Canadair
Encyclopedia
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
corporation until privatized
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
in 1986, and became the core of Bombardier Aerospace
Bombardier Aerospace
Bombardier Aerospace is a division of Bombardier Inc. and is the third-largest airplane manufacturer in the world. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada.- History :...
.
Canadair's origins lie in the foundation of a manufacturing centre for Canadian Vickers in the Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
suburb of Saint-Laurent
Saint-Laurent, Quebec
Saint-Laurent is a former city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is now the largest in area of the boroughs of the city of Montreal....
, at Cartierville Airport
Cartierville Airport
Cartierville Airport was an airport in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, now a borough of Montreal. The airport was decommissioned and turned into the Bois-Franc neighbourhood. It was located next to Route 117, and the terminal buildings were accessed via Boul...
. Canadair Plant One is still there, although the airport no longer exists.
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 CansoPBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. PBYs served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in the air forces and navies of many other...
flying boat
Flying boat
A flying boat is a fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a float plane as it uses a purpose-designed fuselage which can float, granting the aircraft buoyancy. Flying boats may be stabilized by under-wing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...
s for the Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
. Benjamin W. Franklin became its first president. Besides the ongoing PBY contract, a development contract to produce a new variant of the Douglas DC-4
Douglas DC-4
The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...
transport, was still in effect. The new Canadair DC-4M powered by Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce Limited
Rolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....
Merlin
Rolls-Royce Merlin
The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled, V-12, piston aero engine, of 27-litre capacity. Rolls-Royce Limited designed and built the engine which was initially known as the PV-12: the PV-12 became known as the Merlin following the company convention of naming its piston aero engines after...
engines emerged in 1946 as the "Northstar."
General Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation is a U.S. defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest defense contractor in the world. Its headquarters are in West Falls Church , unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Falls Church area.The company has...
(GD) in 1952. In 1954, GD purchased Convair
Convair
Convair was an American aircraft manufacturing company which later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Vultee Aircraft and Consolidated Aircraft, and went on to produce a number of pioneering aircraft, such as the Convair B-36 bomber, and the F-102...
and reorganised Canadair as its Canadian subsidiary.
Nationalisation and privatisation
In 1976, the Canadian government acquired Canadair Ltd. from US based General Dynamics. It remained a federal crown corporation until 1986 when, having experienced record losses during its development of the ChallengerBombardier Challenger
The Challenger is a family of mid-sized business jets produced by Canadair, and later by Bombardier Aerospace.Aircraft include:* Bombardier Challenger 600 the original series; includes the CL-600, CL-601, CL-604, and CL-605...
business jet, the Mulroney
24th Canadian Ministry
The Twenty-Fourth Canadian Ministry was the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. It governed Canada from 17 September 1984 to 25 June 1993, including the 33rd Canadian Parliament and most of the 34th...
government sold it to Bombardier Inc. It became the core of Bombardier Aerospace
Bombardier Aerospace
Bombardier Aerospace is a division of Bombardier Inc. and is the third-largest airplane manufacturer in the world. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada.- History :...
.
As part of Bombardier, Canadair lives on in the series of business jet
Business jet
Business jet, private jet or, colloquially, bizjet is a term describing a jet aircraft, usually of smaller size, designed for transporting groups of up to 19 business people or wealthy individuals...
s or regional jet
Regional jet
A Regional jet , is a class of short to medium-range turbofan powered airliners.-History:The term "Regional jet" describes a range of short to medium-haul turbofan powered aircraft, whose use throughout the world expanded after the advent of Airline Deregulation in the United States in...
s known as "RJ Series" or CRJs
Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet
The Bombardier CRJ is a family of regional airliners manufactured by Bombardier:* CRJ100 - 50 seats* CRJ200 - 50 seats* CRJ700 - 70 seats* CRJ705 - 75 seats* CRJ900 - 90 seats* CRJ1000 - 100 seats...
. 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 BritanniaBristol Britannia
The Bristol Type 175 Britannia was a British medium-to-long-range airliner built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1952 to fly across the British Empire...
