As a former RCAF airmen from 8 Wing trenton....It's a SHAME we discarded this bird. We have no history left in existence to honour our full aviation past. Thank you for honouring Canada and the RCAF aviation history
Enjoyed the video. My Dad passed away in 2020 at 94. He was the chief pilot for the Yukon from its inception in the airforce. Had a story about how the US would not allow the aircraft to fly in the states due to the square footage of the windshield being to low for good observation. On a test flights after advising the CO that the flight should not go to the US from Trenton until the new ‘extra’ eyebrow windows were installed, he was ordered to take the prototype to the US where it was promptly grounded and needed a special permit to get home. I have his solid metal Yukon Canadair display model. He was also Korean airlift northstars and operation Leap Frog cf100 to Europe.
Wonderful story on the Canadair CL-44! As a kid growing up near Chicago's O'Hare Field, I recall the occasional sight of one of the Flying Tigers Line CL-44s passing overhead on its way to landing at the airport, with its characteristic, low sounding drone from its Rolls Royce Tyne, turbo-prop engines.
Thanks for creating and posting this video. I appreciate that you continue to do an excellent job at covering Canadian military aircraft and aviation history.
Cool video. My dads company Beaver Enterprises in Montreal bought the Yukons from the CAF in the early 70s. They were sold to South America. I remember crawling around them at Timmins aviation at Dorval Airport.
Great topic and well done! I remember the CL-44 well from my days living in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina when Wrangler flew them out of GSO. It was sad to see them stop flying.
My dad worked for Wrangler when they had these aircraft. One of my most favorite childhood memories was getting to fly on one on its run to Puerto Rico. The pilot let me sit in the first officers seat while at cruise, and when my dad went back to get his camera to take a picture the pilot & me (mostly the pilot) rocked the wings back & forth making it difficult for my dad to get to his bag.
What a wonderful memory! In 1990 I was the afternoon host at WWMY-FM radio whose studios were in Airpark West about a mile or so short final down runway 23 in Greensboro. On days Wrangler flew out I would run out to watch them fly over. Always VERY LOW. One afternoon around 5 or 6 pm, while announcing the weather forecast out of the news, I could hear one of the CL’s approaching through my headset. I was in the middle of the break so just ran with it. Knowing those turbo props were fully heard across my open mic I closed the weather break with our liner slightly modified saying, “and here in the Piedmont Triad airport area it’s 68 degrees at the end of runway 23! Playing music that’s always light and easy we’re My 94.5.” All the while I clearly heard those massive props fly across my headphone on live air. Too bad I wasn’t airchecking that day. No recording of it, just the fun memory.
That’s a fascinating video, thanks for posting it. My job in aviation spanned almost 30 yrs. During that time I was involved with the ground handling of the CL44s and a Britannia of Aer Turas, and the 44 Guppy operated at that time by Heavylift. In my spare time I was also involved in the restoration of the Monarch Britannia at Duxford when I was living in the U.K. Needless to say, I’m a big fan of both the CL44 and the Britannia. I do have a 1/72 model of the Yukon, one of my favourite models.
Another excellent and interesting video. The swing tail feature on some of the CL44s has always amazed and fascinated me. I sometimes think about the mindset behind unusual concepts like this. Who would think it would be workable to simply cut the fuselage in half and put the absolutely essential control surfaces on the end of a hinge? Who would have the guts to do something like that? But then I suppose, who would attach four metal slabs to a metal tube, stick people inside it, and launch them into the sky!? The whole thing with aircraft is balmy! I try not to think about this as the aircraft I am a passenger in thunders down the runway, ----- but it always crosses my mind!
I've said this on at least one other video of yours, but I admire very much your focus on Canadian built aerospace products. There is no other RUclips channel which comes close. Please consider Canadarm as a topic in future
You refer to the RCAF's "C-5 North Stars" at 0:38. The C-5 designation was used only for a single modified North Star used as a VIP aircraft by the RCAF, based on the pressurized North Star operated by Trans-Canada Air Lines and BOAC (BOAC used the "Argonaut" name). The one-off C-5 also used the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine to reduce the notorious noise level of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines used on all other North Stars. The other standard unpressurized North Stars operated by the RCAF used the C-54GM designation. The modified cockpit windows of the civil version of the CL-44 mentioned at 6:53, required to obtain U.S. FAA certification, were based on the windows used on the unsuccessful Convair 880 and 990 jet airliners. General Dynamics, the big U.S. defense contractor, then owned both Convair and Canadair. The RCAF Yukons used the same cockpit section and windows as the Bristol Britannia.
