NWT Air welcomed its third Boeing 737 jet to Yellowknife this week after months of anticipation.

The $6 million combination cargo-passenger aircraft means the airline won’t have to lease replacements from Echo Bay Mines while it’s two other 737s are grounded for yearly month-long inspections.

“We definitely needed a new one that” says aircraft program manager, Henry Tenby.

It wasn’t an easy job says Tenby. Boeing 737–200 “Combi” jets, as the double duty models used by North NWT and Canadian North are known, aren’t easy to find.

Boeing doesn’t make them anymore and hardly any are on the market at one time.

Passengers might notice a slightly more attractive interior, though not much else. The new jet which has been dubbed “Snowball” has been waiting for a new paint job, carried up to 72 passengers and two cargo packages just like the others in the NWT Air fleet.

But the pilots who flew it from Edmonton to Yellowknife on its inaugural flight (Captain Searle Hartman) said they like the way it handled.

It should also allow NWT to increase its Yellowknife to Edmond and schedule to five days a week from three.

Snowball is more than 12 years old and was with former Pacific Western Airlines fleet (CF-PWE) until the mid 1980s. It was sold to an American carrier and was Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis’ campaign jet in 1988.

More recently, the jet flew under the Air Zaire banner, which is now hidden beneath a new coat of white paint. Tenby says the airline would like to give the aircraft some distinctive colours.

“We can do something creative with that. I’m hoping we can put a polar bear on the nose” said Tenby.

Anyone with an idea for Jets can give NWT Air a call.

In April of 2015, I travelled to London to be with my father and his London family to mark the special occasion of his second Bar Mitzvah. After his Bar Mitzvah at the synagogue Aunty Brenda held a very nice reception at her home and many of the London family members were in attendance.

An interesting video from 2012, filmed by Henry Tenby during my visit with my Dad to London. Uncle Colman took us his war time home and explains how his family home narrowly missed destruction from a German whistling bomb that bounced off the chimney stack and killed 22 people in an adjacent structure during the London Blitz of 1940-41. Luckily Uncle Colman’s family were all in an air raid shelter during the attack. (Jack and Trixie were married in this home in 1935).

When then visit 92 Woolworth Road at Elephant and Castle where my Dad first practiced medicine in 1956, this was his father’s office location. My Dad only practiced medicine here for a year or so before he moved to Canada, but he tried unsuccessfully to give the practice to his cousin Basil, but the British medical authorities would not allow the transfer. The video then goes to 45 Woodward Road in Dulwich which was my father’s family home in the past war years while he and my Uncle Stephen were attending grade school at the nearby Dulwich College.

Lastly, my dad took me to the location of his family home during the war years, and explains the home was destroyed by German bomb during a weekend when thank goodness nobody was in the home. My father, Uncle Stephen and Grandmother were sent to Cleveleys near Blackpool to be safer during the war. My Grandfather, Henry Tenby, stayed in London to work as a doctor and care for the sick and injured as his services were needed there during the war year years.

On November 6, 2021 – Frankfurt: I was able to attend my first aviation collectibles show since the start of the global pandemic. It took place in Frankfurt, Germany at the Hofheim Stadthale (Community Centre) located just a few steps from the Hofheim Station. In years past the Frankfurt Aviation Collectibles shows were being held for some decades at the sports hall in Schwanheim. The new location in Hofheim is a huge improvement over the old Schwanheim hall for many reasons.

The new Hofheim hall is large, bright and new with a very high ceiling. This means it is very comfortable for the show attendees as there is lots of space in the aisles, and it is not hot and stuffy and not over crowded. It was very pleasant to be inside the hall. And my hope is they will continue to use this hall for all future shows in Frankfurt for coming years.

As a collector of professional aircraft display models the Frankfurt show really fantastic. I was able to purchase some really nice models for my collection as I always do. The stars of the show for display models with the amazing Dutch model collecting brothers Patrick and Ed Van Rooijen. Between the two of them they had probably 100 or more fantastic models for sale to serious collectors, many of which are shown in my video. But there was also a huge selection of safety cards, books, diecast models, stickers, barf bags, uniforms, wings, pins and all sorts of aviation and airline collectibles to satisfy all collector’s needs one can imagine.

