Canada, North Stars and Tudors

[alertken]

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/beyond-the-mercure-avions-marcel-dassault-bréguet-aviation-projects.7247/page-2#post-336872.
#56-59 explore Canadian-licensed DC-4, DC-6.

What actually happened...then Whiff...

The Leader of Mackenzie King's Coalition minority partner was CD.Howe, Minister for Reconstruction, Minister for Supply, Minister for Everything. Churchill's own Canadian, Lord Beaverbook, re-entered Cabinet 9/43 to handle Post War Reconstruction and Chaired the Commonwealth Conference on Civil Aviation, 10/43. That agreed the Howe-Balfour Aeroplane, funded as Avro XX 687 (to be Tudor I), was "for planning purposes" to be the common answer to L-049 and DC-4. Ideas of all-pink (-on-the-map: i.e: British) territories and of Kangaroo round-the-world routes were to create the heft to match Pan Am. UK/US Informal Discussions, London 4/44, and Chicago Conference 12/44 (54 Nations) failed to agree a regime: US sought Open Skies, no-one else did....except CD.Howe. The point at issue was cabotage: a maritime concept, that trade within a Nation should be carried on home bottoms. UK perceived that US' idea of Open Skies was that Pan Am could pick up in London and tramp on round the world, picking and dropping, but that others could fly in to New York, then fly out of LA...but only with pax ticketed to get off in the carrier's home: so BOAC could carry London-NY, fly only London-boarding pax to LA, then carry LA-boarding pax westwards to London, none dropped en route. The issue dragged until the Bermuda Agreement, 11/2/46, which would endure for half a century. What did not survive was British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines, the pink carrier, Oz/NZ-W.Coast, inaugural 15/9/46, owned by UK/Oz/NZ...not Canada. CD.Howe saw opportunity from Open Skies intra-N.America: so, NY-Gander-London, Chicago-Vancouver-Oz.

He: - made Crown Corpn TCA the Designated Instrument monopoly outside N.America, thus thwarting CP's ambitions;
- Nationalised Canadian Vickers as a Crown Corpn, Canadair, then sold it to (Electric Boat) Convair;
- added Lincoln to the licences held by Crown Corpn Victory A/c for Lancaster and York - 50 ordered for RCAF (to lapse);
...1/2/44 negotiated a licence for DC-4 plus the pressurisation system being developed for DC-6, which he assigned 3/44 to (to be) Canadair, and ordered 50, 12/44 for TCA+RCAF.
7/45 he added Avro 689 Tudor IIF to the licence, ordered 5 for RCAF (to lapse 11/4/47*), and sold Victory 1/12/45 to be Avro Canada. I doubt he was advised that DC-4 would sell more than anyTudor. I have no idea why he thought he needed 2 Heavy Transport Aircraft factories in Peace, one in Anglo-, one in Franco-Canada. So:

Whiff No.1: one Aircraft Manufacturing Crown Corpn, ex-Victory +ex-Canadian Vickers.

Whiff No.2: one licensed programme, Canada/UK Tudors, or Canada/US Douglases (data point: Douglas in 1947 negotiated a DC-6 licence to Sud, thwarted by Red Ministers/Unions).

Remember, in 1945-47 we all expected very modest business for combat aircraft.

(20/4 correction per #2: canx 9/46)

 

[fortrena]

The following may be of interest.

Shortly after its creation, in 1945, Avro Canada was awarded an order for five transport aircraft derived from the Avro Lincoln heavy bomber for the Royal Canadian Air Force. The reason behind the production of these Avro Tudors, modified to meet the needs of their user, was to keep Avro Canada busy while waiting for the first flight of the new aircraft it was to design. The Department of Reconstruction and Supplies, born in December 1945 from the amalgamation of the Department of Munitions and Supplies and the Department of Reconstruction, all of them headed by Howe, canceled the order in September 1946, long before a prototype has been completed.

As far as Canadian Vickers is concerned, the management of the firm had decided in 1944 to pull out of aircraft manufacturing to concentrate all its efforts on the construction and repairt of ships, for both the wartime and postwar markets. Faced with that decision, the Canadian government created a Crown corporation, Canadair, in November, to take over the very modern factory at Cartierville, west of Montréal. Back in 1941, Canadian Vickers had received a major Canadian contract, for Consolidated Cansos, PBY-5A Catalina amphibians for all intent and purposes. Its factory in downtown Montreal, somewhat small, dated and cluttered, was not up to the job, however. The Department of Munitions and Supply thus bought a large piece of land in Cartierville and erected a factory there that the aircraft manufacturer was to run completely independently. The transfer of aitrcraft manufacturing operations was completed once and for all in mid 1943.

 

[riggerrob]

I suspect that Canadair North Stars got Rolls-Royce Merlin engines primarily to use up stocks of war-surplus engines. Merlins proved noisy and difficult to maintain in civilian service. It took TCA many thousands of hours to learn how to maintain Merlin engines.

 

[riggerrob]

Interesting how when the USA insisted on return of Lend-Lease DC-3s, etc. transport airplanes at the end of World War 2, it put BOAC at a severe disadvantage compared with the next dozen airlines.

