When we talk about the major employers for the town of Newmarket and area, we usually identify Davis Leather, the Cane Woodworks, and the Office Specialty but there was another company that employed a huge number of the area’s workforce, the De Havilland Aviation Company in Downsview.
Over the next two weeks I shall be examining the history and development of the company and the part it played as a major employer for the area. This weekend we shall begin with the early history of the company from its birth in 1928 until the 1970’s.
I can well remember the early morning departures of the car-pooling from Newmarket and area as a child. Where were all these people headed, down to the Downsview Airport and the De Havilland plant. It seemed to me that half the town seemed to work down there.
The new subdivisions which grew up on the north side of Davis Drive, in East Gwillimbury, were built primarily to accommodate an ever-increasing work force commuting to north Toronto and the De Havilland plant.
My mother told me about how she used to watch (and hear) the De Havilland Mosquito fighter bombers, built at De Havilland, buzzing over Main Street. Later I learned that Newmarket was part of the test flight path for many of the company’s aircraft and so as a child I made sure to regularly look up to the sky.
My uncle, George Luesby, his wife who he met at De Havilland, even my own mother for a brief time called De Havilland home. At the beginning of the second world war, he joined De Havilland from the engineering department at Newmarket’s Office Specialty, having completed advance aeronautics design training. He would remain at De Havilland for an amazing 42 years.
While at De Havilland, he would work on a wide variety of planes, but he always maintained that his favorites were the Mosquito and the Beaver.
I know that there were so many other families who called De Havilland their employer so let us now examine a timeline for this company that would go on to employ so many of us locally.
De Havilland (Canada) got its start on March 5, 1928, when the De Havilland Company of England was to incorporate a subsidiary company in Canada. De Havilland Canada was first located at De Lesseps Field in Toronto, before moving to Downsview Airport in 1929. The original home of De Havilland Canada was the Canadian Air and Space Museum located in what is now Downsview Park.
Over the next eighty years, this small division would become one of the most accomplished aircraft designers and manufacturers in Canadian history. De Havilland was the only aircraft manufacturer in Toronto at the time, producing the Tiger Moth aircraft for the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Flown for the first time on the 26 October 1931, the DH.82 Tiger Moth evolved from the DH.60 Moth. More than 1,747Tiger Moths were built in Canada prior to the Second World War, the majority being the DH.82c model with enclosed cockpits, brakes, tail wheels, etc.
The De Havilland Tiger Moth became the basic trainer for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during the Second World War, with air crews from all over the British Commonwealth being trained in Canada. It was during World War II that DHC was made into a crown corporation by the government of Canada.
Production of the Mosquito, one of the few front-line aircraft of the era was constructed almost entirely of wood and was nicknamed the “Wooden Wonder”. It was designed to use its speed instead of defensive armament to evade attack, it was one of the fastest aircraft in the war, reaching 425 mph. The original design was intended as a light bomber, but soon proved itself in high-level photography and every phase of intruder operations.
Of the more than 7,000 Mosquitoes produced overall by De Havilland, 1,134 were produced in Canada. Some 500 were delivered to the UK by the end of the war, although several were lost enroute.
After the war, De Havilland Canada began to build its own designs which were uniquely suited to the harsh Canadian operating environment. The company would also continue production of several British De Havilland aircraft and later produced a licence-built version of the American-designed Grumman S2F Tracker. In 1962, the Avro Canada aircraft production facility was transferred to De Havilland Canada by the then-merged parent company, UK-based Hawker Siddeley.
So, what was the first all-Canadian designed aircraft to come out of De Havilland Canada, helping establish the young company as a leader in the North American aviation industry? That would be the Chipmunk, an all-metal trainer developed for the British and Canadian Air Forces and designed as the primary trainer, a replacement for the venerable Tiger Moth. The Chipmunk prototype first flew on 22 May 1946 in Toronto. DHC would go on to build 217 in Canada for the RCAF, the Royal Air Force (RAF), and at least twelve other air forces. After being largely phased out by the RAF and RCAF in the 1950s and 1960s, the surplus Chipmunks achieved widespread popularity for civil sport flying, competition aerobatics, aerial application, and glider towing.
For those of you who have an interest in Canadian history and the opening of the north, you will remember that in the 1930’s, the introduction of the bush-plane played a major role in opening the vast Canadian wilderness. By the mid 1940’s, it was evident that we needed a more durable design. To fill this need, De Havilland Canada (DHC) began work on the DHC-2 Beaver in 1947 with input from Canada’s bush pilots, who desired a rugged and highly versatile “aerial truck” that would reliably deliver short takeoff and landing (STOL) performance from unimproved airstrips with a half-ton load. It was to become quite likely the best bush aircraft ever built, equipped with a choice of wheels, skis, or floats.
