Maritime Central Airways

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.

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.

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.