Trans Canada / Air Canada History to 1984 by Henry Tenby
Captain’s Log, Spring 1984

This is where it all started for me: it was my very first published article. Growing up in Vancouver, Air Canada was the airline as a family we flew most as I was growing up. The Air Canada Viscount rides between Toronto and Ottawa in the 60s and early 70s got me hooked on what would become a life-long interest.

Whilst in grade 11, I joined the World Airline Historical Society (WAHS). Their quarterly publication “Captain’s Log” was something I waited for to come through my mail slot every three months. I couldn’t wait to see all the neat airline and collectible news, and other neat airline information that simply was not available to me via any other means.

In the thirty years that followed, I would make many life-long friends through the WAHS. It was back in 1984, when I contacted Air Canada’s Vancouver Public Affairs office to ask if they could assist in my writing an historic report on their airline for inclusion in the Captain’s Log. And the resultant article appears below. It was by no means a seminal piece. But it was a start.

My favourite caption from the article accompanied one of my photos and reads as follows: “Air Canada DC-8-63 C-FTIM is on the take-off roll at YVR on April 11, 1983. Twelve days later, all Air Canada passenger DC-8s were phased out. C-FTIM’s last revenue flight was from Calgary to Toronto on April 23, 1983.” I was only 19 when I took the photo!

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