Old airliners still in service

[Number_35]

Originally Posted By: Astro14
Hey - Number_35, I have very fond memories of Winnipeg...I was there when I was quite little and then again in Grade 2 through Grade 4 (as you would say it).

My dad worked for Great West Life, and used to fly all the time. He was a 250,000 mile flier on United airlines in 1970. That was a big deal back then.

So, my mom would take us to the airport to drop him off and pick him up quite often. I remember the old Winnipeg airport, the funky colored 60's art/sculpture on the wall...

http://www.manitobaphotos.com/Winnipeg_Airport.htm

Now, I could be wrong about the Connie, because I don't think that UAL flew them, but I distinctly remember the 3 tails, so perhaps it wasn't in Winnipeg, or perhaps it wasn't on UAL...as I said, it was about 1967...and it's one of my early memories..

I could go on and on about Winnipeg! Confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, picnics at Lower Fort Gary, the zoo, the "golden boy" on top of the Capitol Building...electric outlets in the parking spaces to plug your car in during winter...

Some day, I hope to visit again.

Cheers,
Astro
Astro, great photos of the old airport, and I enjoyed hearing about your memories of The 'Peg. The airport was ultramodern when I was a boy, and it was a shock to hear a few years ago that it was being demolished. There was talk of it being such a great example of modern architecture that it should be preserved, but the structural issues were significant. (That's common here, the result of our clay soils and severe freeze-thaw cycles.) I think a lot of the art was moved and preserved.

Great West Life is still around and thriving, with head offices still at the SW corner of Osborne St N and Broadway Ave. The legislative building is due E across Osborne, All Saints' Anglican Church is N across Broadway, and there's a park kitty-corner across from GWL to the NE. Thus, wags point to the four corners of that intersection and tell visitors they're seeing, 'Recreation, Legislation, Indemnification, and Salvation'.

Do you remember what part of town you lived in or what school you went to? NW River Heights for me, close to Academy Rd. My parents rented a small (800 ft^2?) bungalow, and I did Grades 1-3 @ Sir John Franklin School (now long gone, and bulldozed in the early 80s). Although I liked Miss Miller, my Gr 3 teacher, my fellow airplane nerds & I cried out in protest when she said that aircraft had not played a role in WW I. The area is now very yuppie & gentrified, but was low-rent in the day.

 

[Astro14]

I know I've totally gone OT, so I apologize for that in advance.

I remember that downtown, though I'm certain I've never heard it described as such. Somewhere, I've still got a Hudson's Bay (now just called the Bay) coat, in the white wool with the colored stripes....and a blanket to match.

I lived by a place called "Peanut Park" when I was first there. We were on Yale avenue, though I don't recall the number, 52 perhaps? I would recognize the facade if I saw it...it was a big house right across the street from the park. I learned to skate on the rink there in Peanut Park.

Later, we lived nearby on Harvard avenue. 202 I think. The Elementary school that I went to was two blocks away, behind the house. I used to walk there every day (yep, even at -40, though I looked like the kid in "A Christmas Story") but the name escapes me at the moment. My sister went to a private school called "Balmoral Hall". We went to the Anglican Church near that school, also behind the house. I wish I could get on Google maps, but I'm data constrained right now...

I remember seeing my first rowing event, the Pan Am games...1968 maybe? On the flood canal for one of the rivers.

I also remember a museum, with a Canadian-built research rocket known as the "Black Brant"...but I can't recall the name of the museum either...

It was a great place to live. Bit cold in the winter, but friendly, safe and nice. Some day, I hope to go back and visit.

Cheers,
Astro

 

[Number_35]

Originally Posted By: Astro14
I know I've totally gone OT, so I apologize for that in advance.

I remember that downtown, though I'm certain I've never heard it described as such. Somewhere, I've still got a Hudson's Bay (now just called the Bay) coat, in the white wool with the colored stripes....and a blanket to match.

I lived by a place called "Peanut Park" when I was first there. We were on Yale avenue, though I don't recall the number, 52 perhaps? I would recognize the facade if I saw it...it was a big house right across the street from the park. I learned to skate on the rink there in Peanut Park.

