Victory Aircraft
Encyclopedia
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, built mainly British-designed aircraft under license. It acted as a shadow factory, safe from the reach of German bombers.
Initially the major wartime contract to manufacture Avro Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
heavy bombers was to go to the National Steel Car Ltd. headquartered in Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, utilizing the Malton, Ontario
Malton, Ontario
Malton is a neighbourhood in the northeastern part of the city of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, located to the northwest of Toronto. The neighbourhood has a population of approximately 36,400 as of 2002....
factory (near today's Toronto Pearson International Airport
Toronto Pearson International Airport
Toronto Pearson International Airport is an international airport serving Toronto, Ontario, Canada; its metropolitan area; and the Golden Horseshoe, an urban agglomeration that is home to 8.1 million people – approximately 25% of Canada's population...
). National Steel Car was already producing Westland Lysander
Westland Lysander
The Westland Lysander was a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft used immediately before and during the Second World War...
aircraft and involved as a subcontractor in the manufacture of Hawker Hurricane
Hawker Hurricane
The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
fighters, Avro Anson
Avro Anson
The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force, Fleet Air Arm and numerous other air forces prior to, during, and after the Second World War. Named for British Admiral George Anson, it was originally designed for maritime reconnaissance, but was...
trainers and Handley Page Hampden
Handley Page Hampden
The Handley Page HP.52 Hampden was a British twin-engine medium bomber of the Royal Air Force serving in the Second World War. With the Whitley and Wellington, the Hampden bore the brunt of the early bombing war over Europe, taking part in the first night raid on Berlin and the first 1,000-plane...
bombers. Questions arising as to the company's abililty to manage the project led to the Government's expropriation of the plant on 4 November 1942 and the setting up of the Crown Corporation, Victory Aircraft Limited, incorporated under the Department of Munitions and Supply Act, 1940 c.31. J.P. Bickell, one of C.D. Howe's "dollar-a-year men" headed Victory Aircraft Ltd. as president and chairman of the board.
Wartime production
Although originally designated to produce the Martin B-26 MarauderB-26 Marauder
The Martin B-26 Marauder was a World War II twin-engine medium bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in the Pacific Theater in early 1942, it was also used in the Mediterranean Theater and in Western Europe....
medium bomber, the Malton plant received a contract on 18 September 1941 to build the Avro Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
Mk X heavy bomber. When the first drawings arrived in January 1942, the complexity of the project seemed daunting. Some 500,000 manufacturing operations were involved in manufacturing over 55,000 separate components that went into a Lancaster (excluding engines and turrets and small items such as rivets, nuts and bolts).
Avro Lancaster X
A Lancaster Mk I (R5727) from AvroAvro
Avro was a British aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark designs such as the Avro 504 trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the delta wing Avro Vulcan, a stalwart of the Cold War.-Early history:One of the world's...
Aircraft (UK) was flown across the Atlantic in August 1942, to act as a "pattern" aircraft for production. Differences between the British Lancasters and the Canadian built versions (known as the Mk X) revolved around engines, instruments and radio equipment being manufactured in Canada or the United States instead of England. The Rolls-Royce Merlin
Rolls-Royce Merlin
The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled, V-12, piston aero engine, of 27-litre capacity. Rolls-Royce Limited designed and built the engine which was initially known as the PV-12: the PV-12 became known as the Merlin following the company convention of naming its piston aero engines after...
engines were the same design, but manufactured by Packard
Packard
Packard was an American luxury-type automobile marque built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana...
in the United States. A later series Lancaster Mk X replaced the original Frazer-Nash
Nash & Thomson
Nash & Thompson was a British engineering firm that specialised in the production of hydraulically-operated gun turrets for aircraft. The company was also an important manufacturer of hydraulic powered radar scanners, used on radar systems such as H2S and AI Mark VIII.- History :Nash & Thompson was...
FN 50 mid-upper turret with a US-made Martin 250CE turret moved to a new location farther back on the upper fuselage due to differences in weight between that unit and the original turret. All major sub-assemblies of the Canadian Lancasters were interchangeable with the British versions so that in the event of damage, spare parts were immediately at hand.
Initially, all components were built at Malton except for the bomb doors, flaps, ailerons and elevators, that were produced by Ottawa Car & Aircraft Ltd
Ottawa Car Company
Ottawa Car Company was a builder of streetcars for the Canadian market and was founded in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1891. The plant was located at Kent and Slater Streets, a short distance from Parliament Hill...
