When we talk about the major employers in Newmarket and area, we usually identify Davis Leather, Cane Woodworks and Office Specialty, but there was another company that employed a huge number of the area’s workforce, the De Havilland Aviation Company in Downsview.
This column begins a two-part series examining the history and development of the company and the part it played as a major employer for the area. I will begin with the early history of the company from its birth in 1928 until the 1970s.
I can well remember the early morning departures of the car-pooling from Newmarket and area as a child. Where were all these people headed? Down to the Downsview Airport and the De Havilland plant. It seemed to me that half the town worked there.
The new subdivisions that grew up on the north side of Davis Drive, in East Gwillimbury, were built primarily to accommodate an ever-increasing work force commuting to north Toronto and the De Havilland plant.
My mother told me about how she used to watch (and hear) the De Havilland Mosquito fighter bombers, built at De Havilland, buzzing over Main Street. Later I learned that Newmarket was part of the test flight path for many of the company’s aircraft and so as a child I made sure to regularly look up to the sky.
My uncle, George Luesby, his wife who he met at De Havilland, even my own mother for a brief time called De Havilland home. At the beginning of the Second World War, he joined De Havilland from the engineering department at Newmarket’s Office Specialty, having completed advance aeronautics design training. He would remain at De Havilland for an amazing 42 years.
While at De Havilland, he would work on a wide variety of planes, but he always maintained that his favourites were the Mosquito and the Beaver.
I know that there were so many other families who called De Havilland their employer, so let us now examine a timeline for this company that would go on to employ so many of us locally.
De Havilland (Canada) got its start on March 5, 1928, when the De Havilland Company of England was to incorporate a subsidiary company in Canada. De Havilland Canada was first located at De Lesseps Field in Toronto, before moving to Downsview Airport in 1929. The original home of De Havilland Canada was the Canadian Air and Space Museum on what is now Downsview Park.
Over the next 80 years, this small division would become one of the most accomplished aircraft designers and manufacturers in Canadian history. De Havilland was the only aircraft manufacturer in Toronto at the time, producing the Tiger Moth aircraft for the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Flown for the first time on the Oct. 26, 1931, the DH.82 Tiger Moth evolved from the DH.60 Moth. More than 1,747 Tiger Moths were built in Canada prior to the Second World War, the majority being the DH.82c model with enclosed cockpits, brakes, tail wheels, etc.
The De Havilland Tiger Moth became the basic trainer for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during the Second World War, with air crews from all over the Commonwealth being trained in Canada. It was during the Second World War that DHC was made into a Crown corporation by the government of Canada.
The Mosquito, one of the few frontline aircraft of the era, was constructed almost entirely of wood and was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder." It was designed to use its speed instead of defensive armament to evade attack. It was one of the fastest aircraft in the war, reaching 425 mph. The original design was intended as a light bomber, but soon proved itself in high-level photography and every phase of intruder operations.
Of the more than 7,000 Mosquitoes produced overall by De Havilland, 1,134 were produced in Canada. Some 500 were delivered to the U.K. by the end of the war, although several were lost en route.
After the war, De Havilland Canada began to build its own designs that were uniquely suited to the harsh Canadian operating environment. The company would also continue production of several British De Havilland aircraft and later produced a licence-built version of the American-designed Grumman S2F Tracker. In 1962, the Avro Canada aircraft production facility was transferred to De Havilland Canada by the then-merged parent company, U.K.-based Hawker Siddeley.
So, what was the first all-Canadian designed aircraft to come out of De Havilland Canada, helping establish the young company as a leader in the North American aviation industry? That would be the Chipmunk, an all-metal trainer developed for the British and Canadian Air Forces and designed as the primary trainer, a replacement for the venerable Tiger Moth. The Chipmunk prototype first flew on May 22, 1946 in Toronto.
DHC would go on to build 217 in Canada for the RCAF, the Royal Air Force (RAF), and at least 12 other air forces. After being largely phased out by the RAF and RCAF in the 1950s and 1960s, the surplus Chipmunks achieved widespread popularity for civil sport flying, competition aerobatics, aerial application and glider towing.
For those of you with an interest in Canadian history, you will remember that in the 1930s, the introduction of the bush plane played a major role in opening the vast Canadian wilderness. By the mid 1940s, it was evident we needed a more durable design.
To fill this need, work began on the DHC-2 Beaver in 1947 with input from Canada's bush pilots, who desired a rugged and highly versatile "aerial truck" that would reliably deliver short takeoff and landing performance from unimproved airstrips with a half-ton load. It was to become quite likely the best bush aircraft ever built, equipped with a choice of wheels, skis or floats.
The Beaver was soon adopted by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army, and the militaries of numerous other nations, including Britain, Chile and Colombia. With almost 1,700 built in a production run lasting two decades, civil Beavers continue plying their trade in many countries around the world.
