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Canadair

Canadair was a civil and military aircraft manufacturer in Canada. It was the subsidiary of other aircraft manufacturers and 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.

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. 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."

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 General Dynamics (GD) in 1952. In 1954, GD purchased Convair and reorganized Canadair as its Canadian subsidiary.

Crown corporation

In 1976, the Canadian government acquired Canadair from US based General Dynamics. It remained a federal crown corporation until 1986 when it was sold to Bombardier. Having experienced record losses, the corporation was privatized under the Mulroney government. It became the core of Bombardier Aerospace.

As part of Bombardier, Canadair lived 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 the 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 (tiltrotor). The CL-215 was the first purposed-designed water bomber. In European countries, "Canadair" has become synonymous with water bomber airplanes used in aerial firefighting.

Canadair had diversity in other projects. One division "Canarch" was involved in curtain wall design and manufacture for a number of buildings. They also produce the cabs for many 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.

Product list and details (date information from Canadair)
Aircraft	Description	Seats	Launch date	1st flight	1st delivery	Scheduled to cease production
C-4 North Star/Argonaut/C-5 license built conversion of Douglas DC-4	Transport/Airliner	Crew: two/three, 52 passengers		1946	1948
Canadair Canadair Sabre (CL-13) license built North American F-86 Sabre	Fighter	Crew: one	1950	1969
Canadair T-33 Shooting Star (CL-30) license built Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star	Trainer/ ECM/ Communication	Crew: two		1952	1952
CL-66 / Cosmopolitan modified Convair CV-540	Transport	Crew: two, 52 passengers		1959
Canadair Canadair CF-104 / Starfighter (CL-90) license built Lockheed F-104 Starfighter	Strike Fighter/Trainer	Crew: One/two		1961	1962
CL-89, CL-227 and CL-289	Surveillance Drones	none		1964	1969
CL-215	Water Bomber	Crew: two		1967	1969
Canadair CF-5, CF-116 Freedom Fighter, Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter built under licence. Company designation CL-219.	Fighter bomber	Crew: one/two		1968
CL-415	Water Bomber	Crew: two		1993	1994
Challenger	Business Jet	Crew: two, eight-19 passengers		1980	1986
CRJ-100, -200, -700, -900, and -1000 series	Transport Jet	Crew: two (plus flight attendants),50-90 passengers	1980s	1990s
Bombardier BRJX	Transport Jet	Crew: two (plus flight attendants)80-120 passengers
CL-227/Sentinel	Remote Controlled Drone	none		1980
CL-28 Argus	Marine Reconnaissance	Crew: up to five (normal flights also included a reserve crew of four)		1957	1980
CL-41 Tutor	Trainer	Two		1960
CL-84 / Dynavert	Vertical/Short Takeoff/landing aircraft	Crew: two (up to 15 combat troops could be carried)	1960	1965		late 1960s - No production aircraft
CL-44/CC-106 Yukon	Transport	Crew: nine, 134 passengers	1959

References

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.