. Later, more of the parts were subcontracted out with Canadian General Electric Co. Ltd.
Canadian General Electric
Canadian General Electric was a Canadian manufacturer of various electrical products. The company was a forerunner of General Electric Canada, now known as GE Canada. It was the Canadian counterpart of the American company General Electric.Canadian General Electric Co...
of Toronto constructing the fuel tanks, tailplane, fins and rudders, while the outer wings were subcontracted to the Fleet Aircraft Limited plant in Fort Erie, Ontario.
From the first blueprints arriving to the first test flight took only 16 months, an impressive accomplishment, not lost on Avro (UK) management. The Malton work force climbed from 3,300 (1942) to 9,521 in 1944, most of them initially unskilled workers and about a quarter of them women. Almost exactly a year to the day from when the "pattern" aircraft was flown to Canada, the Canadian prototype, (serial number KB700), rolled off the Victory Aircraft assembly line on 1 August 1943. Named the "Ruhr
Ruhr
The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...
Express," much publicity was made of its christening, first flight and its departure (albeit delayed as the prototype was wheeled out missing some of its essential gear and was barely able to fly) to England. Nevertheless, the Avro Lancaster setting off for war was an occasion for which the country could be proud.
Eventually, Lancaster production at Victory Aircraft Ltd. reached the impressive mark of one aircraft per day. After being ferried to England and sent to operational squadrons, the Canadian "Lancs" were assigned to No. 6 Group RAF, the RCAF component of RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s stood at the peak of its postwar military power with the V bombers and a supplemental...
, to complete this "all-Canadian" contribution to the war effort. The Malton plant went on to build by war's end, a total of 3,629 Avro aircraft: 3,197 Ansons, 430 Mk X Lancasters (including six Lancastrian
Avro Lancastrian
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Franks, Richard A. The Avro Lancaster, Manchester and Lincoln: A Comprehensive Guide for the Modeller. London: SAM Publications, 2000. ISBN 0-9533465-3-6....
transport conversions), one Mk XV Lincoln heavy bomber, and a single York transport.
End of Victory Aircraft
Victory Aircraft ceased operations on 11 November 1945. In 1945, the Canadian government sold Victory Aircraft to Hawker Siddeley Group who used it for their subsidiary A.V. Roe Canada Ltd (known as Avro CanadaAvro Canada
Commonly known as Avro Canada, this company started in 1945 as an aircraft plant and became within thirteen years the third-largest company in Canada, one of the largest 100 companies in the world, and directly employing over 50,000...
).
| Aircraft | Description | Seats | Launch date | 1st flight | 1st delivery | Number produced | Scheduled to cease production |
| Avro Anson Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft that served with the Royal Air Force, Fleet Air Arm and numerous other air forces prior to, during, and after the Second World War. Named for British Admiral George Anson, it was originally designed for maritime reconnaissance, but was... |
Twin-engined bomber/trainer | Crew of two | 1936 | 3197 | 1945 | ||
| Avro Lancaster Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other... Mk X |
Four-engined heavy bomber | Crew of seven | 1941 | 1943 | 1945 | 430 | 1945 |
| Avro Lancastrian Avro Lancastrian |-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Franks, Richard A. The Avro Lancaster, Manchester and Lincoln: A Comprehensive Guide for the Modeller. London: SAM Publications, 2000. ISBN 0-9533465-3-6.... |
Four-engined transport | Crew of five, nine passengers | 1943 | Six | 1945 | ||
| Avro Lincoln Avro Lincoln The Avro Type 694, better known as the Avro Lincoln, was a British four-engined heavy bomber, which first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were known initially as the Lancaster IV and V, but were renamed Lincoln I and II... Mk. XV |
Four-engined heavy bomber | Crew of seven | 1944 | 1944 | 1945 | One | 1945 |
| Avro York Avro York The Avro York was a British transport aircraft that was derived from the Second World War Lancaster heavy bomber, and used in both military and airliner roles between 1943 and 1964.-Design and development:... C.1 (Special) |
Four-engined transport | Crew of two, 24 passengers | 1942 | 1945 | One | 1945 |
External links
- Victory Aircraft-Avro Canada
- The Canadian Lancasters at Bomber Command Museum
- The Ruhr Express By Michael Martchenko at The Ruhr Express