Canadair
Fate | Acquired by Bombardier |
---|---|
Successor | Bombardier Aerospace |
Founded | 1944 |
Defunct | 1986 |
Headquarters | Montreal, Canada |
Canadair Ltd. was a civil and military aircraft manufacturer in Canada. It was a subsidiary of other aircraft manufacturers, then a nationalized corporation until privatized in 1986, and became the core of Bombardier Aerospace.
Canadair's origins lie in the foundation of a manufacturing centre for Canadian Vickers in the Montreal suburb of Saint-Laurent, at Cartierville Airport. Canadair Plant One is still there, although the airport no longer exists.
Contents
History
Absorbing the Canadian Vickers Ltd. operations, Canadair was created on 11 November 1944 as a separate entity by the government of Canada as a manufacturer of patrol PBY Canso flying boats for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Benjamin W. Franklin became its first president.[1] Besides the ongoing PBY contract, a development contract to produce a new variant of the Douglas DC-4 transport, was still in effect. The new Canadair DC-4M powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin engines emerged in 1946 as the "Northstar."
![](/w/images/thumb/0/07/Canadair_Sabre.jpg/300px-Canadair_Sabre.jpg)
In the immediate postwar era, Canadair bought the "work in progress" on the existing Douglas DC-3/C-47 series. In 1946, the Electric Boat Company bought a controlling interest in Canadair. The two companies merged to form the American company General Dynamics (GD) in 1952. In 1954, GD purchased Convair and reorganised Canadair as its Canadian subsidiary.
Nationalization and privatization
In 1976, the Canadian government acquired Canadair Ltd. from US company General Dynamics. It remained a federal crown corporation until 1986 when, having experienced record losses during its development of the Challenger business jet, the Mulroney government sold it to Bombardier Inc. It became the core of Bombardier Aerospace.
As part of Bombardier, Canadair lives on in the series of business jets or regional jets known as "RJ Series" or CRJs. More recently the branding has been dropped, and new projects from all of Bombardier's various aircraft divisions are now known simply as Bombardier Aerospace.
Legacy
Canadair has a record of several aviation firsts. The CL-44D, based on the Bristol Britannia, was the first design that allowed access by swinging the entire rear fuselage. The CL-89 and CL-289 were the first surveillance drones to be put into service in several countries' armed forces. The CL-84 was the first VTOL aircraft that rotated the wings to achieve vertical lift-off (tiltwing). The CL-215 was the first purposed-designed water bomber.
![](/w/images/thumb/a/aa/MUCTC-CTCUM_Flxible_5063.gif/300px-MUCTC-CTCUM_Flxible_5063.gif)
In the late 1950s the US Army contracted Canadair to develop a small light-weight all-terrain amphibious tracked vehicle. In turn, Canadair developed the CL-70 RAT Remote Articulated Track [2] which, while not a commercial success, gave Canadair the experience for the upgraded CL-91 Dynatrac, which was a marketing success and purchased by the US Army as XM-571.[3]
Canadair had diversity in other projects. The "Canarch" division was involved in curtain wall design and manufacture for a number of buildings. They also produce the cabins for many air traffic control towers operated by the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States. Both tracked and air-cushioned vehicles were designed, but only a few samples were built.
Products
Model | Name | Type | Crew | Passengers | Launch dates | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CL-1 | Canadair CL-1 | Flying boat | First flight: | License-built variant of the Consolidated Model 28-5 (PBV-1A or Canso A and OA-10A-VI) | ||
C-4 & C-5 | North Star | Cargo aircraft/Airliner | 2 or 3 | 52 | First flight: 1946 First del'y: 1948 |
License-built variant of the Douglas DC-4 |
CL-13 | Sabre | Fighter aircraft | 1 | 0 | First flight: 1950 First del'y: 1950 |
License-built North American F-86 Sabre |
CL-28 | Argus | Marine Reconnaissance | up to 15* | First flight: 1957 First del'y: 1960 |
Variant of the Bristol Britannia; *normal flights also included a reserve crew of four | |
CL-30 | Shooting Star | Trainer (aircraft) / ECM / Communication | 1 or 2 | 0 | First flight: 1952 First del'y: 1952 |
License-built Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star |
CL-41 CL-41G-5 |
Tutor Tebuan |
Trainer (aircraft) | 2 | 0 | Launch date: 1960 First flight: 1962 First del'y: 1966 |
|
CL-43 | Twin-engine logistics concept aircraft[4] | Never built, but later influenced the design for the CL-204 (later as CL-215); modified floatplane based on PBV-1 Canso (PBY-1 Catalina) with two R-1340 engines[5] | ||||