As usual another great documentary. Thank you very much. By the way the photo at 4:30 is taken over Lake Ontario looking east towards Presqu’ile and Brighton, Ontario.
My uncle was a member of the RCAF and worked on the Rolls-Royce engines of the Yukon. I was lucky enough to experience a few tours aboard in Trenton. What a beautiful aircraft.
I worked for Transmeridian Air Cargo at STN. We had seven of these, including the Guppy ( N447T ) Great aircraft. I started as an engines tech, passed the F/E examination but sadly just before the airline went bust due to a boardroom row over upgrading to DC-8's that ended disastrously. I never got to fly as an F/E. In 1998 I checked out as a loadmaster on the Guppy, when it was with Azerbaijan Airlines. Happy days. The Guppy is now languishing at BOH and will probably never fly again. Rumours are floating about that it is going to be scrapped in the near future, if this hasn't already happened. Sad really.
@@stevenkeating225 It was probably the best job I've ever had. I have never worked for a company since that had such a great team of ground engineers. Everybody mucked in.
There are so many aerospace channels...and so much rubbish going around. 'reading Wikipedia out loud' is not the worst... You make highest quality content and in a nice format with awesome pics! I wish you many followers!!! Keep up
I flew to Germany and back, to Cyprus and back, to Norway and back and a few trips in Canada. Time frame from 1966 until 1972. This was a very interesting video on the CL-44 (Yukon) as I have a few miles of travel in my Army days. Oh and the seats were in backwards for safety and really seemed weird.
The CC-106 was the first aircraft I ever flew in, back in 1965 on my way to Germany. What I remember most was the fact that the passenger seats were all installed facing aft. It was a very unsettling experience.
I was quite surprised to find a 2018 _Aeroplane_ magazine article describing how a CL-44 Swingtail transported the entire 1963 British stable of fifteen F1 Grand Prix cars to the USA for competition, a tribute to the exceptional loading capacity of the airframe. Great to see a video of it in action, I've only seen photos before.
Good video on another interesting and attractive Canadian aircraft. I must say I have a real weakness for the late fifties RCAF colour scheme with the old Canadian flag on the tail! Must go back to seeing photos of the Golden Hawks aerobatic team when I was a kid! Thank you again
My father Red Webber was a Flight Engineer on the Yukon’s. my Mother would know it was time to get him from Uplands airport when she heard him fly over our house in Nepean
It's funny. I love these videos but every time I watch them I then just look to our current efforts and Bombardier fumbling the ball at nearly every point and it just kills me to think of the potential we once had.
But still have it ! in Québec ! many..many générations of fiter and assembleur of aircraft structure. Now... at Mirabel, there the A 220 and many others company that play with aérospatial ! but it need a strong gouvernance of Canada and provinces to invest in such project.
@@gentleman4512 Once I have the opportunity to fly again I'm going to go out of my way to get tickets on an A220. So pleased to have Bombardier producing one of the best new airliners in the class, even if it wears an Airbus nametag.
First of your vids I've watched. Excellent informitive and clear narration on aircraft I have not seen before. I have subscribed. Keep up the great work! 👍👍
Great video, love hearing about these lesser known aircraft and about Canadian aviation history. Do you know, with such a limited production run, did Canadair made any money on these? Only suggestion is that when you do your stats it would be great to have range in nautical miles, speeds in knots, and altitude in feet.
We live just a few blocks from the one in Cuenca, Ecuador. There was talk about it being returned to Canada for restoration, but for now, it remains a nightclub that changes ownership and names quite regularly.
If it's anything like the swingtails of today, they disconnect them at specific points where there is a joint, a simple unhook and the cable goes slack, just remember to reconnect before flight
Having worked on the CL-44 from 1965 to 1972 for Flying Tigers, this question was asked many times. All the flight controls were torque tubes with bevel gearboxes. At the swing tail break, the rotary motion of the torque tubes was converted to linear motion to tappets forward and aft of the break which were engaged when the tail was closed. The aft tappets via a gearbox once again converted back to rotary motion through a series of torque tubes to the elevator servo tabs and same for the rudder. No cables! In fact, the ailerons used the same concept. At low air speeds, the ailerons were aided by electric actuated spoilers. Engine controls were via cables. The CL-44 was a great airplane and I understand that the only one in existence is the Guppy which had Tigers tail number of 447T.
I flew the CL44 in Africa in the mid 70s. It was an interesting aircraft to fly. It was instrumentAl in the breaking of UN sanctions imposed on Rhodesia.
