Almost every Canadian airport code starts with the letter Y. YVR. YYZ. YUL. Nobody agrees on why. In this video, I dig into the real history behind Canada's airport codes, from their railway telegraph origins in the 1920s to the three-letter switch in the late 1930s, and the popular "Y is for Yes" theory that even Wikipedia can't back up. You'll learn why Canada tacked the Y onto the front of our codes instead of adding a letter to the end like the Americans did, why some Canadian airports actually start with Z or W, and how a Rush guitarist turned an air traffic broadcast into a Grammy-nominated instrumental. Turns out our whole airport naming system might just be a temporary fix nobody got around to changing. Which feels about right. -- 🏆 Get exclusive weekly Behind the Scenes videos and more by joining this channel! https://www.youtube.com/todmaffinvideo/join 📰 NEWSLETTER https://newsletter.todmaffin.com ✅ MY LINKTREE: https://links.todmaffin.com ☕ Like my stuff? — Buy me a coffee https://support.todmaffin.com 🦋 Follow me on Bluesky — https://bsky.app/profile/todmaffin.com 🔗 Contact my team — https://contact.todmaffin.com

Curious Canadian History · Episode