, 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
VTOL
A vertical take-off and landing aircraft is one that can hover, take off and land vertically. This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and tiltrotors...
aircraft that rotated the wings to achieve vertical lift-off (tiltwing
Tiltwing
A tiltwing aircraft features a wing that is horizontal for conventional forward flight and rotates up for vertical takeoff and landing. It is similar to the tiltrotor design where only the propeller and engine rotate. Tiltwing aircraft are typically fully capable of VTOL operations.The tiltwing...
). The CL-215 was the first purposed-designed water bomber.
Canadair had diversity in other projects. The "Canarch" division was involved in curtain wall
Curtain wall
A curtain wall is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, but merely keep out the weather. As the curtain wall is non-structural it can be made of a lightweight material reducing construction costs. When glass is used as the curtain wall, a great advantage is...
design and manufacture for a number of buildings. They also produce the cabs for many control towers operated by the Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
in the United States. Both tracked and air-cushioned vehicles were designed, but only a few samples were built.
Products
| Aircraft | Description | Seats | Launch date | 1st flight | 1st delivery | Scheduled to cease production |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C-4 North Star/Argonaut Canadair North Star The Canadair North Star was a 1940s Canadian development of the Douglas C-54 / DC-4 aircraft. Instead of radial piston engines found on the Douglas design, Canadair employed Rolls-Royce Merlin engines in order to achieve a 35 mph faster cruising speed. The prototype flew on 15 July 1946 and... /C-5 license built conversion of Douglas Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer, based in Long Beach, California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas, Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas... DC-4 |
Transport aircraft Transport aircraft Transport aircraft is a broad category of aircraft that includes:* Airliners* Cargo aircraft* Mail planes* Military transport aircraft... /Airliner Airliner An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such aircraft are operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an aircraft intended for carrying multiple passengers in commercial... |
Crew: 2-3; 52 passengers | 1946 | 1948 | ||
| Canadair Sabre (CL-13) license built North American North American Aviation North American Aviation was a major US aerospace manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft, including the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, and the XB-70, as well as Apollo Command and Service... F-86 Sabre F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre was a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as America's first swept wing fighter which could counter the similarly-winged Soviet MiG-15 in high speed dogfights over the skies of the Korean War... |
Fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets... |
Crew: 1 | 1950 | 1950 | ||
| Canadair T-33 Canadair T-33 |-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* "Canada's Fab Four". Air Forces Monthly. Stamford, Lincolnshire, UK: Key Publishing Limited, August, 2003. ISSN 0955-7091.... Shooting Star (CL-30) license built Lockheed Lockheed Corporation The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:... T-33 Shooting Star T-33 Shooting Star The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star is an American-built jet trainer aircraft. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948, piloted by Tony LeVier. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then designated T-33A. It was used by the... |
Trainer (aircraft) Trainer (aircraft) A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate in-flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristics and a simplified cockpit arrangement—allows... / ECM / Communication |
Crew: 1 or 2 (trainer) | 1952 | 1952 | ||
| CL-66 / Cosmopolitan modified Convair CV-540 |
Transport aircraft Transport aircraft Transport aircraft is a broad category of aircraft that includes:* Airliners* Cargo aircraft* Mail planes* Military transport aircraft... |
Crew: 2; 52 passengers | 1959 | |||
| Canadair CF-104 Canadair CF-104 The Canadair CF-104 Starfighter was a modified version of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter supersonic fighter aircraft built in Canada by Canadair under licence... / Starfighter (CL-90) license built Lockheed Lockheed Corporation The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:... F-104 Starfighter F-104 Starfighter The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is a single-engine, high-performance, supersonic interceptor aircraft originally developed for the United States Air Force by Lockheed. One of the Century Series of aircraft, it served with the USAF from 1958 until 1969, and continued with Air National Guard units... |
