Unidentified aircrew with Avro Lancaster B.II aircraft DS848 QO:R of No. 438 (Leaside) Squadron, RACF
Image Credit: Library & Archives Canada
The four-engine all metal Avro Lancaster became the backbone of the Royal Air Force’s strategic bomber force during the Second World War and carried a devastating bomb load to thousands of enemy targets across Europe.
More than 7,300 Lancasters were built in England and Canada between 1941 and 1945, including 430 produced by the 10,000 employees of Victory Aircraft Ltd. at Malton, Ontario.
The Lancaster was the largest aircraft made in Canada during the Second World War. To augment British production, in 1941 a contract was awarded to the Aircraft Division of National Steel Car Co. to build Lancasters (known as Mark X’s) at their factory in Malton, Ontario (today’s Lester B. Pearson International Airport). National Steel Car Co. was already heavily involved in the production of aircraft for the war. The Canadian Government was concerned about their ability to manage the project and expropriated the Malton plant in late 1942 and formed Victory Aircraft Ltd. to do the work.
For a country still largely agrarian and just recovering from a decade of depression, the challenge was immense. Over 500,000 manufacturing operations were involved in building a Lancaster which was made up of over 55,000 separate parts and over a million rivets. The first Canadian Lancaster, “The Ruhr Express”, rolled off the Victory Aircraft assembly line and flew for the first time on August 1, 1943.
The work force at Victory Aircraft grew to 9,521 persons by 1944, most with no previous manufacturing experience; about a quarter of them were women. A total of 430 Lancaster were built at Malton, with production peaking at one aircraft a day.
Unlike British-built Lancasters, the Canadian-built versions used licensed-built Rolls Royce Merlin engines produced by Packard Motor Car Company in the United States and all instruments and radio equipment were either Canadian or American. To ease maintenance, all major sub-assemblies of the Canadian Lancasters were interchangeable with the British version. Production of many components was subcontracted to Ottawa Car & Aircraft Ltd., Canadian General Electric Co. Ltd. in Toronto, and the Fleet Aircraft Ltd. in Fort Erie, Ontario.
In addition to bombers, eight Lancasters (and one conversion) were completed at Malton as long-distance transport aircraft for the Canadian Government Trans-Atlantic Air Service and operated by Trans-Canada Air Lines Ltd. (TCA) to carrying mail and VIP passengers across the Atlantic. These “Lancastrians” were lengthened with a streamlined nose and tail cone. Range was enhanced by two 400-gallon long-range fuel tanks fitted in the bomb bay. Postwar, TCA used Lancastrians aircraft to inaugurate scheduled commercial passenger service across the North Atlantic until 1947 when the Canadair North Star airliner was introduced.
– Kenneth Schwartz
Today, students from Centennial College, Toronto Metropolitan University, Queens University, McMaster University, York University and the University of Toronto are working on collaborative DAIR projects, developing skills, and helping to build an even stronger aerospace industry for Ontario and Canada.