The Beaver was soon adopted by the US Air Force (USAF) and US Army, and the militaries of numerous other nations, including Britain, Chile, and Colombia. With almost 1,700 built in a production run lasting two decades, civil Beavers continue plying their trade in many countries around the world.
As the story goes, ‘on a hazy afternoon in August 1947, chief test pilot Russ Bannock lifted off from Downsview airfield in the prototype Beaver and roared into the Ontario sky’. On that day, his Canadian aircraft would become a legend.
De Havilland would quickly earn worldwide recognition for designing some of the world’s best Short Take Off and Landing aircraft building built on the incredible success of the Beaver.
DHC would soon catch the attention of the American military, and in the years to come they would become one of the company’s best customers.
In 1951, De Havilland would roll out another super star aircraft, the DHC-3 Otter. Slightly larger than the Beaver, it carried twice the payload and increased the range for operators in the Canadian North and other remote regions of the world. It was designed for the same basic role and was similar in layout, but was a substantially larger and heavier aircraft, a veritable “one-ton truck” that could seat up to eleven.
Like the Beaver, the Otter can be fitted with skis and floats. The type’s first flight was undertaken on 12 December 1951 and Canadian certification was awarded in November 1952. The US Army became the largest user of the Otter, with other military users including Australia, Canada, and India. The Otter was to find a significant niche as a STOL bush aircraft, and many remain in service.
In 1954, the Royal Canadian Navy decided to replace its fleet of obsolescent Grumman TBM Avenger antisubmarine warfare (ASW) aircraft with a domestically produced, licence-built versions of the new Grumman S2F Tracker. The contract for the CS2F was worth more than $100 million, at the time, the largest post-Second World War Canadian defence contract. Sub-assemblies of the aircraft would be produced by various Canadian companies and shipped to De Havilland Canada’s facilities, where De Havilland built the forward fuselage and crew compartment, assemble the aircraft, oversaw the installation of the ASW electronics, and prepare the aircraft for delivery.
The first Canadian-built Tracker flew on 31 May 1956. A total of 99 Trackers were produced for RCN service starting in the same year. A few of these aircraft would serve with the Canadian military until the 1990s. A few ex-CF Trackers were sold to the Ministry of Natural Resources (Ontario) and later resold to Conair for forest firefighting duties.
The plane was designed to be flown off aircraft carriers for antisubmarine warfare. The Tracker’s wings folded to save space, while the Canadian version was 18 inches shorter to fit in the smaller hangars on Canadian aircraft carriers.
After the HMCS Bonaventure was decommissioned in 1970, the Trackers became shore-based aircraft.
The DHC-4 Caribou, which first flew on 30 July 1958, was a rugged STOL design like the Beaver and the Otter, but it had two engines and was designed primarily for military transport, in response to a US Army requirement for a tactical airlifter that could supply the battlefront with troops and supplies and then evacuate casualties on the return journey. They would take delivery of 159 of these aircraft which were transferred to the USAF in 1967 and redesignated as the C-7, seeing extensive service during the Vietnam War. It would find other notable military clients including Canada, Australia, Malaysia, India, and Spain. Other Caribou entered commercial service after being retired by the military, and some civil Caribou have been fitted with turboprop engines.
De Havilland Aircraft of Canada became part of the Hawker Siddeley Group during its take-over of the parent De Havilland Aircraft Company in 1959. After a short period, they were eventually merged with Avro Canada (who were already part of the Hawker Siddeley Group) although the De Havilland Canada brand continued as usual.
Then in 1966 we had the introduction of the Twin Otter, its first flight occurring on the 20 May 1965. After receiving certification in mid-1966, the first Twin Otters were placed in service by the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests. One of Canada’s most successful commercial aircraft designs, all models could be fitted with skis or floats.
The Twin Otter remains popular for its rugged construction and STOL capabilities, with more than 990 built. Its development dates to January 1964, when DHC commenced work on a twin turboprop variant of the DHC-3 Otter as a STOL commuter airliner and utility transport. The twin-otter was originally designed as a utility bush airplane for the Canadian North, but it would find its true calling with several developing commuter airlines.
Incredibly, more than 800 twin-otters were built, and today it is regarded as one of Canada’s most successful commercial aircraft. The Twin Otter is the largest-selling 19-passenger commuter airplane in the world and was instrumental in the development of today’s regional airline industry.
Next time we will pick up the De Havilland story with the advent of the Dash 7 and 8 and their eventual re-location to Calgary.
Until next time, be well.
Sources:
De Havilland Field (article)
“Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Quick Search Result for De Havilland Aircraft of Canada”. Transport Canada. (article)
De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited – The Canadian Encyclopedia (article)
De Havilland Canada – Archive Today (article)
The De Havilland Canada Story by Fred W. Hotson
Aviation In Canada by Larry Milberry (excerpts)
Canadian Aircraft Since 1909 by Ken. A. Molson and Harold A. Taylor.
Oral History Interview – George W. Luesby by Richard MacLeod
