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from 1944 to the 2005, is dedicated to all those who have served and to those who serve today. Scroll down for ACC staff and history.
Staff information and pictures of other Canadian ATC facilities are welcome.
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Canadian ATC Page 15 |
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Sept 21/2019 Thanks to Andrew Budgell |
Update: Dec 21/2021 |
In those days a written examination was the main criterion for a licence and many controllers joined ATC through 
self-study and on-the-job training. Nelson Harvey was working in the Meteorological Office in Winnipeg and remembers; "I went up to the tower when it was completed in August, 1940, and thought it would be a great place to work. So I put in an application for a transfer". Harvey, and his friend Bill Kellough, received salaries of $110 at the "Met" office. They had heard that ATC people would receive "the then magnificent wage of $160 a month". Harvey's first application was turned down. He recalls: "There was a feeling at the time that only a pilot could tell another pilot how to safely approach an airport". But, with the war on, pilots could command big prices elsewhere. Many were drawn to flight instructor's jobs. Some, like Don McVicar, found their way into Ferry Command - extraordinary private initiative to deliver aircraft to Europe.
Brereton regularly spent weeks on end without a break, flying back and forth between shifts at Malton and Dorval, grabbing some sleep in a big armchair in the lobby of the Mount Royal Hotel when beds weren't available. "There was a war on," says Brereton of the experience. Dorval was the hub of Ferry Command operations, starting point for the transatlantic route east through Gander or Goose Bay to Europe. "Sometimes we had planes staged 10 minutes apart all the way around the route from Ottawa to Detroit and back because there was no place left to park" recalls Brereton, recreating the scene at Dorval where warplanes covered the entire runway infield. Brereton remembers the veteran foreign pilots in Ferry Command - exile fighters from national air forces overrun by the Germans: "Sometimes we kept a person in the tower who could speak several European languages to help out". In 1944 Claude Brereton would get some relief himself with a permanent posting to head the new Area Control Centre in Winnipeg which became active late in 1944.
volume, plus military training). Their jobs had become impossible. Claude Brereton sent a letter to headquarters advising that his controllers could no longer cope with the traffic flow and provide safe air traffic control service. Controllers backed up the letter with a threat to stop work. On Jan. 26, Brereton met with senior representatives of the RCAF and officers from the Department of Transport Air Traffic Control section in Ottawa, including Ian Barrowman and Roy Mattern.
strip summaries, the centre chief outlined the hazardous state of ATC at Winnipeg. To remedy the situation, he proposed that the RCAF divert a Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) radar system that was being built for the military airport at Trenton, Ontario, to Winnipeg. He also insisted that one of the scopes be wired into the control tower. Although Brereton knew that the Department was planning to introduce medium and long range radar across Canada, he made the point that the Winnipeg ATC system could not tolerate the wait for the usual methodical approach by Ottawa. They needed something now. Brereton's presentation must have been effective. The Department of Transport and the RCAF responded immediately. Military GCA equipment came to the field, and one scope was wired into the tower. "The first time we looked at the traffic on radar, it scared the shit out of us. The scope confirmed our worst fears about what was going on up there" said Jack Dods.
The Big Sky Theory
Bob Evans
Terry Tufts
