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Canadair CL-44

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CL-44 / CC-106 Yukon
A Canadair CL-44 ofTransporte Aereo Rioplatense.The same aircraft crashed in July 1981 following a mid-air collision.
Role Military transport aircraft
Cargo aircraft
Manufacturer Canadair
First flight 16 November 1959
Introduction 19 July 1960 (RCAF)
Retired 1971 (RCAF)
Primary users Royal Canadian Air Force
Various airlines
Number built 39
Developed from Bristol Britannia
Variants Conroy Skymonster

TheCanadair CL-44was a Canadianturbopropairlinerand cargoaircraftbased on theBristol Britanniathat was developed and produced byCanadairin the late 1950s and early 1960s. Although innovative, only a small number of the aircraft were produced for theRoyal Canadian Air Force(RCAF) (as theCC-106 Yukon), and for commercial operators worldwide.

The aircraft is named after the Canadian territory ofYukon.

Design and development[edit]

In the 1950s,Canadairacquired a licence to build theBristol Britanniaairliner. Their first use of it was to build the heavily modifiedCanadair CL-28 Arguspatrol aircraft (RCAF designationCP-107) that combined the Britannia's wings and tail sections with a new fuselage and engines. The resulting aircraft had lower speed and service ceiling, but it had two bomb bays and greatly extended loiter times.

Loading a Canadair CL-44 atManchesterin 1963 with the fuselage swung open. This aircraft was operated byBOACon charter fromSeaboard World Airlines

The RCAF required a replacement for its C-54GMNorth Star,itself an extensive redesign of theDouglas C-54 Skymaster.Among many changes, the proposed new aircraft was powered byMerlinengines. Canadair began work on a long range transport primarily intended to provide personnel and logistics support for Canadian Forces in Europe. In January 1957 Canadair received a contract for eight aircraft, later increased to 12. The RCAF designation for the new design wasCC-106 Yukon,while the company's civilian variant was known as theCL-44-6.In company parlance the CL-44 was simply "the Forty-Four."

The RCAF specified the CL-44 to be equipped withBristol Orionengines. When the British Ministry of Supply canceled the Orion program, the RCAF revised the specifications to substitute theRolls-Royce Tyne 11.The CL-44fuselagewas lengthened, making it 12 ft 4 in (3.75 m) longer than the Britannia 300 with two large cargo doors added on the port side on some aircraft, while the cabin was pressurised to maintain a cabin altitude of 2,400 m at 9,000 m (30,000 ft). The design used modified CL-28 wings and controls. The Yukon could accommodate 134 passengers and a crew of nine. In the casualty evacuation role, it could take 80 patients and a crew of 11.

The rollout of the Yukon was a near-disaster because the prototype could not be pushed out of the hangar since the vertical fin could not clear the hangar doors.[citation needed]The first flight took place 15 November 1959 atCartierville Airport.During test flights many problems were encountered, from complete electrical failure to engines shaking loose and almost falling off. Rolls-Royce had problems delivering engines, resulting in the sarcastically-named "Yukon gliders" being parked outside Canadair as late as 1961.[citation needed]

Operational history[edit]

Canadair CC-106 Yukon of the Canadian Armed Forces atLondon Gatwick Airportin 1968
Canadair CC-106 of Societe Generale d'Alimentation (Zaire) at Montreal (Dorval) Airport in 1973 wearing remnants of its RCAF markings
A CL-44D4-2 ofBayu Indonesia Airin the mid-1980s atPerth Airport

Initially, the CL-44-6 was produced for the RCAF as theCC-106 Yukon.Once initial problems were resolved, in RCAF service the Yukon performed well and in December 1961, a Yukon set a world record for its class when it flew 6,750 mi (10,860 km) from Tokyo to RCAF Station Trenton, Ontario, in 17 hours, three minutes at an average speed of 400 mph (640 km/h). Later, a Yukon set a new record staying airborne for 23 hours and 51 minutes. These records were unbroken until bettered by the Boeing 747SP in 1975. By the time of their retirement, Yukons had flown 65 million miles, 1.5 billion passenger miles and 360 million ton-miles.

