Canadian Vickers Limited was an aircraft and shipbuilding company that operated in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

from 1911 until 1944. A subsidiary of

Vickers Limited Vickers Limited was a British engineering conglomerate. The business began in Sheffield in 1828 as a steel foundry and became known for its church bells, going on to make shafts and propellers for ships, armour plate and then artillery. Entir ...

, it built its own aircraft designs as well as others under licence.

Canadair Canadair Ltd. was a Canadian civil and military aircraft manufacturer that operated from 1944 to 1986. In 1986, its assets were acquired by Bombardier Aerospace, the aviation division of Canadian transport conglomerate Bombardier Inc. Canadai ...

absorbed the Canadian Vickers aircraft operations in November 1944.

Shipbuilding

In 1907, British shipbuilding and weapons manufacturing conglomerate Vickers Sons & Maxim began investigating possible locations for a shipyard in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

.Linteau 1985, p. 84 Vickers Sons & Maxim intended to use the shipyard as a repair facility for transatlantic shipping traffic entering Montreal.Pritchard 2011, p. 51 Vickers Sons & Maxim was invited by the

Government of Canada The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federation, federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes Minister of t ...

in 1911 to establish a Canadian division to manufacture vessels for the nascent

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

. According to naval historian Marc Milner, "the Harbour Commission and the city of Maisonneuve offered Vickers a first-class location" to establish the yard, and "an extended lease on the land and deferred taxes."Milner 2002, p. 24 Vickers Sons & Maxim established Canadian Vickers in June 1911 and constructed the shipyard between Rue Notre-Dame and rue Viau along the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...

(now Viterra Montreal Terminal). Canadian Vickers ordered the construction of a large floating

drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

, which was opened in 1912. Due to the establishment of Canadian Vickers, Montreal became one of Canada's leading shipbuilding centres. The shipyard's first full year of operation was 1914, a year marked by the beginning of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. During World War I the yard assembled American-designed

Holland 602 type submarine The Holland 602 type submarine, also known as the H-class submarine, was one of the most numerous submarines of World War I. The type was designed by the Electric Boat Co. of the United States, but most of the boats were built abroad: in Canada by ...

s on behalf of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. The hulls were Canadian-built, but the machinery and equipment were American. They were known as the British H-class submarine in the Royal Navy and were the first submarines to cross the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

under their own power. Canadian Vickers (along with Polson Iron Works of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

) also constructed the first vessels specifically designed for the Royal Canadian Navy, the

naval trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the World War I, First and World War II, Second World Wars. Some, known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers ...

s. * – Launched May 1915 * – Launched June 1915 * – Launched June 1915. Mined and sunk July 1916 * – Launched June 1915 * – Launched June 1915. Rammed and sunk March 1918 * – Launched June 1915. Interned and purchased by the Dutch January 1916 * – Launched June 1915 * – Launched June 1915 * – Launched June 1915 * – Launched June 1915. Disappeared 1918 This shipyard would go on to produce many civilian and military ships in Canada, including: * ''River-class frigates'' for the Canadian, British, and US navies. * ''Flower-class corvettes'' for the Canadian, British, and US navies. * ** ** * ** * ** *

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; ) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in Canadian waters, such as navigation aids and i ...

icebreakers ** ** * floating drydock ''General Georges P Vanier'' in 1964 and renamed as ''Scotia Dock II'' by

Halifax Shipyard The Halifax Shipyard Limited is a Canadian shipbuilding company located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Founded in 1889, it is today a wholly owned subsidiary of Irving Shipbuilding Inc. and is that company's largest ship construction and repair facil ...

; damaged and scrapped 2010. Canadian Vickers also manufactured luxury yachts and vessels that were later converted as yachts: * – built in 1963 as icebreaker and converted as a yacht in 2001 * '' Club Atlantic'' – motor yacht built in 1967 * ''

Christina O ''Christina O'' is a private motor yacht that once belonged to billionaire Greek shipowner Aristotle Onassis. At 99.13 metres long, she was the 59th largest yacht in the world . History The ship originally served as a Canadian anti-submarine ...

'' – built in 1943 as and converted as yacht in 1954; renamed as Christina in 1954, Argo in 1978 and current named in 1998 Following World War I, labour militancy grew within

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. In June 1919, Canadian Vickers workers led labour action in Montreal as part of larger strike actions within the shipbuilding industry. The labour strike was a result of demands for maximum 8-hour shifts. Employees of Canadian Vickers coordinated with other work forces in Montreal, though shortly after it began, disagreements over a general strike led the labour action to falter. The end of the First World War also saw a reduction of shipping orders and increased competition among shipbuilders. This led to consolidation among shipyards and Canadian Vickers' parent company, Vickers merged with

Armstrong Whitworth Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Tyne and Wear, Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomot ...

to form

Vickers-Armstrongs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...

. In 1926, Frank Ross of Montreal Dry Dock and two business partners sought to acquire Canadian Vickers from its parent company. Negotiations began in March and were agreed to in November. In 1928, Ross merged Montreal Dry Dock with Canadian Vickers. During the 1930s, the yard survived the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

with repair contracts and constructing manufacturing turbines and structural steel. The shipyard was reacquired by Vickers in 1956. It was renamed Vickers Canada Limited in 1978 after being sold to Canadian interests and renamed several times again by the last owners Marine Industries, eventually (as Versatile Vickers Inc in 1981 and MIL Vickers in 1987). Shipbuilding operations ceased by 1988.