Strike fighter Strike fighter In a current military parlance, a strike fighter is a multi-role combat aircraft designed to operate primarily in the air-to-surface attack role while also incorporating certain performance characteristics of a fighter aircraft. As a category, it is distinct from fighter-bombers... / Trainer (aircraft) Trainer (aircraft) A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate in-flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristics and a simplified cockpit arrangement—allows... |
Crew: 1 or 2 (trainer) | 1961 | 1962 | ||
| CL-89 and CL-289 | Surveillance Drone Unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity... |
none | 1964 | 1969 | ||
| CL-215 Canadair CL-215 The Canadair CL-215 was the first model in a series of firefighting flying boat amphibious aircraft built by Canadair and later Bombardier. The CL-215 is a twin-engine, high-wing aircraft designed to operate well at low speed and in gust-loading circumstances, as are found over forest fires... Scooper |
Water Bomber Aerial firefighting Aerial firefighting is the use of aircraft and other aerial resources to combat wildfires. The types of aircraft used include fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Smokejumpers and rappellers are also classified as aerial firefighters, delivered to the fire by parachute from a variety of fixed-wing... |
Crew: 2; up to 18 passengers (utility version) | 1967 | 1969 | ||
| Canadair CF-5 (CF-116 Freedom Fighter CF-116 Freedom Fighter The Canadair CF-5 was the Canadair licensed-built version of the American Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter aircraft primarily for the Canadian Forces. The CF-5 was upgraded periodically throughout its service career in Canada... ) / Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter built under licence. Company designation CL-219. |
Strike fighter Strike fighter In a current military parlance, a strike fighter is a multi-role combat aircraft designed to operate primarily in the air-to-surface attack role while also incorporating certain performance characteristics of a fighter aircraft. As a category, it is distinct from fighter-bombers... / Fighter bomber Strike fighter In a current military parlance, a strike fighter is a multi-role combat aircraft designed to operate primarily in the air-to-surface attack role while also incorporating certain performance characteristics of a fighter aircraft. As a category, it is distinct from fighter-bombers... |
Crew: 1 or 2 (trainer) | 1968 | |||
| CL-415 Superscooper | Water Bomber Aerial firefighting Aerial firefighting is the use of aircraft and other aerial resources to combat wildfires. The types of aircraft used include fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Smokejumpers and rappellers are also classified as aerial firefighters, delivered to the fire by parachute from a variety of fixed-wing... |
Crew: 2; 1 on jump seat, 8 on bench seats | 1993 | 1994 | ||
| CC-144 Challenger Bombardier Challenger 600 The Bombardier Challenger 600 series is a family of business jets designed by Bill Lear and produced first by Canadair until that company was bought by Bombardier Aerospace in 1986.-Development:... |
Business jet Business jet Business jet, private jet or, colloquially, bizjet is a term describing a jet aircraft, usually of smaller size, designed for transporting groups of up to 19 business people or wealthy individuals... |
Crew: 2; 8 to 19 passengers | 1980 | 1986 | ||
| Bombardier CRJ Bombardier CRJ200 The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 are a family of regional airliner manufactured by Bombardier, and based on the Canadair Challenger business jet.-Development:... -100, -200, -700, -900, and -1000 series |
Regional jet Regional jet A Regional jet , is a class of short to medium-range turbofan powered airliners.-History:The term "Regional jet" describes a range of short to medium-haul turbofan powered aircraft, whose use throughout the world expanded after the advent of Airline Deregulation in the United States in... Airliner Airliner An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such aircraft are operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an aircraft intended for carrying multiple passengers in commercial... |
Crew: 2 (plus flight attendants); 50-90 passengers | 1980s | 1990s | ||