As the story goes, "on a hazy afternoon in August 1947, chief test pilot Russ Bannock lifted off from Downsview airfield in the prototype Beaver and roared into the Ontario sky." On that day, his Canadian aircraft would become a legend.
De Havilland would quickly earn worldwide recognition for designing some of the world’s best short take-off and landing aircraft building built on the incredible success of the Beaver.
In 1951, De Havilland would roll out another super star aircraft, the DHC-3 Otter. Slightly larger than the Beaver, it carried twice the payload and increased the range for operators in the Canadian north and other remote regions of the world. It was designed for the same basic role and was similar in layout, but was a substantially larger and heavier aircraft, a veritable "one-ton truck" that could seat up to 11.
Like the Beaver, the Otter can be fitted with skis and floats. The type's first flight was undertaken on Dec. 12, 1951 and Canadian certification was awarded in November 1952. The U.S. Army became the largest user of the Otter, with other military users including Australia, Canada and India. The Otter was to find a significant niche as a STOL bush aircraft, and many remain in service.
In 1954, the Royal Canadian Navy decided to replace its fleet of obsolescent Grumman TBM Avenger antisubmarine warfare (ASW) aircraft with a domestically produced, licence-built versions of the new Grumman S2F Tracker. The contract for the CS2F was worth more than $100 million, at the time, the largest post-Second World War Canadian defence contract.
Sub-assemblies of the aircraft would be produced by various Canadian companies and shipped to De Havilland Canada’s facilities, where De Havilland built the forward fuselage and crew compartment, assemble the aircraft, oversaw the installation of the ASW electronics, and prepare the aircraft for delivery.
The first Canadian-built Tracker flew on May 31, 1956. A total of 99 Trackers were produced for RCN service starting in the same year. A few of these aircraft would serve with the Canadian military until the 1990s. A few ex-CF Trackers were sold to the Ministry of Natural Resources (Ontario) and later resold to Conair for forest firefighting duties.
The plane was designed to be flown off aircraft carriers for antisubmarine warfare. The Tracker’s wings folded to save space, while the Canadian version was 18 inches shorter to fit in the smaller hangars on Canadian aircraft carriers.
After the HMCS Bonaventure was decommissioned in 1970, the Trackers became shore-based aircraft.
The DHC-4 Caribou, which first flew on July 30, 1958, was a rugged STOL design like the Beaver and Otter, but it had two engines and was designed primarily for military transport, in response to a US Army requirement for a tactical airlifter that could supply the battlefront with troops and supplies and then evacuate casualties on the return journey.
They would take delivery of 159 of these aircraft that were transferred to the USAF in 1967 and redesignated as the C-7, seeing extensive service during the Vietnam War. It would find other notable military clients, including Canada, Australia, Malaysia, India and Spain. Other Caribou entered commercial service after being retired by the military, and some civil Caribou have been fitted with turboprop engines.
De Havilland Aircraft of Canada became part of the Hawker Siddeley Group during its takeover 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 continued as usual.
Then in 1966, we had the introduction of the Twin Otter, its first flight occurring on the May 20, 1965. After receiving certification in mid-1966, the first Twin Otters were placed in service by the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests. One of Canada's most successful commercial aircraft designs, all models could be fitted with skis or floats.
The Twin Otter remains popular for its rugged construction and STOL capabilities, with more than 990 built. Its development dates to January 1964, when DHC commenced work on a twin turboprop variant of the DHC-3 Otter as a STOL commuter airliner and utility transport. The Twin-Otter was originally designed as a utility bush airplane for the Canadian north, but it would find its true calling with several developing commuter airlines.
Incredibly, more than 800 Twin-Otters were built, and today it is regarded as one of Canada’s most successful commercial aircraft. The Twin Otter is the largest-selling 19-passenger commuter airplane in the world and was instrumental in the development of today’s regional airline industry.
Next time, we will pick up the De Havilland story with the advent of the Dash 7 and 8 and their eventual re-location to Calgary.
Sources: De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited Official website (photos and specifications); De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited - Article by Deborah C. Sawyer and Nathan Baker; De Havilland Field (article); "Canadian Civil Aircraft Register: Quick Search Result for De Havilland Aircraft of Canada". Transport Canada. (article); De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited – The Canadian Encyclopedia (article); De Havilland Canada – Archive Today (article); The De Havilland Canada Story by Fred W. Hotson; Aviation In Canada by Larry Milberry (excerpts); Canadian Aircraft Since 1909 by Ken. A. Molson and Harold A. Taylor; Oral History Interview - George W. Luesby by Richard MacLeod
Newmarket resident Richard MacLeod, the History Hound, has been a local historian for more than 40 years. He writes a weekly feature about our town's history in partnership with NewmarketToday, conducts heritage lectures and walking tours of local interest, and leads local oral history interviews.