The CL-44D4 was briefly considered for purchase by theUnited States Air Forcein the 1960s but the project was never culminated due to political backlash in Canada and theUnited States.[1]The USAF purchase of the CL-44 was complicated by two factors. It came in the aftermath of the cancellation of theAvro Canada CF-105 Arrowand involved a "swap deal" wherein 100McDonnell F-101 Voodoofighters were obtained in return for a contract for 232 CL-44-D4 transports for the Military Air Transport Service (MATS). The political controversy that resulted led to problems for a Quebec-based company receiving a contract so soon after an Ontario-based company had lost a major contract. The USAF also quickly found that buying a foreign aircraft was not easy when American companies wanted the business and they relinquished the contract to Canadair, awarding an order to Boeing for theKC-135 Stratotanker.

On thecargo aircraftvariantCL-44D4the entire tail section hinged. It could be opened usinghydraulicactuatorsto load large items quickly. An inflatable seal at the hinge-break enabled cabin pressure to be maintained, and eight hydraulic-operated locks assured structural integrity. The tail could be opened from controls within the tail in 90 seconds. The flight controls at the joint were maintained by a system of push pads.

The CL-44D4 was the first large aircraft to be able to "swing" its tail, although some small naval aircraft had this feature to ease storage. These, however, requiredriggingbefore flight. There were only four original customers who bought and operated the CL-44D4.

Loftleiðirwas the only passenger operator of the CL-44J, variant of CL-44D4 stretched on request by Canadair. It was the largest passenger aircraft flying over the Atlantic Ocean at that time. Loftleiðir marketed the CL-44J under the name "Rolls-Royce 400 PropJet". This led to the confusion that the CL-44J is sometimes referred to as the Canadair-400. Loftleiðir Icelandic Airlines merged withAir Icelandin 1973 and became today'sIcelandair.

Main article:1981 Armenia mid-air collision

In 1981 aBaku,Azerbaijan-basedSoviet Unioninterceptor deliberately rammed anArgentineCanadair CL-44 fromTransporte Aéreo Rioplatense,killing the three Argentines and oneBritonon board; the aircraft wasdelivering arms from Israel to Iran(the Soviet pilot ejected and survived).[2]

The CC-106 Yukons retired in March 1971 and were replaced by theCC-137(Boeing 707). The Yukons might have served longer with the Canadian Forces Air Transport Command but for two factors: the need for an aircraft which could operate as an in-flight refueling tanker, and the chronic shortage and high cost of spares, the latter resulting because the CL-44 had never gone into large-scale production. All Yukons were sold to South American and African operators as they could not be registered in North America or Europe since the FAA refused to certify the original windshields which came from the Bristol Britannia because they did not meet flight crew vision standards.[3]The General Dynamics CV880/990 windshields were compatible enough to be adopted into the flight deck structure, but the cost was prohibitive. The CC-106 had the original Bristol Britannia windshield and, on its retirement from RCAF operations, the cost of conversion was estimated at $250,000.00 per unit, cost alone precluding its use in North America and Europe. In 1974, a special exclusion was granted for the CC-106 (Cargo) for civil operations in Canada.

Variants[edit]

