Maritime Central Airways
| |||||||
Commenced operations | 1941 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ceased operations | 1963 | ||||||
Subsidiaries | Nordair | ||||||
Headquarters | Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada | ||||||
Key people | Carl Burke Josiah Anderson |
Maritime Central Airways was a predecessor of Eastern Provincial Airways and was founded by Prince Edward Island native Carl Burke and Josiah Anderson in 1941 out of Moncton, New Brunswick and provided standard passenger, cargo, and charter flights throughout the Maritimes and Newfoundland and Labrador - at the time not yet part of Canada.[1] This early fleet consisted of a Boeing 247 and a Fairchild 24.
Wartime operations
MCA participated in the Second World War effort with various projects, including a search and rescue mission for the U.S. government in Greenland in 1942 that caused the loss of one Barkley-Grow T8P-1.[2]
This charter was typical of the mixed-bag operations that most Canadian carriers, including MCA, survived on: in addition to the scheduled passenger runs we are familiar with today.
Early postwar history
By 1946, the fleet had grown to include a Douglas DC-3, de Havilland Rapide, Lockheed Model 10 Electra, Cessna Crane, and PBY Canso. In addition to passenger and cargo runs in the Maritimes, MCA tasks in the late 1940s consisted of a twice weekly service to the Magdalen Islands, carrying mail, seal surveys in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off the coast of Labrador, ice patrols, and charters from Charlottetown and Yarmouth to bring lobsters to Boston and New York. In 1948 alone, MCA carried almost two million pounds of freight and its fleet had grown to two DC-3s, 1 Canso, 4 Lockheed 10, 1 de Havilland Rapide, 2 Cranes, and 2 Stinsons.
The 1950s and closure
The 1950s were another period of tremendous growth for MCA. By 1953, MCA was the third largest carrier in Canada. MCA launched the first air service to the French island of St-Pierre and won contracts to provide air transportation for seventeen of forty-two Distant Early Warning Line (DEW) Stations being built in the Canadian north. By the time the DEW projects were finished, MCA had added a Vickers Viscount, Bristol Freighter, Avro York, Douglas DC-4 and Douglas DC-6 to its fleet. Post-DEW line work included such far-flung charter jobs as a four-year contract transporting Hungarian refugees and several trips shipping monkeys from India and Pakistan.
On August 11, 1957, tragedy struck when Maritime Central Airways Flight 315, a DC-4 loaded with members of the Imperial Veterans of Toronto who were returning from vacations in the UK, crashed near Issoudun, Quebec. All 79 people aboard were killed. Also in 1957, MCA set-up Nordair as a subsidiary with operations based at Dorval in Montreal. Nordair, soon on its own from MCA, would go on to become a major Canadian regional carrier in its own right before being absorbed by Canadian Pacific Air Lines in the mid-1980s.
See also
References
- http://www.memoryarchive.org/en/Marooned_in_the_Arctic,_1950s,_by_Ross_Binnie
External links
- CF-MCF crash data from Aviation Safety
- The Moncton Daily Times Monday 12 August 1957
- Brief Youtube footage of HP Herald in MCA livery
- v
- t
- e
- Aero Activities Limited
- Aéro Golfe
- Aero Trades Western
- Aeropro
- Air 500
- Air 2000 Canada
- Air Alliance
- Air Atlantic
- Air Atonabee
- Air Baffin
- Air BC
- Air Canada Jazz
- Air Canada Regional
- Air Canada Tango
- Air Caribou
- Air Charter Systems
- Air Club International
- Air Fecteau
- Air Gaspé
- Air Georgian
- Air Labrador
- Air Mikisew
- Air Norterra
- Air Nova
- Air Ontario
- Air Saguenay
- Air Sask
- Air Satellite
- Air Schefferville
- Air Southwest
- Air Toronto
- Airspeed Aviation
- Airtransit
- Aklavik Flying Services
- Alberta Citylink
- Alberta Express
- Alert Bay Air Services
- AllCanada Express
- Alta Flights
- Arctic Sunwest Charters
- Arctic Wings
- Arrow Airways
- Ashuanipi Aviation
- Associated Air Taxi
- Associated Airways
- CHC Helicopter#ExxpansionAssociated Helicopters
- Athabaska Airways
- Atonabee Airways
- Austin Airways
- Avionair
- Calumet Air Service
- Canada 3000
- Canada 3000 Cargo
- Canada Jetlines
- Canada West Airlines
- Canadian Airlines
- Canadian Airways
- Canadian Colonial Airways
- Canadian Pacific Air Lines
- Canadian Regional Airlines
- CanJet
- Capreol and Austin Air Services
- Cargo North
- Carl Millard
- Cassidair Services
- Pacific Coastal Airlines#HistoryCentral British Columbia Airlines
- Central Northern Airways
- Chaparal Charters
- Cherry Red Airline
- Chimo Air Service
- City Express
- Contact Airways
- Corporate Express
- Curtiss-Reid Flying Service
- La Ronge Aviation
- La Sarre Air Services
- Labrador Air Safari
- Labrador Airways
- Lac Saint-Jean Aviation
- Lamb Air
- Latham Island Airways
- Laurentide Air Services
- Leavens Bros Air Services
- Lethbridge Air Services
- Aviation careerLethbridge Aircraft Company
- Aviation careerLLethbridge Commercial Airways
- Little Red Air Service
- Lynx Air
- M&C Aviation
- McCall Aero Corporation
- MacKenzie Air Services
- Maestro
- Maritime Central Airways
- Matane Air Services
- Millardair
- Minerve Canada
- Mont Laurier Aviation
- Montmagny Air Service
- Montreal & Dominion Skyways
- NAC Air
- Nahanni Air Services
- Nationair
- New Air & Tours
- Newfoundland Airways
- Newfoundland Aero Sales and Services
- NewLeaf
- NextJet Canada
- Nolisair
- Norcanair
- Nordair
- NorOntair
- North Canada Air
- North Cariboo Flying Service
- North Pacific Seaplanes
- North Vancouver Air
- North-Wright Air
- Northern Mountain Airlines
- Northern Wings
- Nunasi-Central Airlines
- NWT Air
- Salt Spring Air
- Saskatchewan Government Airways
- Sealand Helicopters
- Saguenay Air Service
- Sept-Iles Helicopter Services
- Skeena Air Transport
- Sky Regional Airlines
- Skycraft Air Transport
- Skyservice
- Skyxpress
- Slave Air
- Sonicblue Airways
- Soundair
- Soundair Express
- Southern Air Transport
- Southern Alberta Airlines
- Southern Frontier Airlines
- Starratt Airways
- Sunwest Home Aviation
- Swanberg Air
- Swoop
- Yellowknife Airways
- Zip
- Zoom Airlines