Trans-Canada Air Lines - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Trans-Canada Air Lines was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

and operated as the country's flag carrier. Its corporate headquarters were in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

. Its first president was Gordon Roy McGregor

Gordon McGregor

Gordon Roy McGregor, CC, OBE, DFC was a Canadian businessman and the first president of Air Canada.-Early life:...

.

The airline operated under its original name from 1937 to 1965, when it was officially renamed Air Canada

Air Canada

Air Canada is the flag carrier and largest airline of Canada. The airline, founded in 1936, provides scheduled and charter air transport for passengers and cargo to 178 destinations worldwide. It is the world's tenth largest passenger airline by number of destinations, and the airline is a...

Genesis

With heavy involvement from C. D. Howe

C. D. Howe

Clarence Decatur Howe, PC , generally known as C. D. Howe, was a powerful Canadian Cabinet minister of the Liberal Party. Howe served in the governments of Prime Ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent continuously from 1935 to 1957...

, a senior minister in the Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...

cabinet, TCA was created by the Crown corporation Canadian National Railways (CNR), and launched its first flight on September 1, 1937, on a flight between Vancouver

Vancouver

Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

and Seattle.

The creation of TCA was partly by CNR management who wanted to expand the company into the new field of passenger aviation, and was partly by government direction. Prior to TCA, no large national airline existed in Canada. With war looming, and other nations (primarily the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

) experiencing major increases in the creation of passenger airlines, it was necessary to have a presence. The CNR was the country's largest corporation at the time and proved an effective vehicle for the government to create a national airline.

TCA was also in direct competition with passenger train

Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...

s operated by parent CNR, and contributed to the decline of passenger rail service as Canada entered the pioneering years of air travel. In response to CNR's creation of TCA, arch-rival Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

created Canadian Pacific Air Lines in 1942.
During 1943-1947 TCA operated the Canadian Government Trans-Atlantic Air Service (CGTAS) to provide trans-Atlantic military passenger and postal delivery service using modified Avro Lancaster

Avro Lancaster

The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...

aircraft. The record crossing was completed non-stop in 12:26 hours; the average was about 13:25 hours. CGTAS ushered in the era of commercial air travel across the North Atlantic. After the war the service became part of TCA which carried paying civilian passengers until they were replaced by Douglas DC-4

Douglas DC-4

The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...

Postwar

Starting in 1945, TCA acquired thirty twin-engined ex-military Douglas DC-3

Douglas DC-3

The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...

s for use on Canadian internal services and some of these remained in service until 1963 on shorter routes. A fleet of Merlin-powered Canadair North Star

Canadair North Star

The Canadair North Star was a 1940s Canadian development of the Douglas C-54 / DC-4 aircraft. Instead of radial piston engines found on the Douglas design, Canadair employed Rolls-Royce Merlin engines in order to achieve a 35 mph faster cruising speed. The prototype flew on 15 July 1946 and...

s was delivered from 1947 and these commenced services to several European countries, including the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

and to cities in the USA. The last of the North Stars was sold in 1961.

The Canadair North Star

Canadair North Star

s were gradually replaced by longer range Lockheed Super Constellation

Lockheed Constellation

The Lockheed Constellation was a propeller-driven airliner powered by four 18-cylinder radial Wright R-3350 engines. It was built by Lockheed between 1943 and 1958 at its Burbank, California, USA, facility. A total of 856 aircraft were produced in numerous models, all distinguished by a...

s from 1954 onwards, fourteen being operated on transatlantic routes extending as far as Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

in Austria; also to Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

and several Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

destinations including Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

and Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

. The last Super Constellations were disposed of in 1963. A large fleet of Vickers Viscount

Vickers Viscount

The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...

turboprop

Turboprop

A turboprop engine is a type of turbine engine which drives an aircraft propeller using a reduction gear.The gas turbine is designed specifically for this application, with almost all of its output being used to drive the propeller...

airliners was built up from late 1954 and these were used on many intra-North American routes.

In 1953 with the development of ReserVec

ReserVec

ReserVec was a computerized reservation system developed by Ferranti Canada for Trans-Canada Airlines in the late 1950s. It appears to be the first such system ever developed, predating the more famous SABRE system in the US by about two years...

(originally called Gemini), TCA became the first airline in the world to use a computer reservation system with remote terminals.

Changes

In 1964, an act of Parliament proposed by Jean Chrétien

Jean Chrétien

Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....

changed the name of Trans-Canada Air Lines to "Air Canada

Air Canada

", which was already in use as the airline's French-language name, effective January 1, 1965. By the late 1970s, Air Canada was divested by parent CNR, and the airline became a separate Crown corporation and was privatized

Privatization

Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...

in 1989.

