Trans-Canada Air Lines (also known as TCA in English, and Trans-Canada in French) was a Canadian

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

that operated as the country's

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations. Hist ...

, with corporate headquarters in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Its first president was Gordon Roy McGregor. Founded in 1937, it was renamed

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada by the size and passengers carried. Air Canada maintains its headquarters in the borough of Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and ...

in 1965.

History

With heavy involvement from

C. D. Howe Clarence Decatur Howe, (15 January 1886 – 31 December 1960) was an American-born Canadian engineer, businessman and Liberal Party politician. Howe served as a cabinet minister in the governments of prime ministers William Lyon Mackenzie ...

, a senior minister in the Mackenzie King cabinet, TCA was created by the

Crown Corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

(CNR), and launched its first flight on 1 September 1937, on a flight between

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. An air-mail contract with Royal Mail Canada was one of the methods by which TCA was financed.http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/postal-system Lockheed 14

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. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

) 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 trains 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 The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

created

Canadian Pacific Air Lines Canadian Pacific Air Lines was a Canadian airline that operated from 1942 to 1987. It operated under the name CP Air from 1968 to 1986. Headquartered at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia, it served domestic Canadian a ...

in 1942. Between 1943 and 1947, TCA operated the Canadian Government Trans-Atlantic Air Service (CGTAS) to provide trans-Atlantic military passenger and postal delivery service using

Avro Lancastrian The Avro 691 Lancastrian was a Canadian and British passenger and mail transport aircraft of the 1940s and 1950s developed from the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber. The Lancaster was named after Lancaster, Lancashire; a Lancastrian is an inhabit ...

(modified

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirlin ...

) 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 Lancastrians became part of TCA and carried paying civilian passengers until they were replaced by

Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s ...

Postwar

Trans Canada Airlines North Star Heathrow 1951

Starting in 1945, TCA acquired 30 twin-engined ex-military

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

s for use on Canadian internal services and some of these remained in service until 1963 on shorter routes. A fleet of

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

-powered

Canadair North Star The Canadair North Star is a 1940s Canadian development, for Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA), of the Douglas DC-4. Instead of radial piston engines used by the Douglas design, Canadair used Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engines to achieve a higher cruisin ...

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

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and to cities in the U.S. The last of the North Stars was sold in 1961. Air Canada Airbus 319 in Trans Canada Airlines colours

The

s were gradually replaced by longer range

Lockheed Super Constellation The Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation is an American aircraft, a member of the Lockheed Constellation aircraft line. The L-1049 was Lockheed's response to the successful Douglas DC-6 airliner, first flying in 1950. The aircraft was also produc ...

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

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in Austria; also to

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and several

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

destinations including

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

and

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

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

Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount is a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs. A design requirement from the Brabazon Committee, it entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner. The Visc ...

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. Fuel ...

airliners was built up from late 1954 and these were used on many intra-North American routes. The Viscount was followed by the larger

Vickers Vanguard The Vickers Vanguard was a short/medium-range turboprop airliner designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs. The Vanguard was developed during the mid-to-late 1950s in response to a specification issued by ...

turboprop. TCA was the only airline in North America to operate the Vanguard in scheduled passenger service. In 1953 with the development of

ReserVec ReserVec was a computerized reservation system developed by Ferranti Canada for Trans-Canada Airlines (TCA, today's Air Canada) in the late 1950s. It appears to be the first such system ever developed, predating the more famous SABRE system in ...

(originally called Gemini), TCA became the first airline in the world to use a

computer reservation system Computer reservation systems, or central reservation systems (CRS), are computerized systems used to store and retrieve information and conduct transactions related to air travel, hotels, car rental, or other activities. Originally designed and ope ...

with remote terminals. The airline's Winnipeg maintenance shops and its first trial flight of the Viscount was documented in the 1955 film, ''

Routine Flight ''Routine Flight'' is a 1955 Canadian short documentary film produced by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the '' On The Spot'' series made specifically for television. The documentary, directed by Gordon Burwash, involved an ac ...

