Bristol Aerospace

Bristol Aerospace

Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Aerospace
Founded	1930(1930)
Founder	Jim MacDonald Grant MacDonald Edwin MacDonald
Headquarters	Winnipeg,Manitoba , Canada
Products	Aircraft Repair and Overhaul, Floats, Rockets
Number of employees	630
Parent	Magellan Aerospace
Website	www.bristol.ca

Bristol Aerospaceis a Canadianaerospacefirm located inWinnipeg, Manitobaand is an operating division ofMagellan Aerospace.Once part of theBristol Aeroplane Company,today it is known as Magellan Aerospace, Winnipeg.

History

Bristol Aerospace began in 1930 as theMacDonald Brothers Aircraft Company.Brothers Jim and Grant MacDonald moved to Winnipeg from Nova Scotia in 1904 to start a sheet metal business. Brother Edwin joined them later and by the late 1920s air travel had become an important means of transportation with Winnipeg becoming a hub for travel to the booming west. The MacDonalds formedMacDonald Brothers Aircraft Companyin 1930, producingseaplanefloats under licence fromEDO CorporationofNew York City.The company produced floats into the early 1980s.

WWII

DuringWorld War IIthe factory built training aircraft and by war's end had grown to 4,500 employees. At the end of the war, MacDonald Bros. became an important repair and overhaul centre for theRoyal Canadian Air Force.Their location at the centre of the country lowered the average travel cost for aircraft to the factories, as well as providing aviation jobs in the Canadian west. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s the company performed depot level inspection and repair for many of Canada's fighter aircraft.

Purchase by the Bristol Aeroplane Company

In 1954, MacDonald Brothers Aircraft was purchased by theBritishBristol Aeroplane Company,becoming their Canadian division. The company was an important supplier of accessories forjet engines,building the exhaust pipes for theAvro CF-100 Canuckand later becoming the primary maintenance depot for the aircraft. During the 1950s and 60s Bristol built on their experience in precision sheet metal work to become a major supplier of hot section components for various engine manufacturers.

CRV7

In the second half of the 1950s Bristol was selected to build several testrocketairframes forCARDE's ongoing research into high-powersolid fuelpropellants. After initial research completed in the early 1960s, Bristol started selling a "lightened" version of the test vehicle as theBlack Brantforsounding rocketuse and opened the Rockwood Propellant Plant in 1962. The plant is located 25 minutes north of Winnipeg, in the community ofStony Mountain, Manitoba.As a result of this work, Bristol entered into a partnership withAerojet Generaland becameBristol Aerojetthe same year. This experience was later applied in the early 1970s to a new 2.75 "(70 mm) motor for use in US-standard rocket launchers, leading to theCRV7,which has since become the standard NATO 2.75 "rocket.

Since the incorporation of 'smart' weapons for the CF-18, Bristol no longer makes CRV-7 motors for the Canadian military. Production has dropped over the years although several smaller contracts to allied air forces have kept the plant active. A purchase by theRoyal Air Forcefor rocket motors was completed recently along with the sale of 200 redundant launchers that were in long-term storage. As of January 2010, the company has lost contracts with several countries and militaries around the world, thus causing layoffs at the Rockwood plant.

CF-101 contract

In the early 1960s Bristol won the maintenance contract for the CF-100's replacement, theCF-101 Voodoo.This plane had been plagued with afterburner problems and Bristol started a research project to correct the issues. Their resulting proposal was accepted and both the Canadian andUSAFF-101swere modified by Bristol, doubling the lifetime of the engines. Bristol retained the maintenance contract for the Canadian CF-101s until the last one was retired in 1987.

Bristol Aerospace

ACanadian ForcesCH-135 Twin Hueyafter Depot Level Inspection and Repair undergoing testing flying at Bristol Aerospace in 1987

In 1967 the parent Bristol Aeroplane, whose UK aircraft construction division had been incorporated into theBritish Aircraft Corporation(BAC) in 1960, was purchased for itsBristol-Siddeleyengine business byRolls-Royce,and renamedBristol Aerospace.It remained part of Rolls-Royce though nationalization and subsequent privatization again.

In the late 1960s, and the early 1970s under the joint U.S.-Canadian project known as theMeteorological Data Sounding System(MDSS) the company developedmeteorological sounding rocketsfor theU.S. Armyand other user agencies, such asU.S. Air Force,U.S. Navy,andNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.The MDSS rockets were lighter, more reliable, and less expensive than those being in use by the Army.

During the 1970s the company continued to be involved in overhaul and maintenance work, and the CRV7 became a major product line.