Routes

TCA operated a network of 160 routes to destinations including:

St. John's, Newfoundland
Victoria, BC
Boston
New York
Chicago
Cleveland
Tampa
Detroit (Windsor)
Seattle
London
Paris
Prestwick
Shannon
Düsseldorf
Bermuda
Bahamas
Jamaica
Barbados
Trinidad

Notable accidents and incidents

Trans-Canada Airlines had 10 aircraft accidents resulting in hull losses, with a total of 219 fatalities; these took place between 1947 and 1963, and included:

April 28, 1947: A Lockheed Lodestar
Lockheed Lodestar
The Lockheed Model 18 Lodestar was a passenger transport aircraft of the World War II era.-Design and development:The prototype of the Lockheed Model 18, which first flew in 1939, was constructed from one of a batch of Lockheed Model 14 Super Electras which had been returned to the manufacturer by...

disappeared in southwestern British Columbia with 15 people on board with no survivors. The crash site was discovered 47 years later, in September, 1994, on Mt. Cheam
Cheam Peak
Cheam Peak, called Theeth-uhl-kay in the Halqemeylem language of the Sto:lo and usually referred to as Mount Cheam, is the farthest northerly peak of the Cheam Range, a subrange of the Skagit Range of the Canadian Cascades mountains. It dominates the eastern Fraser Valley, rising above Bridal Falls...

near Chilliwack, B.C
Chilliwack, British Columbia
Chilliwack is a Canadian city in the Province of British Columbia. It is a predominantly agricultural community with an estimated population of 80,000 people. Chilliwack is the second largest city in the Fraser Valley Regional District after Abbotsford. The city is surrounded by mountains and...

.
April 8, 1954: A Harvard Mark II
North American T-6 Texan
The North American Aviation T-6 Texan was a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, Royal Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1950s...

collided in midair with a TCA Canadair North Star
Canadair North Star
The Canadair North Star was a 1940s Canadian development of the Douglas C-54 / DC-4 aircraft. Instead of radial piston engines found on the Douglas design, Canadair employed Rolls-Royce Merlin engines in order to achieve a 35 mph faster cruising speed. The prototype flew on 15 July 1946 and...

over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan
Moose Jaw is a city in south-central Saskatchewan, Canada on the Moose Jaw River. It is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are known as Moose Javians. It is best known as a retirement and tourist city that serves as a hub to the hundreds of small towns...

, killing 36 people on the aircraft and one person on the ground.
July 9, 1956: In the 1956 Trans-Canada Air Lines incident, a propeller separated from a Vickers Viscount
Vickers Viscount
The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...

turboprop over Flat Rock, Michigan
Flat Rock, Michigan
- Racial makeup :As of the census of 2000, there were 8,488 people, 3,181 households, and 2,306 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,266.9 per square mile . There were 3,291 housing units at an average density of 491.2 per square mile...

, slicing into the cabin and killing one passenger.
December 9, 1956: Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810
Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810
Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810 was a Canadair North Star on a scheduled flight from Vancouver to Calgary . The plane crashed into Mount Slesse near Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada, on 9 December 1956 after encountering severe icing and turbulence over the mountains...

, a Canadair North Star, crashed near Chilliwack
Chilliwack, British Columbia
Chilliwack is a Canadian city in the Province of British Columbia. It is a predominantly agricultural community with an estimated population of 80,000 people. Chilliwack is the second largest city in the Fraser Valley Regional District after Abbotsford. The city is surrounded by mountains and...

, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

after encountering severe icing and turbulence, resulting in the death of all 62 people on board.
November 10, 1958: a TCA Vickers Viscount parked at Idlewild Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...

, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

while awaiting its passengers was destroyed by fire after it was struck by a Lockheed 1049D Super Constellation
Lockheed Constellation
The Lockheed Constellation was a propeller-driven airliner powered by four 18-cylinder radial Wright R-3350 engines. It was built by Lockheed between 1943 and 1958 at its Burbank, California, USA, facility. A total of 856 aircraft were produced in numerous models, all distinguished by a...

of Seaboard & Western Airlines which had crashed while taking off. The two crew members on board survived the accident.
November 3, 1959: Vickers Viscount CF-TGY was written off when it landed short of the runway at Toronto-Malton Airport
Toronto Pearson International Airport
Toronto Pearson International Airport is an international airport serving Toronto, Ontario, Canada; its metropolitan area; and the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration that is home to 8.1 million people – approximately 25% of Canada's population...

