National Treasure: The History of Trans Canada Airlines

Here are the planes: the Lockheed "14," which suffered from embarrassing engine failures, the Electra, which featured radio antennas that were prone to lightning strikes, and the Lancaster, which held the Trans-Atlantic non-stop speed record from Montreal to the United Kingdom (11 hours and 14 minutes); the employees: Zebulon Lewis Leigh ("Lewie"), a "barnstormer" who became TCA's first pilot, and Lucille Garner and Pat Eccleston, registered nurses who became TCA's first female employees and Canada's first stewardesses; and the flights: first the Vancouver-Seattle route, then onward across Canada, then over the Atlantic Ocean to international ports of call. Packed with photos, and enlivened by interviews with past pilots, flight attendants and other employees, quotes from TCA staff newsletters, excerpts from the company's annual reports and letters from passengers all over Canada, "National Treasure" is an absorbing and well-researched look at commercial aviation in Canada.