Canadian Supermarine Stranraer

[Schneiderman]

A question for any experts in Royal Canadian Air Force procurement in the 1930s.
It is well documented that the RCAF was supplied with 40 licence-built Supermarine Stranraers pre-WW2 but my question is, was this the result of a competitive tender to an official specification? If so, is it known which other companies were approached?

 

[Apophenia]

Ah, the 'Strannie' - a long time personal favourite. [1]

There was no competitive tender for the Stranraer. As with most aircraft procurements of that time, the head of the RCAF Aeronautical Engineering Division - Group Captain E.W. Stedman - made his recommendation for the preferred airframe. Negotiations for purchase or license-production then began. So, no contest and no competitors.

However, a DND Specification number will have been issued for the RCAF's patrol flying boat procurement programme. Alas, I have not been able to find one. The few RCAF Specification number that I have found can be viewed here:
-- https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/canadian-aircraft-requirement-designations.28025/

The pattern of procurement seen with the Stranraer was basically a repeat of that for the Northrop Delta. In both cases, the object was to get Canadian industry up-to-date with then state-of-the-art all-metal aircraft construction techniques. (Between the lines, you sense that Stedman was unimpressed with all domestic efforts in metal construction to date - primarily made by Fairchild and Canadian Vickers.) [2]

As an American aircraft, the Delta photo-recce aircraft would have been a tough sell for the RCAF. In many ways, the Stranraer was less advanced structurally but its British origins and prior RAF service will have made it more palatable for Ottawa. So, in November 1936, an order was placed with Canadian Vickers to build 5 x Stranraers under licence from Supermarine. G/C Stedman's timing was good since, in May 1936, the RAF had cancelled its follow-up order for Stranraers.

The five Stranraers were to equip No. 5 (General Reconnaissance) Squadron which had been stood-up at RCAF Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (for anti-smuggling patrols, at least initially). The five Canadian Vickers-built aircraft arrived at No. 5 (GR) between November 1938 and July 1939. The usual story is that these 'Strannies' were such a success that another 35 were ordered from Canadian Vickers. More plausibly, the line was being kept busy until the new Canadian Vickers facility at Cartierville was completed and Canso production could begin.

_____________________________________

[1] My grandfather was on Stranraers out of RCAF Station Gander during WW2. As a kid is seemed bizarre Grandad's silver clasp was awarded for having left Canada to go 'overseas' to Newfoundland

Another childhood memory is of playing in a derelict Stranraer fuselage which sat just outside the perimeter fence at YVR. And then there was ex-Queen Charlotte Airlines Stranraer CF-BXO at anchor off Penticton. They were offering joyrides ... but guess who had already squandered all of his pocket money on Creamsicles and Tahiti Treat?

[2] More on metal construction efforts in Canada ... if you want it. Some of Canadian Vickers earlier efforts in that regard may explain why G/C Stedman would have scratched the Saunders-Roe London off his preference list fairly early on.

 

[jcf]

Ah, the 'Strannie' - a long time personal favourite. [1]

There was no competitive tender for the Stranraer. As with most aircraft procurements of that time, the head of the RCAF Aeronautical Engineering Division - Group Captain E.W. Stedman - made his recommendation for the preferred airframe. Negotiations for purchase or license-production then began. So, no contest and no competitors.

However, a DND Specification number will have been issued for the RCAF's patrol flying boat procurement programme. Alas, I have not been able to find one. The few RCAF Specification number that I have found can be viewed here:
-- https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/canadian-aircraft-requirement-designations.28025/

The pattern of procurement seen with the Stranraer was basically a repeat of that for the Northrop Delta. In both cases, the object was to get Canadian industry up-to-date with then state-of-the-art all-metal aircraft construction techniques. (Between the lines, you sense that Stedman was unimpressed with all domestic efforts in metal construction to date - primarily made by Fairchild and Canadian Vickers.) [2]

As an American aircraft, the Delta photo-recce aircraft would have been a tough sell for the RCAF. In many ways, the Stranraer was less advanced structurally but its British origins and prior RAF service will have made it more palatable for Ottawa. So, in November 1936, an order was placed with Canadian Vickers to build 5 x Stranraers under licence from Supermarine. G/C Stedman's timing was good since, in May 1936, the RAF had cancelled its follow-up order for Stranraers.

