The Vancouver Sun (Vancouver, B.C.), Friday, March 14, 1941
Effective Saturday the airmail and passenger service from Vancouver to Whitehorse will be completed in a day, rather than with an overnight stop, as was done during the winter months, Captain Sheldon Luck, chief pilot for Yukon Southern Air Transport, announced today.
Each Saturday and Wednesday the plane will leave Vancouver at 8 a.m, instead of 10:30 a.m., and return on Sundays and Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. instead of 11:30 a.m. The ship out of Vancouver in the morning will arrive at Whitehorse about 5 o'clock that afternoon.
Captain Luck also announced that Fort St. John will be the junction point for Yukon Southern planes travelling between Vancouver, Edmonton and Whitehorse, instead of Dawson Creek, which was used during the winter.
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The new Lockheed Lodestars are certainly living up to their reputation as the world's fastest commercial transport planes. On Thursday a TCA Lodestar, with a favorable wind, set a new record of 2 hours and 11 minutes for the 469-mile hop from Lethbridge to Vancouver. The plane was piloted by Captain Art Rankin, and Danny Driscoll was first officer.
Another Lodestar to set a record was Pan American's, travelling non-stop from Juneau, Alaska, to Seattle, via Prince George, in just under 4 hours and 20 minutes. It would not be surprising to see a few more Lodestars flying around Vancouver shortly.
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Crown lands for airport sites in the federal government's new chain across northern British Columbia will be deeded free to Dominion authorities for the purpose, Hon. A. Wells Gray, Minister of Lands, said in Victoria today.
The Minister said federal officials have discussed with the province the areas needed for the new airports. While the surveyed sites have not been completed in some instances they will be turned over as they are. The Minister mentioned specifically sites at Prince George, Smithers and Watson Lake.
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Starting Saturday, Canadian Airways' service between Vancouver and Victoria will be increased to four trips daily. The fourth trip will leave Vancouver at 5 p.m. and return here at 6:30 p.m., adding to runs already established which leaves Vancouver at 8:30 a.m., 12 noon and 2:50 p.m.
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Strangest piece of 1941 cargo to date for Trans-Canada Air Lines is a six-foot alligator, stuffed but realistic. Its owner, the well-known Vancouver mining man, William Dann, brought it with him from British Guiana where he has mining properties.
The reptile was a gift for a friend in Medicine Hat, Alta.
"Flight-Sergeant," a pugilistic cat that is the darling of the TCA Lethbridge hangar, came across the alligator while it awaited train connections there. It was a tribute to the taxidermist's art that "Flight" turned tail and didn't show up for days.
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Yukon Southern Air Transport, operating out of Vancouver and Edmonton to Whitehorse, with branch lines to northern British Columbia - points, reports the following
traffic figures for the year 1940, with comparative figures for the previous year:
