The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) was an Australian aircraft manufacturer. The CAC was established in 1936, to provide Australia with the capability to produce military aircraft and engines.

History

In 1935 the Chief General Manager of

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

Essington Lewis Essington Lewis, CH (13 January 18812 October 1961) was a prominent Australian industrialist. He was the Director-General of the Department of Munitions during World War II. Biography Early life Essington Lewis was born in Burra, South Aust ...

, visited

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and formed the view that war was probable. On his return to Australia, concerned at the lack of manufacturing capabilities there and at the possibility of aircraft not being available from 'traditional' (i.e. British) sources during wartime, he commenced a

lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agency, regulatory agencie ...

campaign to convince the

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federalism, federal parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster system, Westminster-sty ...

to establish a modern aircraft industry. The government required little persuasion and encouraged negotiations between a number of Australian companies. The outcome of these negotiations, begun in August 1935, was the formation of CAC the following year. Initially the companies involved were BHP,

General Motors-Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last three ...

and Broken Hill Associated Smelter. These were joined by

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

, the

Orient Steam Navigation Company The Orient Steam Navigation Company, also known as the Orient Line, was a British shipping company with roots going back to the late 18th century. From the early 20th century onwards, an association began with P&O which became 51% shareholde ...

and the

Electrolytic Zinc Company An electrolyte is a medium containing ions that is electrically conducting through the movement of those ions, but not conducting electrons. This includes most soluble salts, acids, and bases dissolved in a polar solvent, such as water. Upon dis ...

. at the time of CAC's formation (the company was incorporated in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

on 17 October 1936). By September 1937 a factory had been completed at

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city List of Melbourne suburbs, suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cities of ...

Shortly after the establishment of CAC,

Mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...

-based

Tugan Aircraft Tugan Aircraft Ltd. was an Australian aircraft manufacturer of the 1930s. It was based at Mascot aerodrome, now Sydney Airport. It is best known for having manufactured the Gannet, the first Australian-designed aircraft to enter series productio ...

was purchased. This led to

Lawrence Wackett Sir Lawrence James Wackett (2 January 1896 – 18 March 1982) is widely regarded as "father of the Australian aircraft industry". He has been described as "one of the towering figures in the history of Australian aviation covering, as he did, ...

joining the company; he immediately became the General Manager. It is almost entirely due to Wackett's efforts that the Wirraway became the first aircraft produced by CAC. In 1935 Wackett had led a technical mission to Europe and the United States to evaluate modern aircraft types and select a type suitable to Australia's needs and within Australia's capabilities to build. The mission's selection was the

North American NA-16 The North American Aviation NA-16 was the first trainer aircraft built by North American Aviation, and was the beginning of a line of closely related North American trainer aircraft that would eventually number more than 17,000 examples, notab ...

; with CAC's modifications this became the Wirraway. CAC also undertook production of the

Pratt & Whitney R-1340 The Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp is an aircraft engine of the reciprocating type that was widely used in American aircraft from the 1920s onward. It was the Pratt & Whitney aircraft company's first engine, and the first of the famed Wasp series ...

engine used in the Wirraway and also built some propellers when supplies from alternative sources became problematic. With its first aircraft type the company thus became one of very few in the world that have produced an aircraft fitted with engines and propellers made by the same company (see also

de Havilland The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited () was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of north London. Operations were later moved to Hatfield in H ...

). While CAC largely produced Australian versions of foreign aircraft, it also developed a number of original designs during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. These indigenous designs include the Wackett, which was only the second type produced by the company. The Wackett was a simple trainer aircraft, but later designs during World War II were the sophisticated Woomera and CA-15, however these types were destined to fly only in

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

form. Other, jet-powered aircraft designs in the 1950s and 1960s did not even leave the drawing board, however in 1951 CAC was given the go-ahead to design and manufacture a version of the

F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing So ...

with a revised engine and armament. The Sabre was developed and produced concurrently with the indigenous Winjeel trainer, with Sabre manufacture coming to an end in 1961. In 1964 after a large amount of political lobbying CAC began producing components for the Sabre's replacement, a version of the

Dassault Mirage III The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach number, Mach 2 ...

, as a subcontractor to the

Government Aircraft Factories Government Aircraft Factories (GAF) was the name of an aircraft manufacturer owned by the Government of Australia. The primary factory was located at Fishermans Bend, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria. It had its origins in the lead-up to World ...