The five Stranraers were to equip No. 5 (General Reconnaissance) Squadron which had been stood-up at RCAF Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (for anti-smuggling patrols, at least initially). The five Canadian Vickers-built aircraft arrived at No. 5 (GR) between November 1938 and July 1939. The usual story is that these 'Strannies' were such a success that another 35 were ordered from Canadian Vickers. More plausibly, the line was being kept busy until the new Canadian Vickers facility at Cartierville was completed and Canso production could begin.

_____________________________________

[1] My grandfather was on Stranraers out of RCAF Station Gander during WW2. As a kid is seemed bizarre Grandad's silver clasp was awarded for having left Canada to go 'overseas' to Newfoundland

Another childhood memory is of playing in a derelict Stranraer fuselage which sat just outside the perimeter fence at YVR. And then there was ex-Queen Charlotte Airlines Stranraer CF-BXO at anchor off Penticton. They were offering joyrides ... but guess who had already squandered all of his pocket money on Creamsicles and Tahiti Treat?

[2] More on metal construction efforts in Canada ... if you want it. Some of Canadian Vickers earlier efforts in that regard may explain why G/C Stedman would have scratched the Saunders-Roe London off his preference list fairly early on.

As an aside, my Dad flew on QCA Strannies several times between Vancouver and Ocean Falls. He also flew on their Cansos, before and after QCA was bought out by Pacific Western. My first flight on an aircraft was from Ocean Falls down to Vancouver on a Pacific Western Mallard.

 

[Apophenia]

... My first flight on an aircraft was from Ocean Falls down to Vancouver on a Pacific Western Mallard.

Another personal favourite! My first draughting job involved crawling into the tailcone of a Mallard. (I suspect that I was chosen more for adolescent size rather than any nascent talent.) My first cutaway drawing, however, was of a Stranraer

 

[Schneiderman]

Ah, the 'Strannie' - a long time personal favourite. [1]

Thanks for the information. I thought that was the most likely answer but needed confirmation, to eliminate one possible line of research. Thanks again

 

[fortrena]

If I may, the November 1936 contract was historic. For the first time, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was asking a local aircraft manufacturer to produce an armed, combat aircraft.

Preparations for the production of the Stranraer, the heaviest aircraft manufactured in the country to date, took almost two years. The first aircraft flew in October 1938. Given the international situation, the RCAF signed additional contracts for eleven aircraft in March 1938 and August 1939. After Canada went to war in September 1939, the RCAF ordered twelve more Stranraers and, in early 1941, another twelve.

Understandably more preoccupied with its own defence, the United Kingdom limited deliveries of engines and equipment from the fall of 1939 onward. As a result, only three Stranraers were delivered to the RCAF in 1940 (October and November?). The situation was all the more serious as the RCAF badly needed aircraft to protect convoys of merchant ships from attacks by German submarines. The last Stranraer was delivered only in November 1941 and even its staunchest proponents acknowledged that this reliable and popular aircraft was completely obsolete by then.

That said, the British government had agreed to let the RCAF have a number of Lockheed Hudson patrol aircraft originally ordered by the Royal Air Force. The first ten or so of these were taken on strength in September 1939. Others followed from February 1940 onward.

As far as the Delta was concerned, it might be worth noting that the RCAF had been acquiring American aircraft, Fairchilds and Bellancas for example, to equip its photo mapping units for some years. Acquiring some Deltas to modernise the fleet did not cause much of a ruckus.

Incidentally, the Delta was the first all-metal (fuselage + wings) aircraft made in Canada.

The number of Deltas ordered went from three to seven, then to twenty, which meant that more Deltas were produced in Canada than in the United States.

 

[Apophenia]

... worth noting that the RCAF had been acquiring American aircraft, Fairchilds and Bellancas for example, to equip its photo mapping units for some years...

