The Fleet Model 80 Canuck is a Canadian light

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...

featuring two seats in side-by-side configuration. The Canuck was designed for the

flight training Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

, personal use and light commercial roles. A total of 225 Canucks were built by two manufacturers during its thirteen-year production run, with the majority being built by Fleet Aircraft between 1945 and 1947.

Design and development

The Canuck originated with the Noury N-75, designed by Bob Noury which first flew in 1944 at Mount Hope, Ontario. The "home-built" N-75 was a conventional high-wing

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

design with a welded-steel

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

and tail surfaces with fabric covering, looking not unlike a

Piper Cub The Piper J-3 Cub is an American light aircraft that was built between 1938 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. The aircraft has a simple, lightweight design which gives it good low-speed handling properties and short-field performance. The Cub is Pi ...

. However, the side-by-side seating in the original design was unusual for aircraft of its time even though it was a far better arrangement for instruction. Noury also experimented with a tandem-seat arrangement on a following prototype but had only built three aircraft when he sold the Noury N-75 rights to the Fleet Aircraft Company in 1945."Fleet 80 Canuck."
''

Canada Aviation and Space Museum The Canada Aviation and Space Museum (french: link=no, Musée de l'Aviation et de l'Espace du Canada) (formerly the Canada Aviation Museum and National Aeronautical Collection) is Canada's national aviation history museum. The museum is located ...

.'' Retrieved: 29 June 2017. Fleet undertook some minor design changes, principally relocating the fuel tank, adding a

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History Open ...

above the cabin, lowering the front fuselage profile and replacing the original Continental C-75 with a slightly more powerful C-85 engine. The Noury N-75 was tested in its new configuration; it first flew on 26 September 1945 with Fleet Test Pilot Tommy Williams at the controls. Following modifications to the

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

to increase its size, the prototype, newly renamed, emerged as the Fleet Model 80 Canuck, and entered production. FleetModel80CanuckCF-DPZ

Operational history

Although the aircraft were well built, strong performers and versatile; able to be flown with floats or skis to increase its utility, after a spurt in sales, they did not sell well. In trying to market the Fleet Canuck in the immediate postwar period, as either a private aircraft or a trainer, there were several obstacles: * Surplus ex-military aircraft were cheaply available in large numbers"Fleet Canuck."
''Collingwood Classic Aircraft Foundation,'' May 2002. Retrieved: 27 September 2007. * Ex-servicemen and civilians were more interested in careers and families than luxury items * Training aircraft were not in demand since thousands of ex-military pilots were out of work. After initial sales to flying clubs, charter companies and private owners began to falter, Fleet ran into financial problems. In 1947, Canuck production by Fleet was terminated. Over the next ten years a number of aircraft were built up from components by Leavens Brothers in Toronto with total series production finishing at 224 in 1958.Page and Cumming 1990, p. 118. Several have been re-engined with the

Continental O-200 The Continental C90 and O-200 are a family of air-cooled, horizontally opposed, four-cylinder, direct-drive aircraft engines of 201 in³ (3.29 L) displacement, producing between 90 and 100 horsepower (67 and 75 kW).''Federal Aviation Admini ...

. In September 2010 there were 77 Canucks registered in Canada with

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportati ...

."Civil Aircraft Register."
''

, September 2010. Retrieved: 10 September 2010.

Aircraft on display

In 1995, the

Royal Canadian Mint }) is the mint of Canada and a Crown corporation, operating under the ''Royal Canadian Mint Act''. The shares of the Mint are held in trust for the Crown in right of Canada. The Mint produces all of Canada's circulation coins, and manufactures ...

issued Coin #11, a $20 silver commemorative coin in its aviation series, recognizing the Fleet 80 Canuck and its original designer, J. Omer Noury, featured in a gold-inlay cameo insert. *

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

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- ''CF-EBE'', serial number 149, is in the storage building, displayed on floats. *

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- ''C-FEAI'' serial number 127."Fleet 80 Canuck."
''

Canadian Air & Space Museum The Canadian Air and Space Conservancy (formerly the Toronto Aerospace Museum and the Canadian Air and Space Museum) was an aviation museum that was located in Toronto, Ontario, featuring artifacts, exhibits and stories illustrating a century of ...

,'' 2008. Retrieved: 10 September 2010. *

Canadian Aviation Heritage Centre The Montreal Aviation Museum (french: Musée de L'aviation de Montréal), formerly the Canadian Aviation Heritage Centre (french: Centre canadien du patrimoine aéronautique), is an aviation museum located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canad ...

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- ''CF-ENH'' with marking of aircraft piloted by Hubert M.Pasmore ."Fleet Canuck (1947)."
"

" *

Reynolds-Alberta Museum The Reynolds-Alberta Museum is an agricultural, industrial, and transportation museum in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada. The museum is situated on an property containing the main museum building, an aviation display hangar, and its storage facility. ...

Wetaskiwin Wetaskiwin ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. The city is located south of the provincial capital of Edmonton. The city name comes from the Cree word ''wītaskiwinihk'', meaning "the hills where peace was made". Wetaskiwin is ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

- ''CF-BYW-X'', the original Noury prototype, is in the storage building.

Variants

* Fleet 80 Canuck : Two-seat sports and light touring aircraft. * Fleet 81 : Three-seat light touring aircraft. One built.

Specifications

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Page, Ron D. and William Cumming. ''Fleet: The Flying Years''. Erin, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1990. . {{Aircraft manufactured in Canada 1940s Canadian civil utility aircraft

Canuck ''Canuck'' is a slang term for a Canadian. The origins of the word are uncertain. The term ''Kanuck'' is first recorded in 1835 as an Americanism, originally referring to Dutch Canadians (which included German Canadians) or French Canadians. By ...

High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1945