Winnipeg ACC

Aviation Miscellany - a collection of images, facts
and just plain trivia

Trivia questions display a TQ: Left click any thumbnail for a larger image Click here the latest update

History: August 10,1949, the Canadian AVRO Jetliner, built in Toronto, was the first jet transport to fly in North America; it was only two weeks behind the first in the world, the British de Havilland Comet. Within a few flights, the Jetliner exceeded 430kts whereas the most advanced transports of the day achieved about 240 kts.


TQ1: You can't see this airplane from the outside but it was a strutless, high wing, very unique for its day.	TQ2: For many years this airplane was hangared at Friendship field in Carman Manitoba.


TQ3: This airplane was a real mixture, Canadian, American and British design and components. Canadian carriers used it on both Atlantic and Pacific flights.	TQ4: Old?? 1971. Left; the cockpit of a 3 week old KLM ??. TQ5: New!! 2006, Right; looks like a spacecraft, but it's really a ??

Ingenious multi-engine throttle arrangement. There are two vertical bars to the left and two vertical bars to the right. The outside bars extend full height and the inside bars are about half height. This complex configuration allows the pilot to control all four engines with the middle "row" of rods, or control the outboard engines (#1 and #4) with the top row of rods or the inboard engines (#2 and #3) with the bottom row of rods. And of course each engine can be managed individually with its own rod at the top or bottom of the respective (port/starboard) vertical bar.
TQ6: Which aircraft featured this throttle arrangement ? photo credit to Jo Hunter TQ6 from Rod Peterson (ZAU ARTCC)

The dash of a sweet airplane. Many, many people have had great flights in this aviation gem.
TQ7: And the airplane is a ???

I WISH I HAD BEEN THERE DEPARTMENT: A certain controller in ?? tower in 1959 instructed a formation of 36 T-33s to do a 360 - he had a Northstar on final.
TQ8: Who was the controller and which tower ?


TQ9: This is a larger image of the airplane on the home page. a. What is the make and model ? b. When was it built ? c. How many were built ? John MacNeill (QM ACC) knows. . .	TQ10: This is a true mystery airplane. a. What is the make and model ? b. How many were built ? Photo courtesy of Doug Berry

TQ11: New York's major international airport is called Kennedy and the identifier is "JFK".
What was the name and identifier of this famous airport before 1963 ?

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The ??? set a new standard for luxurious air travel with its tastefully decorated extra-wide passenger cabin and gold-appointed dressing rooms. A circular staircase led to a lower-deck beverage lounge, and flight attendants prepared hot meals for 50 to 100 people in a state-of-the-art galley.
TQ12: What is the make and model ?

(Ed. note:'Way back in the '50s I remember seeing a National Geographic picture of this plane on the tarmac at New York. The scene was winter and there was "steaming" exhaust everywhere. It reminded me of seeing steam locomotives at the train station in Flin Flon in the early '50s. I always wanted to see this airplane and walk around it.)

I WISH I HAD SAID THAT DEPARTMENT: A certain controller in ?? ACC back in the '70s, had a dead-heat crossing track with an AA B747 and UA DC10. Of course neither would take an altitude change so without hestitation the controller asked to speak to the pursor on the UA DC10. When the pilot asked why the controller wanted to speak to the cabin crew, the controller replied: "To see if he has enough meals on board for the 340 or so passengers who would be boarding from the right wing in about 8 minutes. Both flights requested an altitude change.
TQ13: Who was the controller and which ACC ?

History: October 4, 1958 - First transatlantic jet passenger service. BOAC (Speedbird), New York to London.
Pan American (Clipper) started daily service, New York to Paris on October 26, 1958.


TQ14: Airport and year of the photo?	TQ15: Airport and year of the photo?	TQ16: Airport and year of the photo?	TQ17: Airport and year of the photo?

TQ18: Canadian ACCs use RDPS. If JETS was the forerunner of RDPS which was the forerunner of CATS, then what automated system was the forerunner of JETS, and where and when was it used ? And for the real trivia nut, what kind of processors did this system use ?

Things you wanted to know but were afraid to ask...: Phonetic alphabets have been around for a while.

	post 1954 ICAO	pre 1954 US Military	1924-43 RAF	1916 US Army		post 1954 ICAO	pre 1954 US Military	1924-42 RAF	1916 US Army
A	Alpha	Able	Ack	Able	N	November	Nan	Nuts	Nap
B	Bravo	Baker	Beer	Buy	O	Oscar	Oboe	Orange	Opal
C	Charlie	Charlie	Charlie	Cast	P	Papa	Peter	Pip	Pup
D	Delta	Dog	Don	Dock	Q	Qubec	Queen	Queen	Quack
E	Echo	Easy	Edward	Easy	R	Romeo	Roger	Robert	Rush
F	Foxtrot	Fox	Freddy	Fox	S	Sierra	Sugar	Sugar	Sail
G	Golf	George	George	George	T	Tango	Tare	Tok	Tape
H	Hotel	How	Harry	Have	U	Uniform	Uncle	Uncle	Unit
I	India	Item	Ink	Item	V	Victor	Victor	Vic	Vice
J	Juliett	Jig	Johnny	Jig	W	Whiskey	William	William	Watch
K	Kilo	King	King	King	X	X-ray	X-ray	X-ray	X-ray
L	Lima	Love	London	Love	Y	Yankee	Yoke	Yorker	Yoke
M	Mike	Mike	Monkey	Mike	Z	Zulu	Zebra	Zebra	Zed