The concept for theWire Strike Protection System(WSPS) evolved from a tragic helicopter crash in Italy in April 1976 where444 SquadronCH-136 Kiowahelicopters were conducting rescue missions following the earthquake in northern Italy. Maj Andre Seguin, then a flight commander with 444 Tactical Helicopter Squadron out ofLahr, West Germanyconceived the wire protection system following a fatal wirestrike. The Unit CO tried to get formal recognition for Seguin for the concept during late 1976, but there was no meaningful support from the Canadian headquarters. Bristol shortly thereafter took the idea and developed it. They subsequently patented the WSPS for helicopters, which cuts cables on impact. These devices can be found on many helicopters today, in the form of angular "blades" projecting from the top and bottom of the cabin area.

The firstCanadian ForcesCanadair CF-5arrived at Bristol Aerospace on 1 April 1987 and was received by the company Flight Service crew.

In January 1987, Bristol was awarded the maintenance contract for the Canadian ForcesCanadair CF-5fleet, as a consolation contract for losing the more lucrative and longer-term CF-18 maintenance and overhaul contract toCanadair.The CF-5 effort lasted until 1995 when the federal government decided to remove them from service. Afterward Bristol was contracted to sell off the redundant aircraft to other interested air forces and offered to include a major upgrade to the avionics system. Bristol brokered a deal in 1996 for the purchase of ten single-seat and three dual-seat CF-5s by theBotswana Defence Force,but this was the only sale to be made. The company returned the two CF-5D demonstration aircraft toCFB Trenton(for storage) in March 2004, ending over 70 years of aircraft repair and overhaul. The company then refocused its energies on fabricating sub-assemblies and other components for the commercial aircraft business.

Purchase by Magellan Aerospace

In June 1997Rolls-Royce plcsold Bristol for $62,500,000 toMagellan Aerospace,a corporation formed by the merger of a number of Canadian and US aerospace firms. Since then Magellan has accelerated its consolidation of the various divisions located in Canada, the United States and Britain under the Magellan 'brand' logo reducing the visibility and independence of Bristol Aerospace. Staffing at the Winnipeg plant is now under 600 people while the Rockwood facility in Stony Mountain is approximately 50 personnel.

In 1999 Bristol won the contract forSCISAT-1,the first purely Canadian science satellite since 1971. With its successful launch on 12 August 2003, the basic systems were selected by theCanadian Space Agencyas a generic small-satellite "bus", with plans to launch more over the next decade.

Bristol has also worked in Canadian nuclear reactor construction. It has supplied core components,CANDU reactortubes and thermal sleeves to AECL and GE.

Products

The company designed and manufactures theBlack Brantseries of sounding and research rockets.

Magellan (Bristol) now produces aircraft sub-assemblies and engine components for all the major aerospace companies. Some examples include but are not limited to:

1. Boeing 767heat pan,Boeing 737composite panels andBoeing 747wing to Body Fairings
2. General Electric F101engine thruster door
3. Airbus A330&Airbus A380aft engine plugs
4. De Havilland CanadaDASH 8 engine nacelles, fairings, etc.
5. DHC Dash 8Tailcone & APU Support
6. Pratt & Whitney CanadaJT15D, PW545, PW307, PW306 engine components
7. M1 AbramsAGT1500 tank engine housing
8. AgustaWestland EH101lower fuselage and composite engine & transmission cowlings
9. F-35 Lightning IIJSF Vertical Guide box for Rolls-Royce Lift Fan module and composite panels for fuselage.

Aircraft

ACanadian ForcesBell CH-136 Kiowaafter Depot Level Inspection and Repair undergoing testing flying at Bristol Aerospace. This was the last Kiowa to go through DLIR and was test flown in April 1987.

Aircraft Repair and Overhaul

Aircraft	Type	Start date	End date
Canadair CF5A & D	fighter	1987	1995
McDonnell CF-101 Voodoo	fighter	1964	1987
Bell CH-118	helicopter	1982	1985
Bell CH-136 Kiowa	helicopter	1982	1987
Bell CH-135 Twin Huey	helicopter	1987	1991

Spacecraft

• Black Brantsounding rocket
• SCISAT-1

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Magellan Aerospace
• [Bristol Aerospace Limited: 50 Years of Technology 1930-1980, Volume One—The MacDonald Era—The First Quarter Century]
• [Bristol Aerospace Limited: 50 Years of Technology 1930-1980, Volume Two—The Second Quarter Century]

External links

• Official website of Magellan Aerospace
• Archived official website from October 2011,when Bristol Aerospace had its own website