Yes and, as you suggest, the Delta followed their procurement pattern. The RCAF Fairchild FC-2s were first supplied by Canadian Vickers and then by the Canadian-owned Fairchild Aircraft Ltd. of Montreal. Canadian Vickers later built Bellanca CH-300s for the RCAF. Both were considered general-purpose types but, as you say, photo-survey was the primary mission.

If I may, the November 1936 contract was historic. For the first time, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was asking a local aircraft manufacturer to produce an armed, combat aircraft...

Quite true, the Canadian Vickers Vancouver IIS/S and IIS/W were armed 'Service Types' but they were conversions from airframes ordered for forestry and photo-survey roles. [1]

..The last Stranraer was delivered only in November 1941 and even its staunchest proponents acknowledged that this reliable and popular aircraft was completely obsolete by then...

Again, true. In British Columbia, there was a sense that these obsolete biplane 'boats were being 'dumped' on Western Air Command. Even if that were the case, I think the Stranraers' apparent obsolescence proved a benefit when flying the BC Coast. Once the Pacific War began, the Canso A may have been preferred by RCAF crews for its modernity but the biplane Stranraer was much more manoeuvrable. That would be no small thing when trying to negotiate beneath cloud cover in narrow BC fjords. [2]

Speaking of British Columbia, it is also worth noting that the Stranraers served as operational patrol aircraft far longer on the West Coast. AFAIK, the 'Strannies' on the East Coast were all replaced by Hudsons and, later, Canso As by the Autumn of 1941 - No. 5 (BR) Stranraer ops ending in Sept 1941; No. 117 (BR) in Oct 1941. On the West Coast, Stranraers served on (invariably in mixed-type units) until the late Spring of 1944.

For the record, West Coast Stranraers served No. 4 (BR) at Jericho (July 1939) and later Ucluelet (until Sept 1943). Sept 1939-May 1940, a pair of No. 6 (BR) Stranraers formed a 'det' at Ucluelet (alongside No.4 aircraft) before No. 6 re-deployed to Alliford Bay. Also at Alliford Bay, No. 7 (BR) began replacing its Blackburn Sharks with Stranraers in Feb 1943 (they served on until March 1944). No. 9 (BR) formed at Bella Bella on Stranraers in Dec 1941 - they were later joined by Canso As and Catalinas, with all three types operating together until No.9 was disbanded in April 1944.

There was also No. 120 (BR) - at Patricia Bay and then Coal Harbour - on Stranraers (Nov 1941-Oct 1943). The No. 120 'Strannies' serving alongside Canso As in 1943 until being replaced by Catalina IVAs in October. Mixed No. 13 (OT) operated Stranraers as flying boat trainers (Oct 1941-Nov 1942). These 'boats were taken on just before No. 13 (OT) moved from Sea Island to Pat Bay. These operational training Stranraers retained to patrol duties when No. 13 (OT) switched to all-landplane training.

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[1] The last Vancouver IIS/W served No. 4 Squadron at Jericho Beach Air Station on Vancouver's Outer Harbour until the outbreak of WW2 (#904 then became an instructional airframe). Amazingly, Canadian Vickers Vedette biplane 'boats remained on active service in BC for a brief time after the Vancouvers were withdrawn!

[2] An analogy can be drawn from the much later CC-115 Buffalo becoming fixed-wing SAR platforms for BC. Yes, those unwanted tactical transports were disposed of to a lower-priority region (in the eyes of DND) but they too could better manoeuvre within the confines of BC's narrower inlets.

_

 

[riggerrob]

Backing Apophenia,
In comparison to the Atlantic, the British Columbia coast was a backwater during World War 2.
On the Atlantic side, after U-boats sailed up the Saint Lawrence River and torpedoed a few ships near Rivière du Loup, the River was closed to shipping. All cargo had to be transported by rail to Halifax before it could be loaded onboard ships destined for Europe.
In comparison, the Pacific Coast was quiet. Japanes troops only landed on the Aleutian Islands where they were defeated by Aleutian weather. You can count on one hand the number of Japanese submarines that raided the B.C., Washington, Oregon or California coasts.