Current and Finished Projects > Stories
Jackrabbit
upnorth:
--- Quote from: apophenia on August 18, 2023, 08:17:53 AM ---Nice! The Real World MB.326C become an 'MB.326CA' ;D
-- https://digilander.libero.it/air10/f104/curiosita_dc3spillone.htm
--- End quote ---
:smiley:
upnorth:
Canadair West
Even before 1964 was out, Canadair executives had reached the conclusion that it would be best to set up a separate facility for the construction of the CL-215 in Canada.
A decision made early on was that the facility should be in the west of the country. Both Alberta and British Columbia had vast forested regions and were known for forest fires. Setting up a facility in either province would put the CL-215 line close to the aircraft's intended area of use and, hopefully, potential customers.
A former Canadair executive:
"We looked at a number of airports across British Columbia and Alberta as potential places to set up the CL-215 production line. Eventually, we shortlisted to Abbotsford in British Columbia and the Edmonton International Airport in Alberta.
The advantage of Edmonton was that the international airport there was still relatively new, having been extablished in 1960. This meant that it had a good amount of available land and we could build our facility from the ground up and have it just as we wanted.
Edmonton's international airport also wasn't too busy at the time, so we wouldn't be competing with too much traffic on the runways.
Like Abbotsford, Edmonton would put us in a part of the country where aerial firefighting was in demand on a regular basis and many potential customers for the aircraft were nearby.
The advantage of Abbotsford was that it had a well established aerial fire fighting culture in place. It would not be difficult to find veteran waterbmber pilots willing to fly the CL-215 and give honest feedback to us about it.
Abbotsford also came with the advantage of the airshow that had been inagurated there in 1962. Having the facility at an airport that had its own airshow would present a regular opportunity to show of both the aircraft and the production line to both potential customers and the general public.
While both locations were perfectly suitable, Abbotsford ultimately won out.
Aside of the existing aerial fire fighting culture and airshow, Abbotsford had an available hangar that was large enough for us to start some small scale production while building a larger purpose built production facility on a nearby piece of land that the airport offered to let us purchase."
At the end of February of 1965, the deal for Canadair to move into the available hangar at Abbotsford and begin construction of a dedicated production building had been finalized.
elmayerle:
I love the way the ancillary details are developing as much as the main story.
upnorth:
--- Quote from: elmayerle on November 12, 2023, 03:50:43 PM ---I love the way the ancillary details are developing as much as the main story.
--- End quote ---
Thanks1 I'm glad you're stil enjoying and following along.
upnorth:
Paris Airshow, Le Borguet airport, France - June, 1965
As the crowds moved through the static park of the show and the various displays there, the rumble of six turboprop engines caught the attention of many.
A trio of CL-215 waterbombers approached low from one side of the field and made a spectacular dump of water in the colours of the Italian flag at the mid point of the showline. The formation did a few more passes before two of the aircraft broke off to land and leave the lead aircraft to do the solo part of the demonstration.
The solo pilot recalled the day some years later:
"There wasn't really a well fitting adjective to describe how good it felt to be demonstrating the CL-215 at a show as prestigious as Paris. Not only did I have the honour to fly the formation lead and the solo, but the other two aircraft in the formation were the first two CL-215s we had built for the Vigili del Fuoco. We had officially handed them over a week before the Paris show.
I was using 'Teresa' to lead the formation and do the solo. She deserved to lead, she had served us well as a prototype in testing and was continuing to do great work for us as a company demonstrator aircraft. We had put a ton of hours on her and she wasn't complaining one bit, it was a great example of how tough and reliable the CL-215 was.
Once the water tanks were empty, the CL-215 was a remarkably agile and responsive aircraft given its size and what it was designed for. Sure, it was no fighter or aerobatics plane, but it had some moves in it that surprized the crowd.
As I finished up the solo and got ready to land, I could see 'Dorothea' at the company display in the statics. The crowd was gravitating toward her and I imagined things were about to get quite busy for our people down there.
We were the first of the company's flying demonstrations at the show and we definitely made a good impression all around.
As I taxied back to my parking spot, I could see our ground crews getting the aircraft of our MB.326 demo prepared for their performance later in the day."
A former Canadair public relations officer:
"I wasn't yet on my shift at the company stand when the CL-215 demo took place. I watched it from on top of the hangar that our company display was placed in front of.
The demo was an amazing thing to see. Some people asked me if it bothered me to see the aircraft drop Italian national colours in spite of the fact that the aircraft was of Canadian design, I must say that it didn't bother me. The aircraft benefited from the Italian involvement and flew much sooner that it would have otherwise.
Were it not for Italian involvement, the CL-215 would probably have been fitted with radial piston engines rather than turboprops and would likely not have the performance that was seen at the show that day.
The first CL-215s were built and flown in Italy and the first customer was Italian. It was only fair that they should show some national pride through it as well.
After the CL-215 solo was done, I looked down at our company display. I saw the crowds build around 'Dorothea' and the first shift of our PR people talking with people and handing out brochures and so forth.
In that moment, it also hit me that we had the biggest display in the static park.
Our display was a combined effort of Aermacchi, Canadair, Embraer and FMA. Pride of place in the display was given to 'Dorothea' and she turned out to be very popular indeed. We had one of her engines exposed; this worked well as the General Electric display was adjacent to ours and they gave the T64 engine, which we selected to power the CL-215, a place of prominence among their products at the show.
At the Canadair end of the display, we had a CF-104 Starfighter in the highly polished bare metal finsh that was standard in the RCAF at the time. We also had one of our F-104 training versions of the MB.326 on display. We also had a large model of the Prairie Rattler, with an example of the real thing set to be part of the flying display.
The Aermacchi display included a standard trainer version of the MB.326 and an example of their AL.60 light civil aircraft. They also had models and information about a business jet design they had designated as the MB.330.
Embraer had brought one of their MB.362 company demonstrator aircraft for the company display. They also had a model of a very handsome looking turboprop airliner that they had named the EMB-110 Bandeirante. The model generated a good amount of interest not only for its looks, but also that it had been designed by the Frenchman, Max Holste.
FMA brought the prototype of their IA 50 Guarani II turboprop utility aircraft for their part of the company display. The Guarani II generated some interest, but mostly because it was the first aircraft of Latin American design to be flown across the Atlantic. It was definitely dated in many aspects of its design.
FMA was the weak end of our combined company display at the show. It was clear they would need some help to become a stronger link in the chain.
By the time the 1965 Paris airshow was over, we would make sure FMA had something good to sink their teeth into."
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