| Bombardier BRJX | Transport jet Cargo aircraft A cargo aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft designed or converted for the carriage of goods, rather than passengers. They are usually devoid of passenger amenities, and generally feature one or more large doors for the loading and unloading of cargo... / Business jet Business jet Business jet, private jet or, colloquially, bizjet is a term describing a jet aircraft, usually of smaller size, designed for transporting groups of up to 19 business people or wealthy individuals... |
Crew: 2 (plus flight attendants); 80-120 passengers | ||||
| CL-227/Sentinel | Remote control Remote control A remote control is a component of an electronics device, most commonly a television set, used for operating the television device wirelessly from a short line-of-sight distance.The remote control is usually contracted to remote... drone Unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle , also known as a unmanned aircraft system , remotely piloted aircraft or unmanned aircraft, is a machine which functions either by the remote control of a navigator or pilot or autonomously, that is, as a self-directing entity... |
none | 1980 | |||
| CL-28 Argus / Bristol Britannia Bristol Britannia The Bristol Type 175 Britannia was a British medium-to-long-range airliner built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1952 to fly across the British Empire... |
Marine Reconnaissance | Crew: up to 5 (normal flights also included a reserve crew of four) | 1957 | 1980 | ||
| CL-41 Tutor / CL-41G-5 Tebuan | Trainer (aircraft) Trainer (aircraft) A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate in-flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristics and a simplified cockpit arrangement—allows... |
Crew: 2 | 1960 | 1962 | 1966 | |
| CL-84 Dynavert | Vertical/Short Takeoff/landing V/STOL Vertical and/or short take-off and landing is a term used to describe aircraft that are able to take-off or land vertically or on short runways. Vertical takeoff and landing describes craft which do not require runways at all... Experimental aircraft Experimental aircraft An experimental aircraft is an aircraft that has not yet been fully proven in flight. Often, this implies that new aerospace technologies are being tested on the aircraft, though the label is more broad.... |
Crew: 2 (up to 15 combat troops could be carried) | 1960 | 1965 | late 1960s - No production aircraft | |
| CL-44/CC-106 Yukon | Transport aircraft Transport aircraft Transport aircraft is a broad category of aircraft that includes:* Airliners* Cargo aircraft* Mail planes* Military transport aircraft... |
Crew: 9, 134 passengers | 1959 |
A USAF Boeing B-47B was leased to the RCAF and turned over to Canadair for modifications for testing of the Orenda Iroquois PS-13 engine for the Avro Arrow project. The B-47 was re-classified as CL-52 and returned to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
after the Arrow project cancellation.
| Aircraft | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CL-43 | twin engine logistics aircraft | Never built, but later influenced the design for the CL-204 (later as CL-215); based on PBV-1 Canso (PBY-1 Catalina) with 2 x R-1340 engines |
| CL-45 | ASW helicopter | Never built; joint effort with Hiller Aircraft Hiller Aircraft Hiller Aircraft Company was founded in 1942 as Hiller Industries by Stanley Hiller to develop helicopters.- History :Stanley Hiller, then seventeen, established the first helicopter factory on the West Coast of the United States, located in Berkeley, California, in 1942, under the name "Hiller... (1954) and was to use 3 x T38-GE2 General Electric T58 |-See also:-References:* and... engines |
| CL-204 | Fire fighting water bomber | 1962 Concept lead to the production of the CL-215 |
Further reading
- Milberry, LarryLarry MilberryLarry Milberry is a Canadian aviation author and publisher.Milberry is a lifelong aviation enthusiast whose first book, Aviation in Canada, was published by McGraw-Hill in 1979. Now an aviation classic, this book was written over a decade while he worked as a high school teacher in the Toronto...
. The Canadair North Star. Toronto: CANAV Books, 1982. ISBN 0-07-549965-7. - Milberry, LarryLarry MilberryLarry Milberry is a Canadian aviation author and publisher.Milberry is a lifelong aviation enthusiast whose first book, Aviation in Canada, was published by McGraw-Hill in 1979. Now an aviation classic, this book was written over a decade while he worked as a high school teacher in the Toronto...
. The Canadair Sabre. Toronto: CANAV Books, 1986. ISBN 0-9690703-7-3. - Pickler, Ron and Milberry, LarryLarry MilberryLarry Milberry is a Canadian aviation author and publisher.Milberry is a lifelong aviation enthusiast whose first book, Aviation in Canada, was published by McGraw-Hill in 1979. Now an aviation classic, this book was written over a decade while he worked as a high school teacher in the Toronto...
. Canadair: The First 50 Years. Toronto: CANAV Books, 1995. ISBN 0-921022-07-7.