The Northwest Ranger was a Canadian

bush aircraft A bush airplane is a general aviation aircraft used to provide both scheduled and unscheduled passenger and flight services to remote, undeveloped areas, such as the Canadian north or bush, Alaskan tundra, the African bush, or savanna, Amazon rai ...

that was under development by Northwest Industries (NWI) of

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anch ...

between 1968-1972. The aircraft was a

type certified A type certificate signifies the airworthiness of a particular category of aircraft, according to its manufacturing design (''type design''). It confirms that the aircraft of a new type intended for serial production, is in compliance with applica ...

design, and intended to be supplied as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', page 58. Werner & Werner Corp, Santa Monica CA, 1977. Taylor, John (ed): ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1969-1970'', page 24. Jane's Yearbooks, 1969.Taylor, John (ed): ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1970-1971'', page 26. Jane's Yearbooks, 1970.

Design and development

The Ranger was a development of the Aermacchi AL-60, which itself was based upon the

Lockheed Model 60 The Aermacchi AL-60 is a light civil utility aircraft of the late 1950s and early 1960s, originally designed by Al Mooney of Lockheed in the United States. After the company decided not to build the aircraft in the US, it was manufactured in s ...

. NWI established its reputation as an aircraft overhauler and maintenance facility, but decided to enter the aircraft manufacturing business by buying the rights to the AL-60 in 1968. The aircraft featured a strut-braced

high-wing 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 co ...

, a six to eight seat enclosed cabin and optional fixed

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

, floats or

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partia ...

s and a single engine in

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher co ...

. The Ranger differed from the AL-60 in having main landing gear leg fairings and Hoerner wing tips. The Ranger's wing employed large flaps. Approved floats were

Edo Aircraft Corporation EDO Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturing company known primarily for manufacturing pontoons for floatplanes. History The EDO Aircraft Corporation began operations on October 16, 1925 in College Point, New York. Although ...

models and both straight skis and Genaire Limited Canada

Fluidyne Engineering A Fluidyne engine is an alpha or gamma type Stirling engine with one or more liquid pistons. It contains a working gas (often air), and either two liquid pistons or one liquid piston and a displacer. The engine was invented in 1969. The engine ...

wheel skis could also be fitted. Cabin access was through the small left front pilot door or a large cabin passenger and freight door. The initial version proposed used the Lycoming IO-720 A1A engine, but this did not provide adequate float performance and in 1970 was replaced by a Lycoming IO-720 B1A powerplant and the version termed the ''Ranger C-6'' to distinguish it from the last production Aermacchi AL-60C-5 model. The increased power gave a take-off distance to of and a landing distance from of . With the engine the aircraft had an empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload was . The initial version was prototyped in 1968 but a long period of performance and user trials followed which resulted in design changes and the improved C-6 model, prior to production commencing. Development had ended by 1972, but it is not clear how many were completed, although at least four bore Canadian registration at one time. The fate of the NWI prototype ''CF-XED'' is not known and it is likely that no Rangers exist today. As of September 2013 none remain registered 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 Transporta ...

or with the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

in the United States.

Variants

;Ranger :Initial proposed version with Lycoming IO-720 A1A engine. Generally similar to the Italian Aermacchi AL-60C-5 model. ;Ranger C-6 :Improved proposed version with an upgraded Lycoming IO-720 B1A engine.

Specifications (Ranger)

References

{{reflist

External links

Photo of the Ranger production linePhoto of the Ranger prototype
Single-engined tractor aircraft