National Treasure: The History of TransCanada Airlines

Gordon C. Shaw is professor emeritus in the Faculty of Administrative
Studies at York University.

National Treasure tells the story of TransCanada Airlines, from its
beginning as a Crown corporation in 1937 until it became Air Canada in
1964. The book goes beyond the commercial history to profile some of the
company’s employees (especially those who joined in 1937 and went on
to become senior officers) and explain the technical factors behind the
choice of the various aircraft. Jokes, poems, letters, personal stories,
and passenger complaints recorded in the employee newsletter, Between
Ourselves, are also related. Although generally successful, the mix of
social as commercial history sometimes results in disorienting shifts in
the narrative (e.g., a paragraph on the economics of Vanguard aircraft
may be followed an account of a child who wants to be

a flight attendant or of barking dogs at the Yarmouth airport). That
said, the book has much to offer anyone with an interest in airlines.