Later, we lived nearby on Harvard avenue. 202 I think. The Elementary school that I went to was two blocks away, behind the house. I used to walk there every day (yep, even at -40, though I looked like the kid in "A Christmas Story") but the name escapes me at the moment. My sister went to a private school called "Balmoral Hall". We went to the Anglican Church near that school, also behind the house. I wish I could get on Google maps, but I'm data constrained right now...

I remember seeing my first rowing event, the Pan Am games...1968 maybe? On the flood canal for one of the rivers.

I also remember a museum, with a Canadian-built research rocket known as the "Black Brant"...but I can't recall the name of the museum either...

It was a great place to live. Bit cold in the winter, but friendly, safe and nice. Some day, I hope to go back and visit.

Cheers,
Astro
Astro, my fault for getting you OT, but this is great!

Those Hudson's Bay blanket colours came immediately to mind when you mentioned the coat & blanket.

I cycled through that part of town today on my way to the dentist, within a kilometer of Peanut Park. The 'Ivy League' streets are beautiful and still very well kept. The houses are huge and smack of old money.

I lived perhaps two miles W of that area, on Lanark St past the tracks, a world away demographically.

Balmoral Hall is still very high-end. I felt way out of my league when a friend who taught there asked me to be one of the judges for BH's internal science fair many years ago.

The local public high school is Kelvin, which my wife attended.

I too walked to school every day - it was almost unheard of for families in our neighbourhood to have a 2nd car. We hit -45C at least once in the winter of 65/66.

(Obligatory car content: In 1964 Dad sold or traded the '49 Monarch and paid $1200 for a '61 Pontiac Tempest - 4-banger up front, and 2-speed Powerglide in the trunk, connected by a torque tube. Like all of my non-wrenching-father's cars, it seemed to break down regularly at inconvenient times.)

In the mid-80s a co-worker phoned (he had cable TV and I didn't have a TV) and said, 'Get over here, your life story is on TV!' It was 'A Christmas Story', and I guess I'd told him enough about my weird childhood while we worked the night shift that he saw similarities.

My wife says your elementary school was likely Grosvenor, and the Anglican church nearby would have been St George's, famed for its populuxe architecture.

Winnipeg hosted its first Pan Am games in '67.

The Museum of Man and Nature has been renamed (Manitoba Museum?) and is still a marvel. As of a few years ago there were still models of the Black Brant at the museum. (My visits are infrequent now with my boys grown). The BB was indeed a research rocket, launched from Churchill. We lived in Edmonton later, I got very into model rocketry, and one of my friends started a model rocket business with his dad. Their company, Canaroc, produced scale models of the Black Brant.

The city is still friendly, though the drivers are discourteous, and unfortunately crime is fairly high. The potholes and mosquitoes are atrocious. The winters are cold & dry and the summers are hot & humid, the consequences of a continental climate without the moderating influence of a nearby ocean. (Much of this probably sounds like anyone complaining about their city ... it's likely everyone thinks their city has bad drivers, too much crime, and bad roads. Oh yeah, and our taxes are really high ...)

Anyway, thanks for sharing your childhood memories ... great stuff!

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Does anyone remember this event? Spring of 1970. AA brings first 747 into TUL, crew misjudged taxiway and buried a main mount in the grass. To disinter the big guy, AA had a hole cut in the concrete and sank a heavy wall casing. A dozer was then secured to the casing and winched the plane out. Spartan had just relocated the school to the East Pine street location and the plane flew almost directly over the school.Never flew on one and never put a wrench on an airplane. But things did work out with large steam turbines. GEs, no circle Ws allowed.

 

[javacontour]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27


My first airline ride was an AA 707 CLE>LAX.
My last 707 ride was on AA CVG>CLE.
Awesome airplane.


If we are talking first airplane rides, my was a C-141 and I didn't land with the plane.

Lawson Army Airfield in GA to Fryar drop zone in Alabama.

I'd never flown on an airplane before I went to jump school back in the day.

 

[CT8]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
Originally Posted By: fdcg27


My first airline ride was an AA 707 CLE>LAX.
My last 707 ride was on AA CVG>CLE.
Awesome airplane.


If we are talking first airplane rides, my was a C-141 and I didn't land with the plane.

Lawson Army Airfield in GA to Fryar drop zone in Alabama.

I'd never flown on an airplane before I went to jump school back in the day.
You jumped out of a perfectly good plane ?????????