FlyPast – August 2018

GLORY DAYS PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORIES

114 FLYPAST August 2018

Canuck

C llection

Trans-Canada Airlines was formed in 1945 with DC-3s for internal fl ights, but Canadair

DC-4M North Stars (such as this example CF-TFB) were employed on longer routes from 1947.

The aircraft were powered by Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, and fl ew to European countries

including the UK, before being replaced by Lockheed Super Constellations.

Resplendent in its ‘house’ livery, Canadair’s CL-44 coded CF-MKP-X was a company test and

demonstrator aircraft, and the fi rst to be built for the civil market. Its aerial debut was made on

November 16, 1960. Twelve dedicated airframes were built for the RCAF, designated CC-106 Yukon.

No focus on Canadian post-war aviation would be complete without a glimpse of the ill-fated

Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow interceptor, seen here during its roll-out ceremony in Toronto, on

October 4, 1957. As with Britain’s similarly infamous TSR.2, the CF-105 project was cancelled

due to cost overruns and politics.

Post-war Canadian aviation is the subject of

this month’s Glory Days, courtesy of the

Key Publishing archive

When the RCAF needed to replace its ageing Neptune maritime patrol aircraft, it plumped for

the CL-28 Argus, which was based on the Bristol Britannia. The structural conversion involved

shortening the fuselage and adding two bomb bays. Crews for the type were trained by the

Argus Conversion Unit from 1958.