For more information about future Frankfurt aviation collectibles fairs visit their website:
https://www.fra-aviationfair.com/https://www.fra-aviationfair.com/

In this video I filmed we see my patents Lionel Tenby and Dale Tenby, my sister Marla Tenby, and my Bubba Lilly Debrofosky who was visiting here that summer. They are great memories for me!

Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh arrive at Rankin Inlet, NWT in Canada’s North as video reported by Henry Tenby on August 22, 1994.

Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh arrive at Yellowknife, NWT in Canada’s North as video reported by Henry Tenby on August 19, 1994.

On this trip the Queen’s first place of visit up North was her August 19, 1994 arrival at the Territorial Capital of Yellowknife on the shores of the Great Slave Lake. She was flown between Victoria, BC and Yellowknife aboard a Canadian Armed Forces Airbus A310. Henry Tenby was on hand for her airport arrival and he filmed the entire proceedings. She also paid a visit to the Legislature building which was also video taped.

Crowds at Yellowknife airport greet the Queen’s arrival from opening the Commonwealth Games in Victoria on August 19, 1994, as video documented by Henry Tenby.

Both the Queen’s Yellowknife visit and her Rankin Inlet visit are unique documentations of historic events filmed by Henry Tenby and these shows stream in their entirety at JetFlix TV.

Below we are pleased to present some teaser videos. You can join JetFlix TV here for less than the cost of a Starbucks coffee.

March 29, 2020 – Vancouver, Canada
By Henry Tenby

It is with great sadness that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines retired their passenger 747-400 fleet today with the final flight being an inbound combi flight from Mexico City.

Henry Tenby with KLM Boeing 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands.

I received a message this morning from my good friend Niels Dam who was specially in Amsterdam in the vacinity of Schiphol airport to witness the historic event of KLM’s final Boeing 747 passenger flight operating today. Amid the global economic downturn of the COVID crisis, airlines all around the world are parking their fleets in a fight for survival in the wake of evaporating passenger traffic as the world’s populations go into self-isolation mode.

Niels reported the inbound 747 from Mexico City did a wing wave while on finals, and the pilot made a special speech over the frequency thanking the world’s aviation fans for their interest in the aircraft and expressing his sadness that it was not possible for aviation fans to be present in droves for the event, due to the COVID situation, in the same way the Fokker 70 was retired from the KLM fleet back in November of 2018.

Niels Dam photographed the arrival of the last ever KLM Boeing 747-400 passenger flight at AMS Schiphol inbound from Mexico City, on Sunday, March 29, 2020.

KLM really had no interest in promoting or discussing the significance of their passenger 747 retirement by doing any media reachouts, discussions or assistence on the matter. A message of inquirey sent a few weeks ago to KLM’s PR office generated a two word response that nothing was planned. Which was really out of character for KLM, specially considering the massive contribution the Boeing 747 played in the development of the airlines history over the past 50 years that the type has been in service with the company.

So what of the future for KLM’s 747s? For certain the passenger fleet is officially retired and parked at Schiphol airport as we are still in early days of the COVID crisis. If the aircraft are parted out and scrapped on site or ferried elsewhere, that is surely their end of the line. That said, the fleet is well maintained and could very easily be re activated if a future return to normal warrants their use on re animated routes.

The aircraft are probably long since paid for, so it would seem in haste to initiate immediate scrapping. If we look to past history, during downturns airlines park certain fleets only to reactivate them when times are better. Let us hope this applies to the KLM 747 passenger fleet.

KLM still retains three cargo 747 freighters, two of which are in KLM livery and one of which is in Martinair livery. No phase out date has been set for these aircraft so their flying duties will continue for the foreseeable future.

As a celebration of the Boeing 747 in the KLM fleet, Niels Dam and I spent some time exploring the retired KLM 747-300 PH-BUK that now forms a cornerstone display at the Aviodrom aviation museum as presented in the photos below.

Henry Tenby doing a main gear inspection of KLM Boeing 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands. Hydraulics look god, we need to change some balding tires for return to airworthy status!

Under belly gear study of KLM Boeing 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands.

KLM Boeing 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands.

