Bristol Aerospace
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Parent Magellan Aerospace | | |
Website | www |
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Bristol Aerospace is a Canadian
History
Bristol Aerospace began in 1930 as the MacDonald Brothers Aircraft Company. Brothers Jim and Grant MacDonald moved to Winnipeg from Nova Scotia in 1904 to start a sheet metal business. Brother Edwin joined them later and by the late 1920s air travel had become an important means of transportation with Winnipeg becoming a hub for travel to the booming west. The MacDonalds formed MacDonald Brothers Aircraft Company in 1930, producing seaplane floats under licence from EDO Corporation of New York City. The company produced floats into the early 1980s.
WWII
During World War II the factory built training aircraft and by war's end had grown to 4,500 employees. At the end of the war, MacDonald Bros. became an important repair and overhaul centre for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Their location at the centre of the country lowered the average travel cost for aircraft to the factories, as well as providing aviation jobs in the Canadian west. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s the company performed depot level inspection and repair for many of Canada's fighter aircraft.
Purchase by the Bristol Aeroplane Company
In 1954, MacDonald Brothers Aircraft was purchased by the
CRV7
In the second half of the 1950s Bristol was selected to build several test
Since the incorporation of 'smart' weapons for the CF-18, Bristol no longer makes CRV-7 motors for the Canadian military. Production has dropped over the years although several smaller contracts to allied air forces have kept the plant active. A purchase by the Royal Air Force for rocket motors was completed recently along with the sale of 200 redundant launchers that were in long-term storage. As of January 2010, the company has lost contracts with several countries and militaries around the world, thus causing layoffs at the Rockwood plant.
CF-101 contract
In the early 1960s Bristol won the maintenance contract for the CF-100's replacement, the
Bristol Aerospace
In 1967 the parent Bristol Aeroplane, whose UK aircraft construction division had been incorporated into the
In the late 1960s, and the early 1970s under the joint U.S.-Canadian project known as the
During the 1970s the company continued to be involved in overhaul and maintenance work, and the CRV7 became a major product line.
The concept for the
In January 1987, Bristol was awarded the maintenance contract for the Canadian Forces Canadair CF-5 fleet, as a consolation contract for losing the more lucrative and longer-term CF-18 maintenance and overhaul contract to Canadair. The CF-5 effort lasted until 1995 when the federal government decided to remove them from service. Afterward Bristol was contracted to sell off the redundant aircraft to other interested air forces and offered to include a major upgrade to the avionics system. Bristol brokered a deal in 1996 for the purchase of ten single-seat and three dual-seat CF-5s by the Botswana Defence Force, but this was the only sale to be made. The company returned the two CF-5D demonstration aircraft to CFB Trenton (for storage) in March 2004, ending over 70 years of aircraft repair and overhaul. The company then refocused its energies on fabricating sub-assemblies and other components for the commercial aircraft business.
Purchase by Magellan Aerospace
In June 1997
In 1999 Bristol won the contract for SCISAT-1, the first purely Canadian science satellite since 1971. With its successful launch on 12 August 2003, the basic systems were selected by the Canadian Space Agency as a generic small-satellite "bus", with plans to launch more over the next decade.
Bristol has also worked in Canadian nuclear reactor construction. It has supplied core components, CANDU reactor tubes and thermal sleeves to AECL and GE.
Products
The company designed and manufactures the Black Brant series of sounding and research rockets.[2]
Magellan (Bristol) now produces aircraft sub-assemblies and engine components for all the major aerospace companies. Some examples include but are not limited to:
- Boeing 767 heat pan, Boeing 737 composite panels and Boeing 747 wing to Body Fairings
- General Electric F101 engine thruster door
- Airbus A330 & Airbus A380 aft engine plugs
- De Havilland Canada DASH 8 engine nacelles, fairings, etc.
- DHC Dash 8Tailcone & APU Support
- Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D, PW545, PW307, PW306 engine components
- M1 Abrams AGT1500 tank engine housing
- AgustaWestland EH101lower fuselage and composite engine & transmission cowlings
- F-35 Lightning IIJSF Vertical Guide box for Rolls-Royce Lift Fan module and composite panels for fuselage.
Aircraft
Aircraft | Type | Start date | End date |
---|---|---|---|
Canadair CF5A & D | fighter | 1987 | 1995 |
McDonnell CF-101 Voodoo | fighter | 1964 | 1987 |
Bell CH-118 | helicopter | 1982 | 1985 |
Bell CH-136 Kiowa | helicopter | 1982 | 1987 |
Bell CH-135 Twin Huey | helicopter | 1987 | 1991 |
Spacecraft
- Black Brant sounding rocket
- SCISAT-1
References
- Notes
- ^ Statement of Lt. Gen. William C. Gribble, Jr., United States Army, Chief of Research and Development, Department of Defense Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1972, pt. 4, pp. 1320-1321.
- ^ Bristol Aerospace (2008). "Products". Retrieved 26 July 2011.
- Bibliography
- Magellan Aerospace
- [Bristol Aerospace Limited: 50 Years of Technology 1930-1980, Volume One—The MacDonald Era—The First Quarter Century]
- [Bristol Aerospace Limited: 50 Years of Technology 1930-1980, Volume Two—The Second Quarter Century]
External links
- Official website of Magellan Aerospace
- Archived official website from October 2011, when Bristol Aerospace had its own website