In 1964, my Dad's USAF unit was moved from Japan to Hawaii. The USAF chartered Flying Tiger Lines CL-44s, in bare bones passenger configuration, to fly personnel and dependents to and from Hawaii. We took off from, Tachikawa Air Base, but because the runway there was too short for the CL-44 to take off with a full bag of gas, we had to land at Tokyo International to top off. The longish wait at Tokyo International for gas was followed by a very, very, long flight to Hickam AFB in Hawaii. Still, it's cool to have been able to fly as a passenger on a swing tail CL-44!
In the 1980's I was in aviation school at Guilford Technical Community College and our classrooms and hangar adjoined the ramp and hangar where Wrangler/Blue Bell based their swing-tail CL-44's at Greensboro, NC. The crews didn't mind if we drifted over during breaks to take a look at the aircraft as they were being loaded, unloaded, and serviced. They flew huge loads of finished denim to Puerto Rico for final cutting and sewing to make Wrangler blue jeans. Then they flew the finished products back to Greensboro for distribution. These aircraft were huge, and it was nearly a seeming miracle that the tail could swing around and open the entire fuselage for bulk loading with forklifts. Yet the aircraft was so well designed and built, it was a routine operation. These beasts were completely laden on both legs of the trip. Talking with one of the crews one day, I learned that they flew the airplanes to Belgium for maintenance. Although we had a very large, internationally known aircraft maintenance company on the field, it was cheaper to fly them to Belgium for maintenance, even including the fuel for the flight. And a little skip across the Atlantic was no big deal for this plane, especially unladen. My house was directly under the flight path from Greensboro to Puerto Rico just a few miles from the airport. These massive aircraft would come over my house, fully laden, in full output cruise climb probably 1000-1200 feet AGL. It makes the hair stand up on my arms even now to recall the impact of those four powerful Rolls-Royce turboprops as they imparted their massive power to the air. They literally shook the ground under your feet as they went over.
One thing you didn't mention was the the seats in the CC-106 Yukons faced toward the tail of the aircraft, mostly for safety in case of a ditching at se on the flights to CFB Europe. Theis upset a few people because of the nose attitude of the aircraft especially on takeoffs.
I didn't know that. I never like facing backwards, even on trains, and with take-off, as you point out, you would be tilted forward and that would be very unpleasant!
Getting out of the USAF In July of 1964, I flew from Okinawa to Japan, to Wake island to Travis AFB on a Slick CL-44. The airplane was loud and slow compared to a Boeing 707. It seemed like it took forever to get to Travis AFB. Then to Tulsa, OK. and then to Ponca City Oklahoma.
I one thought about an imaginary all-props airlines. Tu-114, CL-44, Il-18, etc... Never realized the CL-44's legs matched that of the Tupolev. These guys had such potential... But it seemed that Canada's luck in aviation is stuck rough.
My old man flew these for Seaboard World Airlines here in the states. Hauled cargo all over the world with them. The RR Tynes would have every dog in a 100 mile radius howling in pain!
The key to immortality... "As long as someone remembers you, you will live on forever!". Let's ditch Justin and elect an ex-Airforce person as prime minister.
Particularly good video! but politic, politics, politic always politic like we say in French "La maudite politique" I am also proud as a Montrealer to know that Canadair made airplane (may be not has advance as the Arrow) but still exceptionally good and worthy. “Merci”
As a born American I wish to offer my own, personal apologies to our neighbors and friends up in Canada for the GREED of my own government towards the aerospace industry and the role it played in robbing CANADA of its rightful place as a true front of the innovators and their creations which allowed NASA to be the first and so far only space agency to manage a human "walk" on a neighboring celestial body. We OWE ya buddies! Just want you to know MANY of us haven't forgotten and never will! You're NOT the 49th contiguous "state" but we're sure lucky you ARE a good friend and partner here in North America. I just HOPE my government in Washington DC. NEVER forgets, ever. If they DO? Don'tcha worry!!! We'll make SURE to remind them!
You incorrectly stated that they were piston powered; they were clearly turboprops. We still use ft, mi, kts in aviation, if you can stick with that it'll be more consistent.
The problem was that the other stuff was too expensive. The Convair jets were cool in that they were the fastest but they guzzled up way too much fuel. Douglas had major safety issues.
In the mid 80s, I worked at Dallas Love Field, Texas, (KDAL) and there was one of these swing tails CL-44 on a ramp by 31R. After several months, it flew away, never to return. I was amazed of how that tail swung out. The constant foward fuselage and the swing tail made sense and very practical. Damn politics. Canada has had its share of issues with aviation and politics. Shame.
