Canada Recognizes "National Historical Significance" of Former T.Bay Plane Plant

[The Bread Guy]

This from the Minister responsible for Parks Canada today:

The Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of the Environment and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, today celebrated the national historic significance of the Canadian Car & Foundry site, the location of Canada’s largest manufacturer of aircraft during the Second World War.

“I am happy to not only designate the Canadian Car & Foundry site as a national historic site of Canada, but also to recognize the wartime contributions made by the men and women that worked here,” said Minister Prentice. “By manufacturing more than 2,300 quality fighters, they expanded the Allied force’s air strength, and therefore contributed to its success.”

Now owned by Bombardier Transportation, the Canadian Car & Foundry Company was Canada's largest manufacturer of combat planes during the Second World War. During that time thousands of workers expertly contributed to the country’s wartime efforts, mainly by constructing 1,451 Hawker Hurricanes for the British Royal Air Force and the Royal Canadian Air Force, and 835 Curtiss Helldivers for the American Navy.

The aircraft production facility is representative of the wartime contributions made by thousands of Canadian women. By stepping forward to replace the men that were at war, Canadian women demonstrated that they could effectively do non-traditional jobs such as riveting and welding. They set the stage for assuming a more substantial role in the nation’s postwar economy .....

Other planes built at the old plant (now a Bombardier plant building mass transit cars) included:
    * G23 Goblin - Grumman Grumman FF/SF built under license)
    * Gregor FDB-1
    * Canadian Car and Foundry Maple Leaf Trainer II
    * CC&F CBY-3 Loadmaster
    * Canadian Car and Foundry Harvard Mk 4 (production rights to the T-6/Harvard family were sold to CC&F post war)
    * Beechcraft T-34 Mentor (under license)

Wikipedia has a reasonably good profile, as does the CF's Centennial of Flight page.

 

[John Nayduk]

Cool.  My Mom and my aunt worked there during the war.