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Getting Canada Off the Ground (1972)

This 1972 film is part of Air Canada’s historical film archives that we digitized in Ottawa several years back, that we did not release on DVD.

On January 17, 1972, the air traffic controllers across Canada went on strike for 10 days. For the first time in their history, the airlines in Canada were not flying scheduled routes. Canada was grounded. Rail and bus operators struggled to take up the slack. Strangely enough most air passengers simply did not travel. The travelling public for the most part was set on only flying by air, not other modes. This situation was the opening fact for this Air Canada produced history of aviation and commercial flight in Canada.

The film was made to highlight the history and importance of commercial aviation to all facets of life for passengers living in Canada. A good portion of the film explains the early air services in the 1930s that connected remote communities with mail and essential services. Also explained in great detail is the government decision to create a national airline called Trans Canada Air Lines, which commenced service in 1937 as a crown corporation, with two Lockheed 10As and a Boeing Stearman bi-plane, fully mandated by an Act of Parliament. The fledgeling airline set about the rather difficult business of uniting a nation socially, economically and geographically.

TCA’s history into the 1940s and 1950s is presented and explained in great detail, as the airline expanded from a fleet of Lockheed Lodestars and Lancastrians to the larger, four-engined Canadian built Canadair DC-4M2 Northstars. Not only were services built up across the country, Trans-Canada Air Lines also developed routes into Florida and the Caribbean. This was due to the fluctuating seasonal demands for air traffic within Canada. Summer and Christmas holidays were always busy travel periods for Canadians domestically. The Winter and Spring was typically a slow period for the airlines in Canada.

A key early market in the Caribbean for Trans-Canada Air Lines was Barbados, where there was a “looming communications gap” due to severe war time losses to Canada’s Merchant Marine fleet that was stationed there during the conflict. A large part of the airline’s early successes was attributed to the company’s President G. R. McGregor, which is explained in the film.

The airline’s development through the jet age in the 1960s is explained in good detail with clips of DC-9s and DC-8s, as is the 1971 introduction of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet to the Air Canada fleet. The film features many neat aircraft, airport terminal, lounge, and personnel views from the early 1970s, and will be of interest to anyone interested in the history of Air Canada.

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