CL-44 | the Forty-Four CC-106 Yukon |
Military transport aircraft/Cargo aircraft | 9 | 134 | Launch date: 1959 | |
CL-45 | ASW concept helicopter | 1954 | Never built; joint effort with Hiller Aircraft and was to use three T38-GE2 engines[5] | |||
CL-52 | Bomber | 1956 | A USAF Boeing B-47B was loaned to the RCAF and turned over to Canadair to test the Orenda Iroquois PS-13 engine for the Avro Arrow project. After the Arrow was cancelled the aircraft was returned to the U.S.[6] | |||
CL-60 | Trainer/Transport aircraft | 1 / 2 | 3 / 12 | 1952 | Beech T-36 fuselage and final assembly; program cancelled in 1953[7] | |
CL-61 | RAT (Remote Articulated Track) | Armored personnel carrier | 1959 | Prototypes for the CL-70[8] | ||
CL-66 | Cosmopolitan | Transport aircraft | 2 | 52 | First flight: 1959 | Modified Convair CV-540 |
CL-70 | RAT (Remote Articulated Track) | Armored personnel carrier | 1959 | Prototypes for the CL-91 Dynatrac[8] | ||
CL-84 | Dynavert | Vertical/Short Takeoff/landing Experimental aircraft | 2 | up to 15 combat troops | Launch date: 1960 First flight: 1965 |
Late 1960s - No production aircraft |
CL-89 & CL-289 | Surveillance Drone | none | 0 | First flight: 1964 First del'y: 1969 |
||
CL-90 | Starfighter | Strike fighter / Trainer (aircraft) | 1 or 2 | 0 | First flight: 1961 First del'y: 1962 |
License-built Lockheed F-104 Starfighter |
CL-91 | Dynatrac | Armored Personnel Carrier | 1960s | [8] | ||
CL-204 | Water bomber | 1962 | Based on CL-43 and Canadair CL-1 Canso (variant of Consolidated PBY Catalina), the concept led to production of the larger CL-215 | |||
CL-210 | Satellite antenna | n/a | n/a | 1965 | Installed at Shirleys Bay, Ontario[9] | |
CL-212 | Air cushion vehicle | 1964-1967 | Development transferred to General Dynamics Electric Boat[9] | |||
CL-213 | Fisher | All-terrain vehicle | 1 | 1 | 1963-1964 | [8] |
CL-215 | Scooper | Water Bomber | 2 | up to 18 passengers (utility version) | First flight: 1967 First del'y:1969 |
|
CL-218 | Transit bus | 1 | 45 | 1965-1966 | License-built Flxible New Look bus | |
CL-219 | CF-5 (CF-116 Freedom Fighter) | Strike fighter / Fighter bomber | 1 or 2 | 0 | First flight: 1968 | License-built Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter |
CL-225 | Satellite antenna | n/a | n/a | 1965 | Installed at Lac-Bouchette, Quebec[9] | |
CL-227 | Sentinel | Remote control drone | none | 0 | First flight: 1980 | |
CL-251 | Subcontract | n/a | n/a | 1971-1975 | Wing panels and other components for the Dassault Mercure airliner[7] | |
CL-252 | 1972 | Modification of two Lockheed L-188 Electra airliners for Environment Canada ice patrols[7] | ||||
CL-257 | Subcontract | n/a | n/a | 1973-1985 | Fuselage sections for the Boeing 747SP[7] | |
CL-281 | Subcontract | n/a | n/a | 1977-1994 | Components for the Lockheed CP-140 Aurora and P-3C Orion[7] | |
CL-415 | Superscooper | Water Bomber | 2 | 1 on jump seat, 8 on bench seats | First flight: 1993 First del'y: 1994 |
|
CC-144 | Challenger | Business jet | 2 | 8 to 19 | First flight: 1980 First del'y: 1986 |
|
Bombardier CRJ | Regional jet Airliner | 2* | 50-90 | First flight: 1980s First del'y: 1990s |
-100, -200, -700, -900, and -1000 series; *plus flight attendants | |
Bombardier BRJX | Transport jet / Business jet | 2* | 80-120 | *plus flight attendants |
Missiles
- Velvet Glove - Air-to-air missile project.
See also
References
- Notes
- ↑ "Canadair." Project North Star Restoration Primer, April 2003. Retrieved: 31 December 2011.
- ↑ "Canadian RAT can scurry anywhere." Popular Science, December 1959, pp. 118–120.
- ↑ "CL-91 Dynatrac." Canadian America Strategic Review. Retrieved: 31 December 2011.
- ↑ "Canadair Forty Four Trivia." Swingtail: The Newsletter of the CL44 Association, December 2001. Retrieved: 31 December 2011.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Canadair Designations." secretprojects.co. Retrieved: 31 December 2011.
- ↑ Block, Burwell, ed. "The CL-52/B-47B." The B-47 Stratojet Association. Retrieved: 4 June 2011.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Bibliography
- Milberry, Larry. The Canadair North Star. Toronto: CANAV Books, 1982. ISBN 0-07-549965-7.
- Milberry, Larry. The Canadair Sabre. Toronto: CANAV Books, 1986. ISBN 0-9690703-7-3.
- Pickler, Ron and Milberry, Larry. Canadair: The First 50 Years. Toronto: CANAV Books, 1995. ISBN 0-921022-07-7.
- Marsaly, Frederic and Samuel Pretat. "Bombardiers d'eau/ Canadair Scoopers." Editions Minimonde76, May 2012. ISBN 9-782954-181806.
External links
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Canadair. |