KLM Boeing 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands looking at bit worse for wear, no this is not the boarding steps at Kinshasa, Congo!

Niels Dam with KLM Boeing 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands.

Henry Tenby with KLM Boeing 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands.

Niels Dam prepares to connect hydrant fuelling connection to KLM Boeing 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands, for ferry flight to Lagos!

KLM Boeing 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands.

Niels Dam at main cabin door of Boeing 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands.

Niels Dam relaxing in turbine inlet of KLM Boeing 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands.

Once familiar wing view of KLM Boeing 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands.

Upper deck cabin view of Boeing 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands.

Henry Tenby at passenger door of KLM 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands.

Flightdeck view of KLM 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands.

Interior main deck cabin view of KLM 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands.

KLM 747-300 PH-BUK at Aviodrome, Netherlands.

Report by Henry Tenby
Copyright 2020

As a hard core aviation fan, and a frequent visitor to airports and a fan of nice bars and restaurants while on the road, I had the very pleasant surprise to find the new 747 SKYBAR at the Corendon Hotel at Amsterdam Schiphol airport. This airport is famous for their on site attraction in the form of a retired former KLM Boeing 747-400. Along with a couple of friends we went to visit the 747, which was unfortunately closed to public access, so we were unable to go inside and have a look. But we did look at the enormous airliner at ground level and took some nice photos.

As it was cold, we went into the Corendon hotel to warm up and have a tea at their lobby restaurant. We asked about the possibility to take an elevator to the top floor to take a nice photo of their 747 with a view looking down on the aircraft from a dozen stories in the air. The front desk told us we would be able to do this by visiting their 747 SKYBAR on the top floor of the hotel, when it opened during the lunch hour.

So we waited in the lobby having our teas, warming up, and then headed up to the SKYBAR as soon as it opened and we were on the very first elevator of the day. I was totally impressed when I got up there, and was blown away by the fabulous view! Yes, the view of their Corendon 747-400 was excellent, but even more impressive is the bar and restaurant facilities and the wrap around windows which afford unlimited views to Schiphol Airport and the runway action. And they even have an outdoor roof-top beer garden which although was open, it was too cold to sit and relax during the winter months. But the outdoor terrace will be an amazing place to soak up the action when the weather improves with the warmer summer months.

The staff are very friendly and welcoming, and it goes without saying the avgeeks are more than welcome to visit the bar to soak up the action, provided of course that visitors partake in drinks or items from their generous menu. Not only is the Corendon SKYBAR a day time attraction, when the sun goes down this is rapidly becoming a star attraction for the night time cocktail bar crowd and those looking for an elegant place to relax with friends in an airport environment with a fabulous skyline view of the sprawling Amsterdam airport complex.

SEE BELOW FOR MORE VIDEOS IN THIS SERIES:

By Henry Tenby, copyright 2020

As a collector of professional aircraft display models for more than thirty years, I have been an admirer of the fabulously accurate and beautiful aircraft models made by Amsterdam based Bob Dros of Bel-Air Models for a very long time.

His models are painstakingly made from solid clear perspex. This is a very difficult material to work with which results in very time consuming builds. But the models are highly realistic and feature clear windows which makes them something of a unique offering in the world of high end aircraft display models.

An introduction to Bob Dros by fellow model collector Ed Van Rooijen resulted in the amazing opportunity to visit Bob Dros at his home, library and workshop in Amsterdam, where Bob ever so kindly allowed the visit to be filmed, which is presented here as a series of seven videos. In these videos Bob Dros explains the background as to how became interested in making models of aircraft, and why he chose to work in the demanding model making medium of solid perspex.

Most of Bob’s models cover the period between World War 1 and World War 2, and focus on the transport aircraft of this area of development of the early years of the airline industry. Of course he also made models or aircraft and airliners of the post war years too. All of Bob’s models were and are special custom consignments by demanding collectors from all over the world. It typically takes a few months for a model to be built as they are all built from highly accurate plans, from scratch, and in many cases Bob has developed the plans himself using a variety of sources. His goal is to build the most accurate model possible.

Please feel free to visit Bob’s models and learn more about his perspex model building efforts at www.bel-air-models.com