Canadian Cobras (Part Fourteen)
The final evolution of the CanCar Cobra was the post-war Model 120/Model 122 JetCobra proposals. The prompt for these designs was Turbo Research's shift from centrifugal turbojet designs to the more powerful axial-flow TR-4.
With the war in the Pacific over, CanCar took the opportunity to completely redesign their first jet fighter. The Turbo Cobra's wingtip engine mounts were to be abandoned but it was not yet clear what the RCAF's postwar requirements would be. As a result, the JetCobra series consisted to two distinct designs evolved in parallel.
The first was the CCF Model 120 JetCobra (1). This was a twin-boomed fighter design to be powered by a single 2,600 lb.st TR-4 Chinook. Until a flight-ready TR-4 was available, it was assumed that a captured German Junkers Jumo 004B could serve as a substitute (the two engines were of the same diameter, although the Jumo was slightly longer and heavier).
The second was the CCF Model 120 JetCobra (2). This was a twin-engined interceptor with longer range. In this case, the TR-4 Chinook turbojets were to be mounted above a new wing centre section. All gun armament was to be mounted in the fuselage, the wings being sealed for fuel with tip tanks added.
Both JetCobra designs were to have fuselages incorporating elements of the Turbo Cobra. Initially, the wing was to be a standard Super Cobra outer panel. In 1947 that changed and entirely new wings based on aerodynamic knowledge from the Me-262 were developed. With that, all connection with the original CCF Cobra design ended.
In the end, the RCAF chose cheaper, imported DeHavilland Vampires as day fighters and the much larger, two-seat Avro CF-100 as its interceptor. By then, Elsie MacGill - the Queen of the Cobras' - had joined her husband at Avro Canada. Soon after, Avro bought out CCF and CanCar abandoned aircraft production in favour of the peacetime production of city buses.