Well, there was 35 CL-44 parked in Cartierville airport in Montreal...nobody wanted to buy one single one...So Ottawa gave the lot to George E. Batchelor, the owner of Arrow Air in Miami, USA. Then he sold many of them to Flying Tiger, Seabord World, Slick, Tradewind and Wrangler, so the Cargo lines started to operate...there was no aircraft transport before the Canadair CL-44 started to fly. It was built to fly to support the Viet Nam war, but Nixon shut down the war them there was no business for the CL-44.
Canada has the unfortunate position of being nextdoor to the USA which will always try to beat down any Canadian attempts to enter markets that the US considers its right to serve. It isn't unknown for the US to almost give their products away and make its money on the spares that will be necessary due to poor quality.
Coming form the business, we always said that Canada could have been a great aviation manufacturing country, but the people there kept voting for their Pierre Trudeau and he did everything he could to destroy his own military and devastate his own aviation industry. Any time somebody showed interest in a Canadian aircraft, mysteriously a political issue always prevented the sales. I just can't believe the people there actually put his son in charge of the country. Oddly enough, their aviation industry is tanking again.
not THE LEAST BIT ACCURATE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CANADIAN AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURING WAS LONG BEFORE TRUDEAU CAME ALONG. The first commercial and capable jet was killed by US interests in 1949 , the Arrow by Dief's capitulation to the same US interests in 1959. Trudeau became pm in 1968. Nice try though
Why can't Bombardier build aircraft for the RCAF. Most comments to these videos talk of how our erospace industry is dead. What about Bombardier. Are they not able to design and build transports or patrol aircraft.
I don't see how this plane revolutionized cargo transport? It was only sold in small quantities, thus not an economically viable development for the factory that made it.
It was the first major aircraft with a swing tail system suitable for palletised loads. And at the time it boasted one of the fastest turn around times for loading/offloading.
My Dad flew CL44 s at The Flying Tiger Line..flew them all over the world. I rode on the 44 when I was a child.
As a former RCAF airmen from 8 Wing trenton....It's a SHAME we discarded this bird. We have no history left in existence to honour our full aviation past.
Thank you for honouring Canada and the RCAF aviation history
We have some planes on pedastels and a lancaster that is still flying. Not much else unfortunately.
When my father passed I donated all the technical manuals he had for the Yukon to the museum at Rockliffe. He had them in a foot locker
My dad T.C., served at CFB Trenton, 6RD, we flew on the Yukon many times in my childhood.
Damn there are so many times in which the Canadian Aviation Industry keeps Sideshow Bob-ed...ugh.
What a grand old girl! I'm ex 401 sqn.
Enjoyed the video. My Dad passed away in 2020 at 94. He was the chief pilot for the Yukon from its inception in the airforce. Had a story about how the US would not allow the aircraft to fly in the states due to the square footage of the windshield being to low for good observation. On a test flights after advising the CO that the flight should not go to the US from Trenton until the new ‘extra’ eyebrow windows were installed, he was ordered to take the prototype to the US where it was promptly grounded and needed a special permit to get home. I have his solid metal Yukon Canadair display model. He was also Korean airlift northstars and operation Leap Frog cf100 to Europe.
Thanks for the story.
my grandpa was probably his navigator at some point thats awesome man
Hi Geoff, Good to see your alive and kicking , Cheers Bob
Wonderful story on the Canadair CL-44! As a kid growing up near Chicago's O'Hare Field, I recall the occasional sight of one of the Flying Tigers Line CL-44s passing overhead on its way to landing at the airport, with its characteristic, low sounding drone from its Rolls Royce Tyne, turbo-prop engines.
Thanks for another interesting look at Canada's aviation history. Well done!
Nice overview of a little-known aircraft.
You absolutely nailed it with the music. Absolutely nailed it!
Thanks for creating and posting this video. I appreciate that you continue to do an excellent job at covering Canadian military aircraft and aviation history.
Cool video. My dads company Beaver Enterprises in Montreal bought the Yukons from the CAF in the early 70s. They were sold to South America. I remember crawling around them at Timmins aviation at Dorval Airport.
Great topic and well done! I remember the CL-44 well from my days living in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina when Wrangler flew them out of GSO. It was sad to see them stop flying.
My dad worked for Wrangler when they had these aircraft. One of my most favorite childhood memories was getting to fly on one on its run to Puerto Rico. The pilot let me sit in the first officers seat while at cruise, and when my dad went back to get his camera to take a picture the pilot & me (mostly the pilot) rocked the wings back & forth making it difficult for my dad to get to his bag.
What a wonderful memory!
