This Day in History: First Trans-Canada Air Lines flight departs Vancouver

Federal government decided to launch its own airline in 1937, as a subsidiary of Canadian National Railways

Published Aug 31, 2024  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

Trans-Canada Airlines' Lockheed 10 CF-TCC aircraft, photographed at Lethbridge, Alberta, in 1937. copy print

On Sept. 1, 1937, the first Trans-Canada Air Lines flight took off from Vancouver.

But it wasn’t flying across Canada — it was a short hop to Seattle. TCA’s first commercial passenger flight across Canada from Montreal to Vancouver wasn’t until April 1, 1939.

The Seattle flight was a big deal. The federal government launched the airline on April 10, 1937, and started operating in September after buying an established route, and two planes and their crews from Canadian Airlines, a private company that was owned by James Richardson in Winnipeg.

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The planes were Lockheed Electras, one of the top planes of the era and the one that aviation legend Amelia Earhart was flying when she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937.

The Vancouver Sun published two photos of TCA’s launch, one of the gleaming, metal plane, one of Vancouver mayor George Miller shaking hands with TCA’s D.R. MacLaren, a “wartime ace” who was referred to as “wing commander,” which was his title in the Royal Canadian Air Force.

MacLaren had been the head of Canadian Airways’ local branch, and stayed on with TCA. He flew to Seattle on the first TCA flight, where he was greeted by Seattle’s mayor.

The airline was to be run as a subsidiary of Canadian National Railways, which was owned by the government. According to an Aug. 10, 1937 Sun story by Bob Bouchette, CN owned all 50,000 shares of the airline, which provided $5 million in capital for TCA.

June, 1938. Two Lockheed 14 transports ready to take off for Vancouver, the western terminus of Trans-Canada Airlines. The planes, part of a fleet of 10, were powered with two Pratt and Whitney geared hornet engines of 850 HP each. They were designed to carry 11 passengers, two pilots and a flight attendant, and have a top speed of 250 mph. The Maple Leaf emblem, insignia of the Dominion line, can be seen on the nose of the ships. Vancouver Sun files. PNG

Bouchette wrote that TCA could sell shares, but had to retain majority control. Any shares sold had to be owned by “a British subject resident in Canada, or a company incorporated in Canada.”

Ironically, an American was chosen to lead the company. Phillip Johnson had started off as an engineer at Boeing in Seattle and had run United Airlines —which William Boeing had started.

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One reason the federal Liberals decided to start a national airline was because it feared Canada was lagging behind other countries. But war was looming in Europe, so national defence was a factor.

“Routes to be flown by Trans-Canada ships, piloted by Canadian airmen, will be Halifax-Moncton-Montreal-Winnipeg-Regina-Lethbridge-Vancouver,” wrote Bouchette, “with a connection to Toronto and from Lethbridge to Calgary and Edmonton.”

Lethbridge was chosen over Calgary because the company chose to fly the Crow’s Nest Pass route through the Rocky Mountains. The original cross-Canada route also made a stop at Kapuskasing in northern Ontario, as well as in Ottawa.

“It is judged that the Montreal-Vancouver run will be made in 17 hours,” wrote Bouchette.

1937 photo of Trans-Canada Airlines’ first hangar in Vancouver. Vancouver Sun files. PNG

Minister of Transport C.D. Howe told the House of Commons on April 2, 1937 that cross-country fares would be six cents a mile, the average price in the U.S.

Howe said: “Canadians are more air-minded than people imagine,” and didn’t believe it necessary to “launch an advertising campaign to sell the line to Canadians.”

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But he allowed that CN might include that line in its advertising, since it was slated to sell TCA’s tickets.

Planes took off from both Vancouver and Montreal on the first passenger flights on April 1, 1939. The Province ran a list of all 11 passengers, one of whom was “Grant McConachie of Edmonton,” who became the head of Canadian Pacific Airlines and is the inspiration for Grant McConachie Way by Vancouver’s airport.

The flight east went smoothly until it landed in a “foot of slush” in Ottawa. The flight was held overnight and passengers finished their journey to Montreal by train.

The flight west encountered “severe icing conditions in the vicinity of Cranbrook” and was ordered back to Lethbridge for the night. But weather remained dicey and a second trans-Canada flight had to stop in Lethbridge before the weather improved and both planes were able to fly to Vancouver.

Trans-Canada Air Lines was renamed Air Canada in 1965. It became a private company in 1988.

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Sept. 19, 2007: A refurbished Trans-Canada Air Lines Lockheed L10a Electra airliner came to the Vancouver Airport for Air Canada’s 70th birthday. Photo by ian lindsay /Vancouver Sun

Feb. 15, 1960. These seven aircraft mark the progress of Trans-Canada Airlines from a small domestic company with 448 passengers in 1939 to over three million in 1959. At top are the company’s first plane, the 10-passenger Lockheed 10A, and its replacement, the Douglas DC-3. Below them are the North Star, which began TCA’s trans-Atlantic service, and the Lockheed Super-Constellation. Two planes at bottom are the Vickers Viscount, first commercial turboprop in North America, and the larger Vickers Vanguardf, a 96-passenger, medium-range turboprop for use in 1961. Bottom right is the pure jet, 127 passenger Douglas DC-8, latest addition to TCA which can span the continent in five hours or cross the Atlantic in six and a half. Canadian Press Photo/Vancouver Sun files. PNG

Vancouver Sun photos and story on the first Trans-Canada Air Lines flight from Vancouver to Seattle. The flight was on April 1, 1937, the story ran April 2.

Recommended from Editorial

1. 

   At 11:13 p.m. on April 28, 1947, the pilot of a Trans-Canada Airlines flight messaged Vancouver airport: “TCA-3 to Vancouver tower,” said Captain W.G. Pike. “By the range of 7,000 (feet) on instruments. Westbound at 11:13.” According to an account in The Vancouver Sun the following day, this meant the plane was inbound, and “would be landing within a matter of minutes.” But the plane was never heard from again.

2. 

   In 1920 seaplanes were as common as regular airplanes in Vancouver.

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