.
October 10, 1962: Vickers Viscount CF-THA was involved in a ground collision with CF-101 Voodoo 17452 of the Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...

at RCAF Station Bagotville. The Voodoo had been given clearance to take-off before the Viscount had cleared the runway. It collided with the tail of the Viscount, killing a flight attendant and a passenger. The crew of the Voodoo ejected as the aircraft had been set on fire as a result of the collision. The Viscount was substantially damaged but it was repaired and returned to service.
November 6, 1963: a TCA Douglas DC-8
Douglas DC-8
The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company...

operating as Flight 861 was taking off from runway 28L at London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...

on a flight to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Canada with seven crew and 90 passengers on board. As the aircraft passed 132 knots on the take off roll the captain pulled back on the control column but mistakenly thought there was no response from the elevators and aborted the take off. As a result the aircraft overshot the runway and came to rest 800 yards from the end of the runway in a cabbage field. All passengers and crew on board survived the accident and the aircraft was repaired and returned to service.
November 29, 1963: Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831
Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831
Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 831 was a flight from Montreal-Dorval Airport to Toronto International Airport on November 29, 1963. The aircraft was a four-engine Douglas DC-8-54CF airliner, registered CF-TJN...

, a Douglas DC-8, crashed shortly after takeoff from Montreal-Dorval International Airport
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport
Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport or Montréal-Trudeau, formerly known as Montréal-Dorval International Airport, is located on the Island of Montreal, from Montreal's downtown core. The airport terminals are located entirely in Dorval, while the Air Canada headquarters complex...

, resulting in the deaths of all 118 people on board.

Fleet

**Trans-Canada Air Lines Fleet**
Aircraft	In Service	Passengers	Years in service
Vickers Viscount Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount was a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs, making it the first such aircraft to enter service in the world...		48	1955–1974
Vickers Vanguard Vickers Vanguard The Vickers Type 950 Vanguard was a British short/medium-range turboprop airliner introduced in 1959 by Vickers-Armstrongs, a development of their successful Viscount design with considerably more internal room. The Vanguard was introduced just before the first of the large jet-powered airliners,...		108	1961–1972
Canadair North Star Canadair North Star The Canadair North Star was a 1940s Canadian development of the Douglas C-54 / DC-4 aircraft. Instead of radial piston engines found on the Douglas design, Canadair employed Rolls-Royce Merlin engines in order to achieve a 35 mph faster cruising speed. The prototype flew on 15 July 1946 and... DC-4M-2	20	44	1946–1961
Douglas DC-8 Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 is a four-engined narrow-body passenger commercial jet airliner, manufactured from 1958 to 1972 by the Douglas Aircraft Company... -40, 50,	8	176 (economy), 124 (mixed)	1960–1983
Lockheed 10A Electra Lockheed Model 10 Electra The Lockheed Model 10 Electra was a twin-engine, all-metal monoplane airliner developed by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in the 1930s to compete with the Boeing 247 and Douglas DC-2...	5	10	1937–1941
Lockheed L-1049C/E/G/H Super Constellation Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation The Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation is an aircraft in the Lockheed Constellation aircraft line. The aircraft was Lockheed's response to the successful Douglas DC-6 airliner and first flew in 1950...	14	53-75	1954–1963
Bristol Freighter Bristol Freighter The Bristol Type 170 Freighter was a British twin-engine aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as both a freighter and airliner, although its best known use is as an air ferry to carry cars and their passengers over relatively short distances.-Design and development:The...	3	freight only; 2 crew	1953–1955
Douglas DC-3 Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...	27	21	1945–1963
Avro Lancastrian Avro Lancastrian \|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Franks, Richard A. The Avro Lancaster, Manchester and Lincoln: A Comprehensive Guide for the Modeller. London: SAM Publications, 2000. ISBN 0-9533465-3-6.... - for freight/mail service and priority passengers	9	10	1943–1947
Lockheed 18-08 Lodestar	15	14	1941–1949
Lockheed Super Electra 14H2 (14-08)	16; 12 as 14-08 after conversion	10	1938–1949
Boeing-Stearman Model 75 - as trainer only	3	2	1937–1939

Survivors

One former TCA Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation

Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation

The Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation is an aircraft in the Lockheed Constellation aircraft line. The aircraft was Lockheed's response to the successful Douglas DC-6 airliner and first flew in 1950...

(CF-TGE), has been preserved by The Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

. It is currently on display at the Museum's "Airpark" attraction.