Canadair
| Fate | Acquired by Bombardier |
|---|---|
| Successor | Bombardier Aerospace |
| Founded | 1944 |
| Defunct | 1986 |
| Headquarters | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Website | www |
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.
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 the American company General Dynamics (GD) in 1952. In 1954, GD purchased Convair and reorganised Canadair as its Canadian subsidiary.
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.
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Wikipedia