(GAF). In 1967 CAC commenced licence production of a version of the

Aermacchi MB-326 The Aermacchi or Macchi MB-326 is a light military jet trainer designed in Italy. Originally conceived as a two-seat trainer, there have also been single and two-seat light attack versions produced. It is one of the most commercially successf ...

optimised for Australian conditions, this programme ended in 1972. In 1971 CAC joined the small number of aircraft manufacturers which have built both fixed- and rotary-winged aircraft, when it began production of a variant of the Bell Kiowa for the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

and

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

, the last of these was delivered in 1977. The same year CAC embarked on a Life Of Type Extension (LOTEX) programme for the Macchi, which was suffering fatigue problems. The LOTEX programme lasted until 1984. The CAC became a fully owned subsidiary of

Hawker de Havilland de Havilland Aircraft Pty Ltd (DHA) was part of de Havilland, then became a separate company. It acquired the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in 1985 and was purchased by Boeing in 2000 and merged with the Boeing owned AeroSpace Technologie ...

in 1985 and was renamed Hawker de Havilland Victoria Limited in 1986. This company was purchased by

Boeing Australia Boeing Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, or simply Boeing Australia, is Boeing's largest subdivision outside the United States. Established in 2002, the company oversees its seven wholly owned subsidiaries, consolidating and co-ordinating Boeing’s ...

in 2000.

CAC produced an extremely wide range of aircraft for the

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

and civilian operators. These aircraft included the: * CAC CA-1, CA-3, CA-5, CA-7, CA-8, CA-9, CA-16 Wirraway (trainer and general purposes aircraft) * CAC CA-2, CA-6 Wackett Trainer (trainer) * CAC CA-12, CA-13, CA-14, CA-19 Boomerang (fighter) * CAC CA-11 Woomera (prototype medium bomber) * CAC CA-17 Mustang Mk.20, CA-18 Mk.21/22/23, CA-21 Mk.24 (fighter, North American P-51 Mustang) * CAC CA-15 "Kangaroo" (prototype fighter) * CAC CA-28 Ceres (crop duster) * CAC CA-22, CA-25 Winjeel (trainer) * CAC CA-26, CA-27 Avon-Sabre (fighter) * CAC CA-30 Macchi MB-326H (trainer) * CAC CA-32 / Bell 206B Kiowa (light observation helicopter) The Kiowa was the last type built by CAC. The company was part of the Australian Aircraft Consortium which designed the A10 Wamira, but this programme was cancelled in 1985 shortly after the prototype was completed. At the time of purchase by Hawker de Havilland, CAC had begun delivering components for the GAF-built version of the

F/A-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twinjet, twin-engine, supersonic aircraft, supersonic, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a Fighter aircraft, ...

Aircraft design and production

During its existence the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation produced over 1700 aircraft of all types, including prototypes and aircraft assembled locally from imported components. Of these, almost 550 were examples of aircraft types wholly designed by the company. The designations used by CAC reflected production or design work in fulfillment of different in-house projects or government contracts rather than different types produced (for instance the different designations for the Wackett and Winjeel prototypes compared to their production versions). Early types were given consecutive manufacturer's construction numbers (c/nos.), while later types (beginning with the production version of the Winjeel) were given c/nos. with the model number as a prefix. Construction numbers 1210 to 1224 appear not to have been assigned. The list of company designations and construction numbers is: * CA-1 First Wirraway production contract; 40 built (c/nos. 1–40) * CA-2 Wackett prototypes; two built (c/nos. 101, 102) * CA-3 Second Wirraway production contract; 60 built (c/nos. 41–100) * CA-4 Woomera prototype; one built (c/no. 435) * CA-5 Third Wirraway production contract; 32 built (c/nos. 103–134) * CA-6 Wackett production contract; 200 built (c/nos. 235–434) * CA-7 Fourth Wirraway production contract; 100 built (c/nos. 135–234) * CA-8 Fifth Wirraway production contract; 200 built (c/nos. 436–635) * CA-9 Sixth Wirraway production contract; 188 built (c/nos. 636–823) * CA-10 Proposed Wirraway variant not built (see

CAC Wirraway The CAC Wirraway (an Aboriginal word meaning "challenge") was a training and general purpose military aircraft manufactured in Australia by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) between 1939 and 1946. It was an Australian development of ...

