Our history

Avro Canada was originally formed as The National Steel Car Limited of Montreal, but when the Canadian Government took over ownership and management of the Company in 1942, it was renamed Victory Aircraft Limited. Victory Aircraft was one of a number of factories building British aircraft designs for the Royal Air Force, in relative safety, away from German air raids. It produced Avro Ansons, Handley Page Hampden bombers, Hawker Hurricane fighters and the Westland Lysander. In addition, it built a number of Avro types including Avro Lancaster (430), Avro Anson (3,197) as well as The Avro Lancastrian (6) and single examples of the Avro Lincoln and Avro York Transport aircraft. In 1945, the United Kingdom’s Hawker Siddeley Group purchased Victory Aircraft from the Canadian Government and created A.V. Roe Canada Limited, commonly known as Avro Canada, a wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary.

The company started life repairing and servicing Second World War era aircraft types. However, Avro Canada also invested in research and development activities, working on potential jet engine designs, a jet-powered fighter and a commercial jet airliner programme. Its first project was the development of the Orenda jet engine in 1949. This was followed by the Avro XC-100, Canada’s first jet fighter, which was renamed the CF-100 when it entered Royal Canadian Air Force service in 1952. A commercial aircraft, the C-102 Jetliner, was also developed and first flew just 13 days after the De Havilland Comet. However, orders were not forthcoming and only one prototype was ever built before the programme was eventually cancelled in 1951. The company also built an advanced twin-jet supersonic fighter (Avro CF-105 Arrow) which was test flown but never entered production as despite huge funding and a degree of success, the project was eventually overcome by the development of US interest of the Hawker Harrier.

A.V. Roe Canada Limited was re-structured in the mid-1950's as a holding company, with two separate aviation subsidiaries: Avro Aircraft Limited and Orenda Engines. During this period, A.V. Roe Canada also acquired a number of other holdings including Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation, Canada Car and Foundry, as well as Canadian Steel Improvement Limited. By 1958, A.V. Roe Canada Limited had become an industrial giant, employing more than 50,000 people, generating annual sales of $450 million making it the third largest corporation in Canada. By the mid-1950s, a number of talented aeronautical engineers and designers had emigrated to Canada, one of which was John 'Jack' Frost, who worked extensively for De Havilland on the DH108 Swallow project.  Frost was considered to be a 'maverick' and ensconced himself behind locked doors, 'surrounded by secrecy' where he worked closely with NASA and the US Air Force in the development of the radical Avro AVROCAR. In 1962, the Hawker Siddeley Group dissolved A.V. Roe Canada and transferred all the company’s assets into a new company, Hawker Siddeley Canada. By the late 1990s, Hawker Siddeley Canada had sold off almost all of its assets and had ceased trading.

de Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited was established in 1928 at de Lesseps Field, Toronto although it relocated to Downsview just a year later in order to build de Havilland DH60 Moth aircraft for the training of Canadian airmen. Over 1,700 of the 7,000 Tiger Moths produced were built in Canada, the majority being the DH82C closed cockpit version.

During World War II, de Havilland Aircraft of Canada also produced the de Havilland Mosquito , one of the fastest aircraft of the war at 425mph. Some 1,134 aircraft were built in Canada and although a number were lost during transportation, over 500 were delivered to the UK. After the war the company began designing and building indigenous aircraft, especially those best suited to the harsh Canadian environment.  The first true de Havilland Canada type was the DHC1 Chipmunk which was also selected as the standard primary trainer for the RAF in the UK and is still a favourite amongst pilots today. A number of aircraft designed specifically for Canadian Operators followed such as the DHC2 Beaver, DHC3 Otter and DHC4 Caribou, the latter being a tactical transport aircraft for the US and Canadian Army. de Havilland Aircraft of Canada became part of the Hawker Siddeley Group following the 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 still continued.

In the 1970s, de Havilland Aircraft of Canada turned its focus to commercial feeder-liners with short take-off and landing (STOL) capabilities in areas of strict noise limits. Even today, many DHC7 Dash 7 and DHC8 Dash 8 aircraft are still in daily operation around the world. In 2006, Viking Air Limited, now a subsidiary of Longview Aviation Capital Corporation, became the Original Type Certificate holder for all out-of-production de Havilland Canada aircraft (DHC-1 to DHC-7) and subsequently developed and put into production the updated Viking Twin Otter Series 400 aircraft. In 2019, Longview Aviation Capital Corporation established a new subsidiary, subsequently renamed de Havilland Aircraft of Canada. They acquired the entire Dash 8 program from Bombardier, including the 100, 200 and 300 series, as well as the in-production 400 program.

One of the most famous names in the aircraft industry - Hawker Siddeley was comprised of the Hawker Aircraft Company and Armstrong Siddeley Development Corporation, as well as AV Roe and Sir WG Armstrong-Whitworth Aircraft Company. Eventually, the group developed further with the consolidation of the industry moving De Havilland and Blackburn into the Hawker Siddeley Group. Hawker Siddeley Aviation Limited was the identity for the aircraft sector of the Hawker Siddeley Group between 1948 and 1959. Shortly after acquiring Folland Aircraft in 1959, there was a desire from the government to rationalise the aviation industry where it felt ‘far too many companies were competing for a diminishing number of contracts’. Out of this policy came the decision to only offer new government contracts and development grants to organisations that had been formed through various mergers and take-overs. This resulted in 2 major consortiums, British Aircraft Corporation and Hawker Siddeley Aviation.

Hawker Siddeley Aircraft was already well-established as a major aircraft manufacturer of aircraft such as the Hunter when it merged with De Havilland Aircraft Company and Blackburn Aircraft Company in 1960. Although the various parts continued to produce aircraft under their own branding, this was a short-lived reprieve for these famous aviation names. In 1963, and after a period of reorganisation, Hawker Siddeley Group was created leading to re-branding of the constituent company products as either Hawker Siddeley or ‘HS’ types. During the 1960s, the company developed one of their most famous aircraft, the Hawker Harrier which went on to become the first fully operational VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) jet aircraft. Manufactured at the Kingston on the banks of the River Thames, with assembly at Dunsfold, the Harrier led the way in the development of vectored thrust technology, much of which will be used in the aircraft of the 21st century. Other sectors of the Hawker Siddeley Group included a Dynamics Division (Guided Weapons) and Railway, Locomotive and Subway Rolling Stock businesses throughout the USA and Canada.

On 29th April 1977, the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act saw the nationalisation of Hawker Siddeley Aviation and Hawker Siddeley Dynamics Divisions which were merged with British Aircraft Corporation to create British Aerospace. The non-aviation and foreign interests remained under a holding company known as Hawker Siddeley Group Plc which was eventually sold to BTR in 1992. The Hawker Siddeley brand was known worldwide with interests in railways (both diesel and electric) and rapid transport systems and the name of its founder Harry Hawker still continued in aviation until 2012 as the Hawker Beechcraft Corporation. In fact, it still continues today as Hawker Siddeley Switchgear in both the UK and Australia.