5 YEARS AGO: Air Canada RETIRES its last 747 in TO!

AIR CANADA 747 Service begins… with a pamphlet!

In 1971.

And the six page pamphlet proudly showcased Air Canada's new breed of luxurious aircraft that was more like an upper class hotel, than an airplano. My dad got me this AC pamphlet back in the day… but I somehow lost it through the years, and when I saw it again, one day on eBay, well…

BACK WHEN I WAS a kid, a coupla' years ago… the 747 was a brand new thing!

B I G and LOUD!!

And AC had bought three!

We lived 2.5 miles from Toronto International Airport, on one of its' glorious flightpaths.

The neighbours hated that reality!

I loved it.

Those early 747s had a very distinct sound.

There were STILL a lot of propliners back then, and the 747s sounded nothing like those harsh, struggling, turboprop engines.

As the JUMBO JET left the runway, you could hear the loud drone of the 747's massive four Pratt and Whitney's all the way from airport, out, into our little Etobicoke neighbourhood.

BACK THEN there wasn't the skyscraper, or housing density, to block that drone… not like the Toronto GTA has today, at an overpopulated 6 million inhabitants. And illegals.

Showcased are just two pages, of the battered six page ambassador, and why someone couldn't take a non-blurry image of an Air Canada 747 in flight, well, I'll never know!

So there's the past. Have a look ~

5 YEARS AGO on 31 October 2004, the last Air Canada Boeing 747 flight landed in Toronto from Frankfurt as AC873, ending 33 years of 747 service with the airline.