 

[Flying Sorcerer]

I suspect that Canadair North Stars got Rolls-Royce Merlin engines primarily to use up stocks of war-surplus engines. Merlins proved noisy and difficult to maintain in civilian service. It took TCA many thousands of hours to learn how to maintain Merlin engines.

My father used to fly on business back in the day - he hated the old Merlin powered North Stars because of their noise and vibration.

 

[fortrena]

From the looks of its, the Merlin engines used on the North Star were specifically designed for civilian use and quite possibly for operation in potentially severe weather conditions, i.e. over the Atlantic Ocean.

While the power and reputation of the Merlin may have contributed to the decision to use it on the North Star, this order may well have been seen as a way to help the ailing economy of the United Kingdom. Thanks to certain economic agreements between the various States of the Commonwealth, the Merlins may, I repeat may, have entered Canada unaffected by customs. Furthermore, the purchase of British engines ensured that the Canadian government would not have to dip into its reserves of Americans dollars.

Incidentally, the engine nacelles of the North Star seemed somewhat similar in appearance to those of the one-off (?) Douglas XC-114 transport plane, a C-54 derivative fitted with Allison V-1710 engines.

 

[Apophenia]

Indeed. The Merlin 600 series were civil derivative of the 2-stage Merlin 62 military engines ... but with revised banks and heads for extended life in commercial service (at c.1944 UK government insistence).

But, as you say, the power and reputation of the Merlin clinched the deal. (Rather generous Rolls-Royce support may have also played a part - guaranteeing Merlin replacement parts would be no more expensive than those of US radials). Anyway, hard to argue against the Merlin on power (and weight) - the Merlin-powered North Stars cruised faster than the C-54/DC-4 and the one-off R-2800-powered C-5 North Star. Reliability, ... not so much. The TBO on a DC-4's P&W R-2000s being almost three times that of the Merlin 60x!

On Britain's economy, Ottawa was fully aware that the interest-free period tied to Canada's War Appropriation (United Kingdom Financing) Act 1942 was coming to an end. And negotiation must have already been underway for the postwar support which culminated in Canada offering the UK a CAD 1.25 Billion loan in 1946. So, we're talking debts well beyond the usual trade imbalance considerations.

BTW, according to Larry Milbury, Canadair originally considered the Rolls-Royce R.M. 14S.M. - later Merlin 100 - and R.M.20S.M. as well as a Griffon and the Bristol HE.10 Hercules. [1] For 'non-Empire' markets, US engines were also studied - Pratt & Whitney's 1,450 hp R-2000-9 (as per C-54G, civil R-2000-2SD1-G) or larger R-2800-C (as per DC-6). An interesting alternative considered was Wright's 1,900 hp R-2600-22 - which was available as a war-surplus engine. [2]

On nacelles, the North Star's R-R 'Universal Power Plant' (UPP) installation was the same diameter as the related (albeit armoured) circular cowlings for the Avro Lincoln. It seems that Rolls-Royce later designed the Dart to use the same engine mounting points as the Merlin. So, a turboprop North Star was well within the realm of possibility.

________________________________________________

[1] The heavier Hercules was probably a non-starter. It had lousy high-altitude performance (for the trans-Atlantic routes) and trouble starting in cold weather (for Canadian domestic routes).

[2] The Wright Double Cyclone did eventually appear on DC-4 airframes. The Charlotte Aircraft Corporation of Miami had an STC (SA194-80) for ex-military R-2600-35s (although R-2600-29A installations are also mentioned). Waig Aircraft Inc. of Tucson has also done at least one R-2600 conversion.

 

[riggerrob]

North Stars were built back during the days of post-WW2 food rationing. Food was still rationed in the UK until well into the 1950s. The Royal Canadian Navy was trading "guns for butter" ... er "Hawker Sea Furies for butter."
During the 1950s, my British-born grandfather returned (from Canada) to the U.K. for a family wedding and he carried the the wedding feast in his suitcase.
During this same time period, the gov'ts of Britain and Japan continued whaling to feed their mal-nourished populations. They "whaled" long after world wide whale populations were threatened with extinction.

 

[riggerrob]

Were North Stars powered by war-surplus Merlins or new-production Merlin 626?

Remember that Victory Aircraft bolted Packard Merlin engines into the hundreds of Lancasters that they built during the war.

 

[Apophenia]

Were North Stars powered by war-surplus Merlins or new-production Merlin 626? ...

All North Stars were powered by new-build engines. Engine types were as follows:

C-54GM -- RCAF North Star Mk.1, Merlin 620 (although 622 is also often seen listed)

DC-4M.1 - TCA North Star (unpressurized), Merlin 620

DC-4M.2 - TCA North Star (domestic operations), Merlin 622-10/722-10 (cooling mod.)

DC-4M.2 - TCA North Star (trans-Atlantic), Merlin 624-10/724-10 (cooling mod.)

C-4 - BOAC C.4 (Canadair IV) Argonaut, Merlin 626-1

C-4 - CPAL Canadair Four/North Star, Merlin 626-12