''. The airline acquired a fleet of

Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in Ju ...

jet airliners powered by

Rolls-Royce Conway The Rolls-Royce RB.80 Conway was the first turbofan engine to enter service. Development started at Rolls-Royce in the 1940s, but the design was used only briefly, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before other turbofan designs replaced it. H ...

s, the first being received on 25 May 1960. The DC-8 quickly replaced the slower Super Constellations on TCA's scheduled services to Europe.

Changes

In 1964, an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

proposed by

Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...

changed the name of Trans-Canada Air Lines to "

", which was already in use as the airline's French-language name, effective 1 January 1965. In 1978, Air Canada was divested by parent CNR and became a separate Crown corporation. Air Canada was

privatized Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

in 1989.

Destinations

TCA operated a network of 160 routes to destinations including: * St. John's, Newfoundland * Stephenville, Newfoundland * Gander, Newfoundland * Halifax, Nova Scotia * Sydney, Nova Scotia * Fredericton, New Brunswick * Victoria, British Columbia * Vancouver, British Columbia * Penticton, British Columbia * Boston, Massachusetts * New York City, New York * Winnipeg, Manitoba * Brandon, Manitoba * Calgary, Alberta * Chicago, Illinois * Cleveland, Ohio * Edmonton, Alberta * Lethbridge, Alberta * Montreal, Quebec * Ottawa, Ontario * London, Ontario * Tampa, Florida * Toronto, Ontario * Detroit (Windsor) * Seattle, Washington * London, England * Paris, France * Prestwick, Scotland * Shannon, Ireland * Düsseldorf, Germany * St. George's Parish, Bermuda * Nassau, Bahamas * Kingston, Jamaica * Christ Church, Barbados * Piarco, Trinidad

Fleet

Aircraft on display

One former TCA Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation (CF-TGE), has been preserved by The Museum of Flight in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

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

(CF-THG) is on display at the

British Columbia Aviation Museum The British Columbia Aviation Museum is located in Sidney, British Columbia, Canada. It is on the grounds of the Victoria International Airport Victoria International Airport serves Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is north northwest o ...

Sidney, British Columbia Sidney is a town located at the northern end of the Saanich Peninsula, on Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It's 1 of the 13 Greater Victoria municipalities. It has a population of approximately 11,583. Sidney is l ...

. The aircraft has been completely refurbished by the museum.

Accidents and incidents

Trans-Canada Air Lines had 13 aircraft accidents resulting in hull losses, with a total of 248 fatalities, between 1938 and 1963. These included:"List of Trans-Canada Air Lines accidents."
''Aviation Safety Network.'' Retrieved: 13 January 2011.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Blatherwick, John. ''A History of Airlines in Canada''. Toronto: The Unitrade Press, 1989. . * Bliss, Michael. ''Northern Enterprise: Five Centuries of Canadian Business''. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1994, 1990, First edition 1987. . * Harbron, John D. ''C.D. Howe'' (The Canadians). Don Mills, Ontario: Fitzhaven and Whiteside Limited, 1980. . * Marson, P.J. ''The Lockheed Constellation Series''. Tunbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, 1982. . * Pigott, Peter. ''National Treasure: The History of Trans Canada Airlines''. Madeira Park, BC: Harbour Publishing, 2001. . * Render, Shirley. ''Double Cross: The Inside Story of James A. Richardson and the Canadian Airways''. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1999. . * Smith, Philip. ''It Seems Like Only Yesterday: Air Canada, the First 50 Years.'' Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1986. . * Whittle, John A. et al. ''The Douglas DC-4 and Canadair 4.'' Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, 1967.

External links

{{authority control Aviation history of Canada Defunct airlines of Canada Airlines established in 1937 Airlines disestablished in 1964 Air Canada Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame inductees Former Crown corporations of Canada Canadian National Railway subsidiaries Canadian companies established in 1937 1937 establishments in Quebec 1964 establishments in Quebec Government-owned airlines