TCA 1954 Introducing TCA's Super Constellation

LC Gagnon was a well-seasoned ephemera collector and railway station schedule racks were one of his favourite sources of artifacts. 

As Trans-Canada Air Lines was owned by Canadian National Railways from 1937 until 1978, this pamphlet could have come from a schedule rack at Central Station. 

Or ... this 70-year-old document might have come from Dorval Airport, as regularly-scheduled commuter trains on both railways would have offered a tempting opportunity for an quick excursion.

Over on my Lachine Peas blog ...

is a CFCF April 1967 record store Hit Chart showing a Nordair Constellation 

being used to transport contest winners to a Monkees concert in Toronto.

1967 CFCF 600AM Radio

Canadian Pacific Air Lines - Glad to have you aboard! (c. 1950)

This undated pamphlet probably came from a rack in Windsor Station when LC Gagnon was working for the railway there. 

LC Gagnon had a great interest in aviation developments during the Second World War. He travelled out to see what was then known as the airport 'at Lachine'. There, he witnessed the early efforts Canadian Pacific organized to ferry aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean early in the war - via Dorval and Newfoundland. Later in the war, this ferry work was taken over by RAF Ferry Command and the British Ministry of Aircraft Production.

Readers will probably be very familiar with the history of railway development in Canada. Small companies with small networks of lines developed ('portage railways' between navigable waterways were an early Canadian specialty). As investment was attracted, an integrated system developed. Large companies often acquired control of smaller, older railways to facilitate their own growth and to manage competition. 

A similarly complex situation evolved with the corporate development of Canada's aviation sector in the 1920s and 30s. Unlike the railways, aside from transportation equipment, commercial aircraft operators had no terrestrial assets of any significance, so most companies were privately owned. I checked for aviation securities (stocks, bonds, etc) in a Financial Post reference book from 1928 and only a flying school in British Columbia was listed as an issuer.

Until curtailed by Prime Minister RB Bennett during the Great Depression, airmail services subsidized the early air routes. Beyond the typical Canadian east-west routes between cities, aircraft travelled where most railways did not - to the Canadian north for the purposes of developing natural resources. Depending on the season, skis or pontoons were used to land on the northern lakes before permanent runways were built. 

Trans-Canada Air Lines was established in 1937 (nested under Canadian National Railways administration) with Sir Edward Beatty and the CPR bowing out of the proposed joint participation with the CNR. Beatty felt that putting up 50% of the capital for the project was not consistent with having less than 50% representation on the board of the TCA. 

In 1943, Prime Minister Mackenzie King demonstrated that the federal government had the capacity to learn from its past mistake of allowing too much railway overbuilding and ruinous competition. His policy statement in the Commons was:

• TCA would be the only airline operating international air services.
• TCA would operate all transcontinental ... and 'main line' services as designated by the government.
• Competition over the same route between TCA and a private airline ... or between two private airlines ... would not be permitted.

... As a result of this policy statement, the air transportation companies already acquired by the CPR would remain as providers of regional and north-south transportation for the time being.

Many readers will easily identify the DC-3 aircraft shown in the pamphlet. A total of about 11,000 aircraft of this design were built between 1935 and 1946.  In 1946-7, Canadian Pacific Air Lines acquired 17 war surplus C-47 aircraft (the military transportation variant of the DC-3) and fitted them for passenger service. Most of them were sold off by the end of the 1950s.

Much of this short historical account has been taken from the exquisitely detailed story of CPAL's origins in Canadian Pacific Air Lines - Its History and Aircraft; DM Bain; 1987; Kishorn Publications. 

... Bain notes that the DC-3s were probably the first true airliners seen in the northern communities they served. 

(There are additional posts on CPAL and TCA - just press the Short Subjects 02 radio button above.)

I believe the 'ring' below the aircraft's nose is a radio direction finding antenna.

Radio 'beams'  and beacons had long been used to help aircraft crews find their way across the continent.

From above: 'select any seat you wish'.

'Seat' is singular, but here we can see the very first 'business class' being created (extreme left).

You may notice that the aircraft image from the Nicholas Morant photo below ...

has been modified and used in the aircraft image above.

(Compare the buildings, ships etc.)

from: Canadian Pacific Air Lines, Its History and Aircraft: DM Bain; 1987; Kishorn Publications.

Many readers will recognize Vancouver in the photo above.

1945 Aviation Postcards & TCA System Timetable

Old piston-engined planes are the main subject of this post. Many railway enthusiasts have overlapping interests in other forms of transportation and the vehicles they used. Although this is an 'et cetera' post (see top banner) there is also a tenuous railway connection. Give yourself 100 bonus points if you already know what it is!

My grandfather completed his Master of Arts degree at Columbia University in 1947. As my grandfather was a school principal in Lachine, Quebec, he was only in New York during the summers. My father was a teenager in this era and occasionally travelled to see his father in New York via the Delaware and Hudson. It was during one of these trips that he picked up these artifacts.

If you search with Delaware (in the search box above) you'll find a couple of D&H-related posts. One looks at track gauges (the D&H once had a 4 foot 3 inch gravity operation); the other includes my father's contemporary system timetable and other older documents and maps. 

All the postcards have the same information on the reverse side.

The Pan-American 'Clippers' and other similar flying boats were used to initiate the first trans-ocean commercial flight routes in the 1930s. They did not require runways so any expanse of water could be turned into an airport.

Some flying boats could sprout 'amphibian' wheels and use their engines to propel themselves up paved ramps from the water for major servicing. However, I think these large Clippers were pulled out using a special undercarriage. 

