Canadian Vickers

Canadian Vickers Limited
Fate	absorbed into Canadair in 1944
Successor	Canadair and Versatile Vickers (using Canadian Vickers as brand only)
Founded	1911
Defunct	1944
Headquarters	Montreal, QC Canada
Parent	Vickers Limited

Canadian Vickers Limited was an aircraft and shipbuilding company that operated in Canada during the early part of the 20th century until 1944. A subsidiary of the UK parent, it built its own aircraft designs as well as others under licence. Canadair absorbed the Canadian Vickers Ltd. aircraft operations in November 1944.

Shipbuilding

British ship building and weapons manufacturing conglomerate Vickers Sons & Maxim was invited by the Government of Canada in 1911 to establish a Canadian division to manufacture vessels for the nascent Royal Canadian Navy. Vickers Sons & Maxim established Canadian Vickers Ltd. and constructed Maisonville Shipyard at Viauville (Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve) in the east end of Montreal near Boulevard Viau and rue Notre-Dame Est.

Today the old shipyard buildings are gone replaced by silos and port facilities now owned by the Port of Montreal.

A Vickers Vedette replica at the Western Canada Aviation Museum, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

During World War I the yard built the Holland 602 type submarine for the British and the Italian Navy. They were known as the British H class submarine in the Royal Navy:

H1 – Launched May 1915
H2 – Launched June 1915
H3 – Launched June 1915. Mined and sunk July 1916
H4 – Launched June 1915
H5 – Launched June 1915. Rammed and sunk March 1918
H6 – Launched June 1915. Interned and purchased by the Dutch January 1916
H7 – Launched June 1915
H8 – Launched June 1915
H9 – Launched June 1915
H10 – Launched June 1915. Disappeared 1918

This shipyard would go on to produce many civilian and military ships in Canada, including:

St. Laurent-class destroyer
- HMCS St. Laurent (DDH 205)
- HMCS Ottawa (DDH 229)

Restigouche-class destroyer
- HMCS Restigouche (DDE 257)

Mackenzie-class destroyer
- HMCS Mackenzie (DDE 261)

Canadian Coast Guard icebreakers
- CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent
- CCGS Simcoe

Canadian Vickers also manufactured luxury yachts and vessels that were later converted as yachts:

Bart Roberts - built in 1963 as icebreaker and converted as a yacht in 2001^[1]
Club Atlantic - motor yacht built in 1967^[2]
Christina O - built in 1943 as HMCS Stormont (K327) and converted as yacht in 1954;^[3] renamed as Christina in 1954, Argo in 1978 and current named in 1998

Canadian Vickers was sold in 1926 and reacquired by Vickers in 1956.^[4] Renamed Vickers Canada Limited in 1978 after being sold to Canadian interest and renamed several times again by the last owners Marine Industries (as Versatile Vickers Inc^[5]^[6] in 1981 and MIL Vickers in 1987). Shipbuiding operations ceased by 1988.^[4]

Aerospace

Canadian Vickers ventured into aircraft manufacturing in 1923 when it won a contract to supply Vickers Viking flying boats to the recently formed Canadian Air Force (Royal Canadian Air Force from 1924). Between 1923 and 1944, Canadian Vickers produced over 400 aircraft, some of which were original Vickers' designs while the remainder were other manufacturers' designs built under license.

This Canadian Vickers OA-10A operated in several countries postwar as a utility transport, including Hong Kong, Sweden and Kenya

Canadian Vickers PBV-1A Canso A at RIAT, England in 2009. A version of the PBY-5A Catalina, this aircraft was built in 1944 for the Royal Canadian Air Force

In July 1941, the Canadian government awarded Canadian Vickers a contract to produce PBV-1 "Canso" amphibians (a version of the Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat) for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Many of the aircraft were delivered to the United States Navy (USN) as the PBV-1; also to the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) as the OA-10A for rescue work.

To speed Canso production, the government authorized construction of a new manufacturing facility at Cartierville Airport in Ville Saint Laurent, on the north-western outskirts of Montreal, and appointed Canadian Vickers to manage the plant's operation on the government's behalf. Independently Boeing also produced Catalinas in Canada.

In 1944, business pressure compelled Canadian Vickers to ask the government to relieve it of its management responsibilities regarding the Cartierville plant. Ottawa agreed and entered into a management contract with Canadair Limited, a new company founded by a small group of former senior Canadian Vickers personnel headed by Benjamin W. Franklin (no relation to his famous namesake). On 4 November 1944, Canadair Limited took over operation of the plant. In September 1946, Canadair Limited and the plant were acquired by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut.

In 1952, Electric Boat bought Consolidated Vultee and combined it, Canadair, and several smaller companies to form General Dynamics Corporation. General Dynamics later became one of the largest U.S. aerospace corporations. Canadair remained a General Dynamics subsidiary until January 1976 when it was re-acquired by the Canadian government.

In December 1986, the government again sold Canadair, this time to Bombardier Inc., a Quebec-based international conglomerate. Today, Canadair itself no longer exists as a separate entity having been absorbed into Bombardier Aerospace.