Jane's Walk: Learn about Marilyn Monroe at the Calgary airport and other aviation tales

In 1939, the first Calgary airport terminal opened — just in time for the Second World War to break out.

It wasn't Calgary's first airport. It was actually its fourth or fifth, dating back to 1914 (Bowness Park). But it was the first time a landing field in Calgary was equipped with a terminal.

"This was the very first time that we had an official terminal building where passengers could come [inside]," pilot Richard De Boer said in an interview with The Homestretch. "Your baggage gets loaded. There's a lunch counter and all that sort of thing.

"It was a big modern facility for its day."

That's one of the stories you might hear from de Boer, who's hosting a Jane's Walk on Sunday at the Hangar Flight Museum, where he'll tell a few aviation stories about the Calgary airport's first terminal. (It still exists, at 620 McTavish Road N.E., two blocks north of the museum.)

This weekend, there will be Jane's Walks spread throughout the city, with experts talking about a wide range of subjects. There will be one about urban biodiversity, hidden Brentwood, the Stones of Signal Hill, Insta Famous Downtown Spots, the Beltline through the eyes of a writer, a nature photography workshop and walk, and Glenbow Ranch through the eons.

But back to that first terminal, in 1939.

Wartime brought surge in activity

The outbreak of war changed things for the Calgary airport, too.

"It was intended for civilian traffic," De Boer said, "but of course by the end of 1939, World War II started, and it just super-inflated the amount of activity that was going on in Canada.

"The aviation activity went from one terminal building — by the end of 1941, there were 30 buildings on that site. There were five huge wooden hangars. There were 25 other service buildings at drill hall, a parade square, vehicle garages, and all this sort of thing.

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"It was a huge bump to the aviation community," he added, "and to the level of activity here in Canada. We ended up hosting tens of thousands of airmen from the Commonwealth countries and the United States, who had come here to train for World War II."

Marilyn draws a crowd

One of the most memorable moments for the terminal took place in 1953, when Marilyn Monroe showed up.

She was shooting the movie River of No Return with Robert Mitchum in Banff (an event that inspired the play My One and Only by Calgary playwright Ken Cameron, produced by Alberta Theatre Projects in 2004).

That resulted in crowds flocking to the terminal, where there was no airport security — or even fences, for that matter.

"She was out on the tarmac with the airplane," De Boer said. "People were driving out, walking up, wanted to get her autograph, chat with her and all this sort of thing."

One fan leaving the tarmac after a visit walked through the terminal, where she noticed a few people at the lunch counter.

"They said, what are you doing in here? Marilyn Monroe's out on the ramp!"

It turned out two of the people at the lunch counter were actress Shelley Winters as well as a bearded Mitchum, who was amusing himself by pouring coffee for patrons.

"It turned out that Shelley Winters and Marilyn had had a rather nasty fight and they weren't talking to each other that day," De Boer said. "And Shelley Winters came back with a very sharp rebuke for the woman … something to the effect that, 'well as far as I'm concerned, that beep can stay out there for as long as possible.'"

By the time the dust settled, Marilyn had returned from the tarmac and locked herself in the bathroom, until Winters was removed from the building.

Tough negotiator

During the war, a lot of buildings were added by the Americans, de Boer said.

"They had put in this tremendously deep and solid concrete pad and built some buildings over on the west side of the airport to use for their own traffic — going up to Alaska and over to Russia and that sort of thing," he said.

By the end of the war, the Calgary terminal was already too small for the amount of traffic, and plans were underfoot to open McCall Field, further north, the predecessor to the present airport.

But before all of that, Calgary took over running the American side, which prompted a response from the Americans, de Boer said.

"The Americans said, 'Well, just a minute,'" he said. "'We put in that tremendous pad there. And those buildings!'

"So they actually sent us a bill.

"The airport manager at the time, George Craig, is someone who I wish were still around and was negotiating trade contracts," he added, "because his response to that bill was a very simple no.

"Come and get it."

The Historic YYC Airport Jane's Walk is on Sunday, 11 a.m., starting at the Hangar Flight Museum, 4629 McCall Way N.E. Gather at the flag poles on the northeast corner of the museum parking lot.

With files from The Homestretch.