for CA-10A) * CA-11 Woomera production contract for 105 aircraft. Contract cancelled, only one aircraft flew (101 c/nos. assigned, 1225–1325) * CA-12 First Boomerang production contract; 105 built (c/nos. 824–928) * CA-13 Second Boomerang production contract; 95 built (c/nos. 929–1023) * CA-14 Experimental Boomerang fitted with turbocharger; one built (c/no. 1074). * CA-15 Single-seat fighter; one built (c/n 1073).One source (ADF Serials) lists both aircraft as having c/no. 1074 * CA-16 Seventh (and final) Wirraway production contract; 135 built (c/nos. 1075–1209) * CA-17 First Mustang production contract; 80 assembled from imported components (c/nos. 1326–1405, 1326–1345 also assigned North American c/nos. NA110-34366 to -34385) * CA-18 Second Mustang production contract; 120 built, production of a further 50 cancelled (c/nos. 1406–1525).The series of books written by Stewart Wilson lists c/nos. for these aircraft as being different by 100, i.e first Mustang as c/no. 1226, Winjeel prototypes as c/nos. 1426 and 1427 etc. However, surviving civil-registered CAC Mustangs operated as

warbird A warbird is any vintage military aircraft now operated by civilian organizations and individuals, or in some instances, by historic arms of military forces, such as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, the RAAF Museum Historic Flight, or th ...

s have c/nos. in the 1326–1525 block * CA-19 Third (and final) Boomerang production contract; 49 built (c/nos. 1024–1072) * CA-20 Contract to modify Wirraways for use by the RAN (see

); 17 modified * CA-21 Third (and final) Mustang production contract for 100 aircraft; contract cancelled, none built * CA-22 Winjeel prototypes; two built (c/nos. 1526, 1527) * CA-23 Designation of a two-seat twin-engined supersonic jet fighter design. None built but extensive design work undertaken (see CAC CA-23) * CA-24 Contract for production of 72 of variant of the

Hawker P.1081 The Hawker P.1081, also known as the "Australian Fighter" was a prototype United Kingdom, British jet aircraft from the mid-twentieth century. The single example built was destroyed in a crash in 1951. Design and development In 1949, the Roya ...

; none built * CA-25 Winjeel production contract; 62 built (c/nos. CA25-1 to -62) * CA-26 Sabre prototype; one built (c/no. 1528). * CA-27 Sabre production contract; 111 built (c/nos. CA27-1 to -111) * CA-28 Ceres production, built as private venture; 21 built (c/nos. CA28-1 to -21) * CA-29 Production sub-contract for wings, fins, rudders, tailcones and engines of GAF-built variant of

Mirage IIIE The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizonta ...

; 101 airframe shipsets and 140 engines built * CA-30 Macchi production contract; 20 assembled from imported components plus 77 built (c/nos. CA30-1 to -97, CA30-1 to -13 and -15 to -21 also assigned non-consecutive Aermacchi c/nos. between 6351 and 6395) * CA-31 Jet trainer design; none built (Macchi built instead). * CA-32 Kiowa production contract; 12 assembled from imported components plus 44 built (c/nos. CA32-13 to -56, all 56 aircraft also assigned Bell c/nos. 44501-44556) * CA-33 Contract for modifications to the RAAF fleet of Lockheed P-3C Orions; installing the Barra

Sonobuoy A sonobuoy (a portmanteau of sonar and buoy) is a relatively small buoy – typically diameter and long – expendable sonar system that is dropped/ejected from aircraft or ships conducting anti-submarine warfare or underwater acoustic resea ...

system (developed for the RAAF and

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

by the Defence Science & Organisation (DSTO)) and associated systems after delivery of each aircraft from the USA; 20 aircraft modified (contract completed as HdHV) * CA-34 Designation used for CAC's participation in the A10 Wamira project * CA-35 Contract for modifications to a

Fokker F27 Friendship The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...

(registration VH-EWP) to install the LADS system developed by the DSTO (contract completed as HdHV) * CA-36 Production sub-contract for the wing pylons, engine access panels, aft nozzle fairings, aircraft-mounted accessory drive gearboxes and engines for the GAF-built version of the F/A-18 Hornet; 73 airframe shipsets and 158 complete engines built, plus parts of another 17 engines (contract completed as HdHV)

Aero-engine production

Engine types produced by CAC include the: *

Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp The Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp is an aircraft engine of the reciprocating type that was widely used in American aircraft from the 1920s onward. It was the Pratt & Whitney aircraft company's first engine, and the first of the famed Wasp ser ...

built for the Wirraway *

Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp The Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp is an American air-cooled radial aircraft engine. It displaces and its bore and stroke are both . The design traces its history to 1929 experiments at Pratt & Whitney on twin-row designs. Production bega ...

built for the Boomerang, Woomera and

DAP Beaufort DAP or Dap may refer to: Science * DAP (gene), human gene that encodes death-associated proteins, which mediate programmed cell death * Diamidophosphate, phosphorylating compound * Diaminopimelic acid, amino acid derivative of lysine * Diami ...

Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was later ...

built for the GAF Lincoln *

Rolls-Royce Nene The Rolls-Royce RB.41 Nene is a 1940s British centrifugal compressor turbojet engine. The Nene was a complete redesign, rather than a scaled-up Rolls-Royce Derwent"Rolls-Royce Aero Engines" Bill Gunston, Patrick Stephens Limited 1989, , p.111 w ...

built for versions of the

de Havilland Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force, RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and ...

manufactured by

de Havilland Australia de Havilland Aircraft Pty Ltd (DHA) was part of de Havilland, then became a separate company. It acquired the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation in 1985 and was purchased by Boeing in 2000 and merged with the Boeing owned AeroSpace Technologie ...

Rolls-Royce Avon The Rolls-Royce Avon was the first axial flow jet engine designed and produced by Rolls-Royce. Introduced in 1950, the engine went on to become one of their most successful post-World War II engine designs. It was used in a wide variety of ...

built for the Sabre and GAF Canberra * Snecma Atar built for the Mirage *

Bristol Siddeley Viper The Armstrong Siddeley Viper is a British turbojet engine developed and produced by Armstrong Siddeley and then by its successor companies Bristol Siddeley and Rolls-Royce Limited. It entered service in 1953 and remained in use with the Royal ...

built for the Macchi MB-326H *

General Electric F404 The General Electric F404 and F412 are a family of afterburning turbofan engines in the class (static thrust). The series is produced by GE Aviation. Partners include Volvo Aero, which builds the RM12 variant. The F404 was developed into the la ...

built for versions of the

McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twin-engine, supersonic, carrier-capable, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a fighter and attack aircraft (hence the F/A designation). Designed by McDonnell Douglas (now p ...

manufactured by the

/Aerospace Technologies of Australia

Bus body building

To supplement revenue and retain skilled sheet metal workers, CAC produced and bodied buses based on

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

chassis under the brand name of Comair. CAC major shareholder in the 1950s was General Motors Holden and from 1946 until 1973, Comair produced over 3,600 bus bodies, primarily on

Bedford OB The Bedford OB was a bus chassis manufactured by Bedford from 1939. History The Bedford OB was designed as a successor to the Bedford WTB. It had a wheelbase of , and was a semi-forward control model, designed to carry 26 to 29-passenger body ...

, SB and VAM 70 chassis for Victorian operators. Subsequently, General Motors Holden divested its shareholding in CAC and the company signed a licensing agreement to build

VöV-Standard-Bus The VöV-Standard-Bus is a standard for transit buses in Germany based on requirements by the VöV Association of German Transport Companies. The first concept was named (standard city bus) which resulted in multiple variants of VöV-Buses. The fir ...

bodies on

MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

chassis. It bodied 135

MAN SL200 The MAN SL200 was a transit bus manufactured by MAN between 1973 and 1988, and was based on the first generation German VöV-Standard-Bus body design. More than 5500 units were built of the standard left-hand drive version. There were also severa ...

chassis for

ACTION Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

. It resumed production on Bedford chassis in 1977, but only a few were produced.Bus Manufacturers ''

Electric Traction A railway electrification system supplies electric power to railway trains and trams without an on-board prime mover or local fuel supply. Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling passengers or freight in separate cars), ele ...

'' May 1978 page 85

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Chapman, John; Goodall, Geoff & Coggan, Paul. ''Warbirds Worldwide Directory: An International Survey of the World's Warbird Population''. Warbirds Worldwide Ltd. * Bell, Dana ed. ''The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Directory of Airplanes, Their Designers and Manufacturers''.

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. * Boeing Australi
Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation – History
* Meggs, Keith

* Wilson, Stewart. ''Spitfire, Mustang and Kittyhawk in Australian Service''. Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd * Wilson, Stewart. ''Meteor, Sabre and Mirage in Australian Service''. Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd * Wilson, Stewart. ''Catalina, Neptune and Orion in Australian Service''. Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd * Wilson, Stewart. ''Wirraway, Boomerang & CA-15 in Australian Service''. Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd * Wilson, Stewart. ''Phantom, Hornet and Skyhawk in Australian Service''. Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd * Wilson, Stewart. ''Vampire, Macchi and Iroquois in Australian Service''. Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd * Wilson, Stewart. ''Tiger Moth, CT-4, Wackett & Winjeel in Australian Service''. Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd * Wilson, Stewart. ''Military Aircraft of Australia''. Aerospace Publications Pty Ltd

External links

ADF Serials
{{Authority control Australian military aviation Bus manufacturers of Australia Defence companies of Australia Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Australia Defunct manufacturing companies of Australia Former Commonwealth Government-owned companies of Australia Former defence companies Manufacturing plants in Melbourne Military history of Australia during World War II Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1936 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1985 1936 establishments in Australia 1985 disestablishments in Australia