De Havilland Canada

Establishment

The de Havilland Aircraft Company of Canada, Limited was first established on March 5, 1928 as a subsidiary of de Havilland Aircraft (UK) located at De Lesseps Field in Toronto. The company was reincorporated on March 5, 1929 and moved to Downsview that same year.

Pre-Second World War

Flown for the first time on 26 October 1931, the DH.82 Tiger Moth was derived from the DH.60 Moth. The DH 82 was powered by a 120 hp Gipsy II engine, but the 1939 DH.82a received the 145 hp Gipsy Major. More than 1,000 Tiger Moths were delivered before the Second World War, and subsequently 4,005 were built in the UK and shipped all over the world. 1,747 were built in Canada (the majority being the DH.82c model with enclosed cockpits, brakes, tail wheels, etc.). The follow-up DH.83 Fox Moth was designed in England in 1932 as a light, economic transport and was built using as many Tiger Moth components as possible.

Second World War

The de Havilland Tiger Moth was a basic trainer of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) during the Second World War, whereby air crews from all over the British Commonwealth trained in Canada. DHC was the Canada unit of the parent British de Havilland and during World War II was made into a crown corporation of the Government of Canada.

Production of the Mosquito, nicknamed the "Mossie," was the company's greatest contribution to the war effort. It was one of the few front-line aircraft of the era constructed almost entirely of wood and was nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder". The Mosquito was designed to use speed instead of defensive armament to evade attack, and as a result it was one of the fastest aircraft in the war, reaching 425 mph at 30,000 ft. The original design was intended as a light bomber, but soon proved itself in high-level photography and every phase of intruder operations.

Out of the more than 7,000 Mosquitoes produced overall by de Havilland, de Havilland Canada produced 1,134. Some 500 were delivered to the UK by the end of the war, although several were lost en route across the Atlantic.

Post-Second World War

After the war, de Havilland Canada began to build its own designs uniquely suited to the harsh Canadian operating environment. The company also continued production of several British de Havilland aircraft and later produced a licence-built version of the American-designed Grumman S2F Tracker. During this time, the company designed eight aircraft types:

DHC-1 Chipmunk

DHC-2 Beaver

DHC-3 Otter

DHC-4 Caribou

DHC-5 Buffalo

DHC-6 Twin Otter

DHC-7 Dash 7

DHC-8 Dash 8

In 1962 the Avro Canada aircraft production facility was transferred to de Havilland Canada by their then-merged parent company, UK-based Hawker Siddeley. The company also built HMCS Bras d'Or (FHE 400) hydrofoil and parts for the Alouette 1 satellite.

Privatization

In the 1980s, the Government of Canada privatized DHC and in 1986 sold the aircraft company to then Seattle-based Boeing. The government claimed to have guarantees from Boeing not to discontinue any product lines, but shortly thereafter, Boeing discontinued both the successful Twin Otter and the Dash 7. The jigs and specialised equipment for their manufacture were destroyed.

Boeing was in heavy competition with Airbus Industrie for a series of new airliners for Air Canada, at that time a Canadian Crown corporation. Boeing used the DHC purchase to further strengthen their commitment to their shared production contracts. The contract was particularly contentious. When Air Canada announced that Airbus had won the contract in 1988, amid claims of bribery, Boeing immediately put DHC up for sale, placing the company in jeopardy.

During its time under Boeing the company, the company was renamed Boeing of Canada Ltd. in March 1986, de Havilland Canada Ltd. in November 1987, and Boeing Canada Technology Ltd. in October 1988.

Sale to Bombardier

DHC was eventually sold in 1992. The DHC unit was transferred to a new legal entity, de Havilland Inc., and sold to Bombardier Aerospace and the Government of Ontario with a 51% and 49% stake respectively. Bombardier also had the option to buy the Government of Ontario's stake after 4 years. Legally, the original company was retained by Boeing and was eventually succeeded by Boeing Canada in 2005.

In 1997, Bombardier acquired the 49% stake owned by the Government of Ontario, and in 1998, the new de Havilland Inc. was amalgamated into Bombardier, marking the end of DHC as an independent company. Despite this, the Dash-8 remained in production by Bombardier with a particular emphasis being placed on its quiet operation in comparison to other aircraft of a similar size. This product line was expanded to four models, and the largest is labelled Q-400.

Purchase by Viking Air

On 24 February 2006, Viking Air of Victoria purchased the type certificates from Bombardier Aerospace for all the original de Havilland designs from the DHC-1 Chipmunk to the DHC-7 Dash 7.