During World War Two, Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt sometimes made use of this type of transportation for their various in-person 'Conferences' to discuss the war. The choice of using a flying boat for trans-ocean travel - as opposed to a fast warship - probably depended on factors like ... the time limitations of the leader ... and the potential vulnerability of the warship to Axis air surveillance and attack in constricted bodies of water. 

from: World War Atlas; George Philip & Son Ltd; circa 1941; London Daily Mail.

The atlas page above, presents some aspects of the trans-Atlantic activity from early World War Two. The German invasion of the USSR of June 1941 is not plotted on its pages. The white "sunk" box near Ireland refers to Germany's Bismarck. 

The card-covered booklet itself was brought to Canada by a member of the Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry Highlanders. They arrived in Europe in July 1941. The booklet is folded in half and is quite worn ... and might have followed its owner over Juno Beach on D-Day, and beyond into the fighting in western Europe.

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The Trans-Canada Air Lines timetable below was acquired by my father.

Starting in 1928, Canada began to follow the lead of the United States in developing its own system of commercial passenger aviation. The Department of Transport began to survey air routes across Canada, and this included the linking of the first Canadian airports ... and major Canadian cities. Airfield lighting, radio equipment and meteorology services became key in the establishment of this system of airports. 

Subsequently, airmail service began in Canada. Canadian mail initially flew on American wings between Detroit and Pembina, Manitoba - probably because there was little initial demand for Canadian passenger services over the Canadian Shield of northern Ontario.

The objective of CD Howe, federal Minister of Transport in 1937, was to establish a Canadian airline to operate via the newly developed Canadian airways. His plan included the repatriation of Canadian airmail carriage.

TCA began in 1938 with 5 Lockheed Electras and 71 employees. The airline was capitalized at $5 million (about $90 million in 2020 dollars). Canadian National Railways was the majority shareholder of this new crown corporation.

Executive and support services were provided by the CNR, with TCA setting up its own operating, engineering, maintenance, communication and traffic departments. The government of Canada was responsible for the 'airway' and its supporting facilities. 

TCA was renamed Air Canada in 1965. Air Canada was privatized in 1988 with 43% of its shares being placed in the initial public offering. The Canada Transportation Act requires Canadian ownership for 75% of voting control in Canadian airlines (this is 2020 information).

Old investment joke: Millionaire (definition): A billionaire who owns an airline.

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When this timetable was published, World War 2 in Europe had been over for 3 months. 

Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945 - about a month after the timetable came out.

It is possible that TCA was serving more cities and towns in Canada and Newfoundland then,

than Air Canada and its low-cost subsidiaries are today ...

with Air Canada's 2020 cuts in service caused, in part, by COVID-related demand destruction.

Back in 1945, however, those cities and towns generally had railway passenger service.

To calculate the cost of 'your trip' multiply the 1945 prices by 15 to convert to 2020 dollars.

Round Trip Fare

Toronto to Vancouver + 15% Transportation Tax was ($220 + 33) x 15 = $3795 in 2020 dollars.

Carpenters in Toronto in 1945 made $1.11 per hour.

( = $16.65 in 2020 dollars)

If you take Flight 5, you can leave Toronto at the end of the business day and reach Vancouver 15 or 16 hours later (if all goes well) in time to start the next business day there - given the time changes. Dinner is provided as you leave Toronto. Added bonus ... the airport won't be busy.

Trans-Canada Air Lines 1946

Canadian National Railways had controlling ownership of Trans-Canada Air Lines when it was first established. Here is the government's account - from the Canada Handbook of 1946 - of how Canada's 'flag carrier' began.

Canadians had desired an 'All Red' route for their first transcontinental railway. Before that, crossing the continent expeditiously might have involved using existing American railroads for part of the trip. 

A similar situation had evolved with North American aviation. As a technology of war, great progress had been made in the development of aircraft during the Great War. However, travelling over large expanses of wilderness, or mountains, during a Canadian winter ... required technology beyond that of the Sopwith Camels, SPADs and Fokker triplanes - or even that of a Vickers Vimy, the first aircraft to make a non-stop crossing of the Atlantic.

Canada's vast, largely empty, wilderness was an impediment to setting up airways and aviation infrastructure. And economic activity to support a Canadian transcontinental commercial operation was lacking on most route segments.

However, float planes were just the thing for flying in supplies and people to remote northern mining locations. The Great War aerial photography techniques used to document enemy trenches and artillery could be adapted to finally map Canada's undocumented interior. 

After the worst years of the Great Depression, the establishment of a Canadian transcontinental airline became justifiable to the Government of Canada. To what extent Transportation Minister CD Howe was anticipating another European war is not stated. Certainly, TCA became essential to the Canadian war effort.

It should be noted that the Canadian Pacific Railway and its subsidiary, Canadian Pacific Air Lines, became involved in setting up the wartime trans-Atlantic aircraft ferrying system. This began by transporting American-built aircraft to Britain via Gander, Newfoundland. Ferrying avoided the inefficiency of aircraft disassembly for shipping and subsequent reassembly in England - freeing valuable British industrial labour for other duties. As well, ferried aircraft were safe from German U-boat operations - the latter were destroying a lot of convoy shipping early in the war. In 1941, with the Battle of Britain over, and the threat of German invasion of Britain less of a danger, Ferry Command was taken over by the Royal Air Force. 

On page 122 of the second article (below) CPA's activities are described.

The first article gives a lot of detail about the early years of Canada's national airline - TCA.

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Also from the 1946 Canada Handbook, an overview of Canadian air transportation:

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My father obtained and preserved a Trans-Canada wartime schedule.

Notice below that passengers were prohibited from using cameras.
This language persisted in the schedules printed after the war as well.