Canadair
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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.
History
Canadair's origins lie in the foundation of a manufacturing center for Canadian Vickers in the Montreal suburb of Saint-Laurent, at Cartierville Airport. Canadair Plant One is still there, it is although the airport no longer exists.Canadair was created in 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. In 1946 the Electric Boat Company bought a controlling interest in Canadair. General Dynamics (GD) would come from the merger of the two and Electro-Dynamics in 1952. In 1954 GD purchased Convair, and reorganized Canadair as its Canadian subsidiary.
In 1976, the Canadian government acquired Canadair. It remained a federal crown corporation until 1986 when it was sold to Bombardier as part of the privatization plan of 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.
In some countries such as France, "Canadair" has become synonymous with water bomber airplanes used in aerial firefighting.
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 (tilt-rotor). The previously mentioned CL-215 was the first purposed-designed water bomber.
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. [ref "Canada - The first 50 years"]
Aircraft
| Aircraft | Description | Seats | Launch date | 1st flight | 1st delivery | Scheduled to cease production |
| C-4 North Star/Argonaut license built Douglas DC-4 | Transport/Airliner | |||||
| Canadair F86 Sabre license built North American F-86 Sabre | Fighter | 1 | 1949 | 1969 | ||
| Canadair T-33 Shooting Star license-built Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star | Fighter/Trainer | 1 | 1950s | |||
| CL-66 / Cosmopolitan modified Convair 240 | Transport | 1959 | ||||
| Canadair F-104 / Starfighter license-built Lockheed F-104 Starfighter | Fighter/Attack/Nuclear Payload Delivery/Trainer | 1/2 | 1961 | 1962 | ||
| CL-89 and CL-289 | Surveillance Drones | none | 1964 | 1969 | ||
| CL-215 | Water Bomber | 1969 | ||||
| CL-415 | Water Bomber | 1993 | 1994 | |||
| Challenger | Business Jet | 8-19 | 1980 | 1986 | ||
| CRJ-100, -200, -600 and -700 series | Business Jet | 50-90 | 1980s | 1990s | ||
| Bombardier BRJX | Business Jet | 80-120 | ||||
| CL-227/Sentinel | Remote Controlled Drone | none | ||||
| CL-28 Argus | Marine Reconnaissance | crew of up to 5 | ||||
| CL-41 Tutor | Trainer | 2 | 1960 | |||
| CL-84 / Dynavert | Vertical Take-off Aircraft | 1960 | 1965 | late 1960s - No production aircraft | ||
| CL-44/CC-106 Yukon | Transport | 2 | 1959 |
See also
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