CL-44-6
Version built for theRoyal Canadian Air Forceas theCC-106 Yukon,12 built
CL-44D4-1
Civil, commercialcargo aircraft,civil prototype and production aircraft forSeaboard World Airlines,eight built.
CL-44D4-2
Civil, commercialcargo aircraftoriginally built forFlying Tiger Line,13 built.
CL-44D4-6
Civil, commercialcargo aircraftoriginally built forSlick Airways,four built.
CL-44D4-8
Civil aircraft forIcelandic AirlinesLoftleidir, two built(civil passenger version)
CL-44J
Four CL-44D4 aircraft stretched by Canadair on request of Icelandic AirlinesLoftleiðir,with a section, 10 ft 1 in (3.07 m) forward of the wing, and another section of 5 ft 1 in (1.55 m) aft of the wing. This enabled the installation of 29 extra seats, bringing the capacity to 189 passengers. Themaximum take-off weightstayed the same since the extra weight was compensated by removing the center wing tanks. Therefore, it can be said that the stretch was a trade of capacity for range.
CL-44-O
Also known as theSkymonsterandCL-44 Guppy.The CL-44-O was a single CL-44D4-2 (c/n 16) converted byConroy Aircraft,who removed the fuselage shell above the floorline, and rebuilt an enlarged fuselage to make it into aGuppy-type aircraft.It was intended to transportRolls-Royce RB211engine pods to the United States forLockheed's L-1011 TriStar.

Operators[edit]

Civilian operators[edit]

Four original customers who bought and operated the CL-44D4 were: Seaboard World Airlines, The Flying Tiger Line, Slick Airways and the Icelandic Airlines Loftleiðir. All other operators operated second-hand aircraft.

♠ original operators

Argentina
CC.106 of Aerotransportes landing atMiamiin 1976
Australia
Belgium
Canada
Colombia
Cyprus
Ecuador
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Gabon
Indonesia
Iceland
Ireland
Lebanon
Libya
Luxembourg
Morocco
Peru
Spain
Switzerland
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Zaire

Military operators[edit]

Canada

Accidents and incidents[edit]

The Canadair CL-44 suffered 21 hull loss incidents during its operational history including the following:

Surviving aircraft[edit]

One CC-106 is known to have been preserved. The fuselage of construction number 13, last registered as HC-AZH, has been converted into a nightclub inCuenca, Ecuador.[8]

Additionally, the single CL-44-O Skymonster remains extant atBournemouth Airportin the United Kingdom.[9]

Specifications CL-44D-4[edit]

Data fromhttp://en.avia.pro/blog/canadair-cl-44-tehnicheskie-harakteristiki-foto

General characteristics

  • Crew:2 pilots, 1 flight engineer plus loadmasters as required.
  • Capacity:160 passengers and 66,048 lb (29,959 kg) useful load
  • Length:136 ft 11 in (41.73 m)
  • Wingspan:142 ft 4 in (43.37 m)
  • Height:36 ft 8 in (11.18 m)
  • Wing area:2,075 sq ft (192.7 m2)
  • Empty weight:88,952 lb (40,348 kg)
  • Max takeoff weight:210,000 lb (95,000 kg)
  • Powerplant:4 ×Rolls-Royce Tyne515/50turboprops,5,730 shp (4,270 kW) each
  • Propellers:4-bladed variable pitch propellers

Performance

  • Maximum speed:420 mph (670 km/h, 360 kn)
  • Cruise speed:401 mph (646 km/h, 349 kn)
  • Range:5,588 mi (8,993 km, 4,856 nmi)
  • Service ceiling:30,000 ft (9,100 m)

See also[edit]

Related development

Related lists

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^"The CL-44."Archived2007-07-06 at theWayback Machinecl44.Retrieved: 3 March 2007.
  2. ^Oberg 1988, pp. 32–49.
  3. ^Pickler and Milberry 1995, p. 141.
  4. ^abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzaaabacadaeafEastwood/Roach 1990, pp 79–81
  5. ^"Young Cargo".rzjets.Retrieved13 November2021.
  6. ^"Skymaster Freight Services".Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives.Retrieved3 March2022.
  7. ^"Civil Aviation Authority Accident Investigation Division report on the accident to Canadair CL44 G-ATZH"(PDF).
  8. ^"HC-AZH - Canadair CC-106 Yukon".JetPhotos.4 October 2021.Retrieved15 June2022.
  9. ^"N447FT - Canadair CL-44-O Guppy".JetPhotos.1 January 2022.Retrieved15 June2022.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

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