May. While in Gander, Nordair will utilize the services of Eastern Aviation Limited.

Photo courtesy of Pierre Langlois

Lockheed L-188C(IR) Electra - C-GNDZ at YUL June 1979.

QUICKET – Self-Serve Kiosks. Calgary-Edmonton Airbus.- G. Hickey

This article from a Quicket promo literature gifted by
G. Caron of Airdrie, Alberta

During the 1980’s the ongoing popularity of the Airbus service was resulting in lengthy line-ups each day creating the need to find a solution. The Company looked at various options, one of which was to study how self-service might help.

American Airlines had been pioneering the development of 'self-serve' ticketing in the U.S. and following a series of meetings with them and with their major supplier, NCR we decided that the technology they were using and their approach was not suitable for the Airbus product and so we elected to design our own system from scratch.

The software component was designed in conjunction with Air Canada computer services to Pacific Western PWA specifications and in order for it work with the AC Reservec System.

Development took some months throughout 1986 and was not without its challenges and not all were technical. Labour Relations issues, Transport Canada security issues and accounting issues, particularly the credit card industry requirement for signature authorization.

All were addressed and all were firsts in the industry in Canada. The physical kiosk design came from a local Calgary design company. The Quicket name and graphic design came from our Advertising Agency and two kiosks were installed in each of the Calgary and Edmonton Municipal Airbus counter areas.

Credit card-driven, passengers made their choices through a keypad and could choose either window or aisle and smoking or non-smoking and were issued with a printed ticket/boarding pass.

Branded as “Quicket” the service was launched successfully and while the uptake was quite slow, as expected, (with the exception of Japanese business men who took to it readily) the expectation was that the usage would grow in similar fashion to the experience the banking industry first saw when they introduced ATM’s.

Sadly, we would not find out as the subsequent purchase and merger with Canadian Pacific Airlines in 1987 meant the kiosks, designed to work with the AC system now could not function with the CP system.

It is testament to PWA thinking of the time however, that airports not just in Canada, utilize similar technologies extensively in order to assist passenger processing today, however, the first development and live trial of this type of technology by any airline in Canada was by Pacific Western Airlines.

Source: www.pwareunion.com