Aerospace

Canadian Vickers ventured into aircraft manufacturing in 1923 when it won a contract to supply

Vickers Viking The Vickers Viking was a British single-engine amphibious aircraft designed for military use shortly after World War I. Later versions of the aircraft were known as the Vickers Vulture and Vickers Vanellus. Design and development Resear ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

s to the recently formed Canadian Air Force (

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

from 1924). Between 1923 and 1944, Canadian Vickers produced over 400 aircraft, some of which were original Vickers' designs while the remainder were other manufacturers' designs built under license.

In July 1941, the Canadian government awarded Canadian Vickers a contract to produce PBV-1 "Canso" amphibians (a version of the

Consolidated PBY Catalina The Consolidated Model 28, more commonly known as the PBY Catalina (U.S. Navy designation), is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft designed by Consolidated Aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. In U.S. Army service, it was designated as the OA- ...

flying boat) for the

. Many of the aircraft were delivered to the United States Navy as the PBV-1; also to the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

as the OA-10A for rescue work. To speed Canso production, the government authorized construction of a new manufacturing facility at Cartierville Airport in Ville Saint Laurent, on the north-western outskirts of Montreal, and appointed Canadian Vickers to manage the plant's operation on the government's behalf. Independently

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

also produced Catalinas in Canada. In 1944, business pressure compelled Canadian Vickers to ask the government to relieve it of its management responsibilities regarding the Cartierville plant. Ottawa agreed and entered into a management contract with

, a new company founded by a small group of former senior Canadian Vickers personnel headed by Benjamin W. Franklin (no relation to his famous namesake). On 4 November 1944, Canadair took over operation of the plant. In September 1946, Canadair and the plant were acquired by the

Electric Boat Company Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

of Groton, Connecticut. In 1952, Electric Boat bought Consolidated Vultee and combined it, Canadair, and several smaller companies to form

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

Corporation. General Dynamics later became one of the largest U.S. aerospace corporations. Canadair remained a General Dynamics subsidiary until January 1976 when it was re-acquired by the Canadian government. In December 1986, the government again sold Canadair, this time to Bombardier, a Quebec-based international conglomerate. Today, Canadair itself no longer exists as a separate entity having been absorbed into

Bombardier Aviation Bombardier Aviation, a division of Bombardier Inc., is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. The company currently produces the Bombardier Global Express, Global and Bombardier Challenger 600, Challenger series of Business jet, business je ...

Canadian Vickers aircraft designs

* Canadian Vickers Vancouver (six built) * Canadian Vickers Vanessa (one built) *

Canadian Vickers Varuna The Canadian Vickers Varuna was a Canadian flying boat of the 1920s built by Canadian Vickers as a twin-engined, unequal-span biplane, with a wooden hull and steel tube structure. Design and development The Varuna was developed in response to a ...

(eight built) *

Canadian Vickers Vedette The Canadian Vickers Vedette was the first aircraft designed and built in Canada to meet a specification for Canadian conditions. It was a single-engine biplane flying boat purchased to meet a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) demand for a smaller ...

(60 built) * Canadian Vickers Velos (one built) * Canadian Vickers Vigil (one built) * Canadian Vickers Vista (one built)

License production

* Vickers Viking IV (six built) * Avro 504N (13 built) * Avro 552 (14 built) * Curtiss HS-3L (three built) * Fairchild FC-2 (11 built) * Fokker Super Universal (15 built) * Bellanca Pacemaker (six built) * Northrop Delta (three Mk I and 17 Mk II built) (First all-metal stressed-skin aircraft built in Canada) * Supermarine Stranraer (40 built) * Canadian Vickers PBV-1 Canso (30 built at Vickers, 282 at Cartierville/Canadair plant)

Other aircraft work

* Fairey F-IIIC built for transatlantic attempt. * Felixstowe F-III built for transatlantic attempt. * Buhl Airsedan engineering work for Ontario Provincial Air Service. *

Handley Page Hampden The Handley Page HP.52 Hampden is a British twin-engine medium bomber that was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was part of the trio of large twin-engine bombers procured for the RAF, joining the Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and Vickers ...

component manufacture. * R-100 airship repairs.

Unbuilt aircraft

* Canadian Vickers FV Hellcat – cancelled before any were built. For aircraft built after 1944, those aircraft were built under the

name.

Railcars

Versatile Vickers used the Canadian former Vickers plant briefly to build rail cars in the 1960s and 1970s during the period of turmoil at the shipyard in Montreal. The rail car products were mostly built under contract, or licensed from other rail car builders or as joint production efforts (such as the MR-63 subway cars for the Montreal Metro with technical support from CIMT-Lorraine which also designed the rubber-tired system for some of the

Paris Métro The Paris Métro (, , or , ), short for Métropolitain (), is a rapid transit system serving the Paris metropolitan area in France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architectur ...

lines). In 1979 Vickers name was changed from Canadian Vickers Ltd. to Vickers Canada, Inc. following the purchase of its shares by the Canadian management from the British holding company. In 1981 the name was again changed to Versatile Vickers, Inc. Versatile Vickers went out of business in 1990.

References

Notes Bibliography * * * * * * * {{Aircraft manufactured in Canada Shipbuilding companies of Canada *Canadian Vickers Bombardier Aerospace Emergency services equipment makers Former Crown corporations of Canada Manufacturing companies based in Montreal Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Canada Former defence companies of Canada Aviation history of Canada Defunct rolling stock manufacturers of Canada Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1944 Companies disestablished in 1990 1944 disestablishments in Quebec