The Radio Range - a short history of radio navigation
A Radio Range is a geographically fixed radio transmitter that radiates coded signals in all directions to enable aircraft and ships to determine their bearings. An aircraft or ship can determine its line of position and drift if it knows its bearing relative to the radio transmitter and the geographic location of the transmitter. By taking successive bearings on two or more radio ranges the craft can determine its geographic position. Radio ranges are usually unattended; they emit either repeated call letters or steady signals that are periodically interrupted by station identification letters in Morse code. The aircraft or ship obtains its bearings relative to the radio range by picking up these signals with a receiver having a directional antenna, usually a loop antenna. The strength of the signal received depends on the orientation of the antenna relative to the radio range. By varying the orientation of the antenna and observing the changes in signal strength, the bearing of the vehicle can be obtained. When the antenna is driven automatically, the instrument is called an automatic direction finder (ADF). Both manual and automatic direction finders are also called radio compasses, although in aircraft the radio compass usually means an ADF. Another type of radio range called an A-N range transmits two coded signals via directional antennas so that a pilot on one of four fixed courses hears a continuous tone in his or her receiver when the craft's bearing is correct; if it veers off course either a Morse A or N is heard depending on the direction in which the error is made. A very-high- frequency (VHF) omnidirectional radio range transmits a reference signal and another signal that varies from the reference according to the bearing of the receiver. Radio ranging is being made obsolete by the Global Positioning System (GPS), which uses a network of orbiting satellites to precisely locate the position of an aircraft or ship.

Want to try a little 2003 quiz - mind teasers of COMMON KNOWLEDGE (American flavour).
Can you beat 20?? (The average is 7) No cheating! Write down your answers and check them AFTER completing all the questions. To see the answers, left click on the cockpit below)

1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the top or bottom?
2. How many states are there? (Don't laugh, some people don't know)
3. In which hand is the Statue of Liberty's torch?
4. What six colors are on the classic Campbell's soup label?
5. What two letters don't appear on the telephone dial?
6. What two numbers on the telephone dial don't have letters by them?
7. When you walk does your left arm swing with your right or left leg?
8. How many matches are in a standard pack?
9. On the United States flag is the top stripe red or white?
10. What is the lowest number on the FM dial?
11. In the norther hemisphere, which way does water go down the drain, counter or clockwise?
12. Which way does a "no smoking" sign's slash run?
13. How many channels on a VHF TV dial?
14. Which side of a women's blouse are the buttons on?
15. On a NY license plate, is New York on the top or bottom?
16. Which way do fans rotate?
17. Whose face is on a American dime?
18. How many sides does a stop sign have?
19. Do books have even-numbered pages on the right or left side?
20. How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel
21. How many sides are there on a standard pencil?
22. Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Doc. Who's missing?
23. How many hot dog buns are in a standard package?
24. On which playing card is the card maker's trademark?
25. On which side of a Venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats?
26. On the back of American $1 bill, what is in the center?
27. There are 12 buttons on a touch tone phone. What 2 symbols bear no digits?
28. How many curves are there in the standard paper clip?
29. Does a merry-go-round turn counter or clockwise?

Aviation Miscellany


At some future date, the callsigns of these carriers will have disappeared. PanAmerican was PA and had perhaps the best callsign ever; "CLIPPER". Transair was TZ and had a reputation for flying in the arctic - whatever the conditions. Transair was eventually sold to TransWorld Airlines (TWA) which was then owned by Howard Hughes.	In 1974 I bought 30 shares of Bombardier for $100 and gave them away as a graduation gift. I also bought 30 shares of Transair for $100. I kept them. Pretty paper...

A collage of "good_looking airplanes".

Arguably the North American XB-70 Valkyrie is/was the best looking airplane to ever fly. Only two were ever built, one crashed near Bakersfield California, and the other is at Wright-Patterson aviaition museum.

AL Yeadon(UL ACC) sent me the following email and photos.

In July, 1960, seven months after qualifying in UL ACC, I applied to ICAO for their emergency mission to the Congo. Early one Monday morning I ventured to ICAO HQ that was then located on Dorchester St. (now named Boul. Rene Levesque). Following completion of an employment application I was in the process of being interviewed by one of the Technical assistant managers when his telephone rang. I heard him remark "As a matter of fact one is sitting in front of me now"... He looked up at me and asked "Mr. Yeadon would you like to go to the Congo?" (Talk about being at the right place at the right time!). To make a long story shorter, four days later, Frank Levesque and I were released from the DOT, seconded to the UN for a three month contract (which was later extended to close to two years), and were winging our way via Air France to Central Africa.
I had many adventures during that two-year period, some good, some bad. Years later I used to entertain my kids with my African stories. I also had some peripheral involvement in the crash of SE-BDY the DC-6 that claimed the life of Dag Hammarskjold the Sec. Gen. of the UN in N'Dola, Northern Rhodesia in 1961. While researching details of the crash, I came across the accident report of OO-ADN. The report was quite inaccurate so I contacted Aviation Safety-Net and passed them the correct version and described the last minutes of OO-ADN as I saw them from the tower in Elizabethville, Katanga."

The explanation on the back of this photo reads as follows:
"US-Can border 1940 - Jim Johnson? pulling Lockheed Lodestars accross border thus complying with neutrality laws? This went on till U.S. entered the war"

Dale Stinson collection

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This webpage was last updated on September 18, 2007

Forward answers (or left click on either airplane photo just above) and your own trivia questions/pictures to giesph@mts.net