Timothy Allan Johnston
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    • Alberta Ballet "Mozart's Requiem"
    • Alberta Ballet "Pomp Without Circumstance"
    • Alberta Ballet "Up Close" new choreography
    • Alberta Ballet "Seven Deadly Sins"
    • Alberta Ballet "Fumbling Toward Ecstasy"
    • Alberta Ballet "Sleeping Beauty"
    • Alberta Ballet "Love Lies Bleeding"
  • Travel Journals
    • India 1986
    • Swaziland 1989
    • Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe 1993
    • Mozambique 1996
    • Honduras and Nicaragua 2000
    • Togo and Ghana 2001
    • Lome, Togo 2002
    • Mozambique 2003
    • Togo and Ghana 2004
    • Barbados, 2004
    • Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, 2006
    • Ghana 2009
    • Mozambique 2010
    • Tim's Canada Road Trip
  • Published Stories
    • Calgary Urban Sketchers
    • Doug Lansdell's Farm Tractors of the Past
    • Threshing Bee a nod to farm life of old
    • Westword Magazine
    • Calgary's Rail Line to the Past
    • A Carmen Red Jaguar
    • Alberta's Bessonneau Hangar
    • A barrel of fun in retirement for Maureen Marston
    • Clark Seaborn's Airplanes
    • 2442: Calgary Transit's Newest C-Train Car
    • No. 31 EFTS De Winton Celebration
    • Dave Richards at Heritage Park
    • Off the beaten path with Charley
    • You Oughta Be In Pictures
    • In the War Skies of Calgary
    • Calgary's National Music Centre
    • The Polar Express
    • Sirens' Song Silenced
    • Nick's Barbershop
    • A Visit to the Calgary Stampede Ranch
    • A Pony Named Midget
    • Bert Jackson, Bow Maker
    • Down Highway 12 and Home
    • A Field Trip to Lake Nyasa
    • "Remembering the Air Base that Time Forgot"
    • A "Daily Diary" History of RCAF Station Pearce, Alberta
    • Constructing the Aerodrome of Democracy: Civil Engineering and the Development of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
    • Stubb Ross
  • Editor's Notebooks
    • Humor in the Classroom (and, sometimes, late at night, on the playground)New Page
    • Experiencing the World of Real Work
    • 100 Years of Renewal
    • An African Opportunity
    • "Flying Right"
    • The Canadian Teachers' federation
    • At the Edge of Learning
    • Distant Shorelines
    • Computer Renovations
    • 75 Years
    • Where Were You When the Blue Jays Won?
    • Deadwood, Wild Horse, Paddle Prairie, Big Stone
    • Gone Flyin'
    • Birthday Gifts from Delhi
    • Stories from the Veld
    • Travelling the Border Country
    • Teachers Teaching
    • Last of the First Days
    • Principal
    • No "Snags" in these School Councils
    • Finding History in my Own "Backyard"
    • Humour In the Classroom
    • A "Learningful" Experience
    • Riding the Muskeg Special
    • The Big Picture
    • A Decade of Faces
  • Contact
  • Cambridge
Picture
Picture
​Wardair Boeing 727 CF-FUN
 
This photograph was made in the spring of 1966 at Edmonton Municipal Airport and it shows Wardair’s brand new Boeing 727 CF-FUN being introduced to the public. That’s Wardair’s DC-6 in the foreground, on that day becoming something of a relic having been usurped by the Boeing. Max Ward is at the back door of his Imperial sedan, helping Mrs. Ward out for the christening ceremony. Note the air stairs lowered at the front port side of the aircraft. 
 
For the christening, the stairs were retracted into the fuselage and Mrs. Ward whammed a Champaign bottle onto the narrow aluminum door that covered the opening of the air stairs. Twice! At that point, the engineer rushed up and stopped further damage to the fragile aluminum. A large steel hammer was then placed against the skin, the bottle was swung yet again and a successful eruption of Champaign splashed upon the new aircraft, now christened Cy Becker.
 
The public was invited to inspect the aircraft, entering by the air stair door that dropped from the rear of the fuselage and exiting by way of the front air stairs, now safely extended once again. I had become familiar with the airport as I was a student at NAIT at the time and often visited the Northwest Industries hangar where I was photographing the restoration of Grumman Goose aircraft CF-UAZ, a 1940’s aircraft still earning its keep along BC’s west coast. On that day, Iwalked out onto the tarmac to photograph Ward’s DC-6B as it framed the newcomer, made this shot that includes Pacific Western’s own DC-6B, and walked back and photographed the christening. I didn’t ask permission from security as there wasn’t any. Ah, glory days at airports!
 
According to Wayne Albertson (Wayne’s Wings), CF-FUN served with Wardair until sold to a Brazilian operator in 1973. It continued in airline service for another 20 years and was then sold to a Columbian operator. It was withdrawn from service in Bogota, Columbia in 1977 and converted into a restaurant on a Columbian army base. 
 
I thought it would be a nice idea if I sent the original negatives to Mr. Ward and did so. He wrote me the attached letter. This image was made by photographing a 16 x 20 inch print that I made at NAIT for an assignment. The print is over 50 years old and hasn’t received the best archival storage. I made this digital copy using Aperture on a Mac desktop computer.
 
Tim Johnston