In 1990 I was the afternoon host at WWMY-FM radio whose studios were in Airpark West about a mile or so short final down runway 23 in Greensboro. On days Wrangler flew out I would run out to watch them fly over. Always VERY LOW. One afternoon around 5 or 6 pm, while announcing the weather forecast out of the news, I could hear one of the CL’s approaching through my headset. I was in the middle of the break so just ran with it. Knowing those turbo props were fully heard across my open mic I closed the weather break with our liner slightly modified saying, “and here in the Piedmont Triad airport area it’s 68 degrees at the end of runway 23! Playing music that’s always light and easy we’re My 94.5.” All the while I clearly heard those massive props fly across my headphone on live air. Too bad I wasn’t airchecking that day. No recording of it, just the fun memory.
I remember seeing them there when I flew into GSO.
That’s a fascinating video, thanks for posting it. My job in aviation spanned almost 30 yrs. During that time I was involved with the ground handling of the CL44s and a Britannia of Aer Turas, and the 44 Guppy operated at that time by Heavylift. In my spare time I was also involved in the restoration of the Monarch Britannia at Duxford when I was living in the U.K. Needless to say, I’m a big fan of both the CL44 and the Britannia. I do have a 1/72 model of the Yukon, one of my favourite models.
My very first flight was on a CL-44. My father was hired by Flying Tiger Line and we started our journey to Alaska aboard a CL-44.
Another excellent and interesting video. The swing tail feature on some of the CL44s has always amazed and fascinated me. I sometimes think about the mindset behind unusual concepts like this. Who would think it would be workable to simply cut the fuselage in half and put the absolutely essential control surfaces on the end of a hinge? Who would have the guts to do something like that?
But then I suppose, who would attach four metal slabs to a metal tube, stick people inside it, and launch them into the sky!? The whole thing with aircraft is balmy! I try not to think about this as the aircraft I am a passenger in thunders down the runway, ----- but it always crosses my mind!
Great video and Canadian content. !!! THANK YOU !!!
Vos documentaires sont très bien fait ! extrêmement bien monter et expliquer ! Merci beaucoup pour votre merveilleux travail...
I've said this on at least one other video of yours, but I admire very much your focus on Canadian built aerospace products. There is no other RUclips channel which comes close. Please consider Canadarm as a topic in future
You refer to the RCAF's "C-5 North Stars" at 0:38. The C-5 designation was used only for a single modified North Star used as a VIP aircraft by the RCAF, based on the pressurized North Star operated by Trans-Canada Air Lines and BOAC (BOAC used the "Argonaut" name). The one-off C-5 also used the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine to reduce the notorious noise level of the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines used on all other North Stars. The other standard unpressurized North Stars operated by the RCAF used the C-54GM designation.
The modified cockpit windows of the civil version of the CL-44 mentioned at 6:53, required to obtain U.S. FAA certification, were based on the windows used on the unsuccessful Convair 880 and 990 jet airliners. General Dynamics, the big U.S. defense contractor, then owned both Convair and Canadair. The RCAF Yukons used the same cockpit section and windows as the Bristol Britannia.
As usual another great documentary. Thank you very much. By the way the photo at 4:30 is taken over Lake Ontario looking east towards Presqu’ile and Brighton, Ontario.
My uncle was a member of the RCAF and worked on the Rolls-Royce engines of the Yukon. I was lucky enough to experience a few tours aboard in Trenton. What a beautiful aircraft.
I worked for Transmeridian Air Cargo at STN. We had seven of these, including the Guppy ( N447T ) Great aircraft. I started as an engines tech, passed the F/E examination but sadly just before the airline went bust due to a boardroom row over upgrading to DC-8's that ended disastrously. I never got to fly as an F/E. In 1998 I checked out as a loadmaster on the Guppy, when it was with Azerbaijan Airlines. Happy days. The Guppy is now languishing at BOH and will probably never fly again. Rumours are floating about that it is going to be scrapped in the near future, if this hasn't already happened. Sad really.
I was there as F.E. from '78 to going bust in Jan '80. Great company to work for, funny how they never made any money, except for the directors.
@@stevenkeating225 It was probably the best job I've ever had. I have never worked for a company since that had such a great team of ground engineers. Everybody mucked in.
awesome brother my grandpa used to be a navigator on the yukon for a long time
There are so many aerospace channels...and so much rubbish going around.
'reading Wikipedia out loud' is not the worst...
You make highest quality content and in a nice format with awesome pics!
I wish you many followers!!! Keep up
I flew the cl44-d4 for air express international from 84-88 I saw the world flying this old gal. was a great time in my career.
I flew to Germany and back, to Cyprus and back, to Norway and back and a few trips in Canada. Time frame from 1966 until 1972. This was a very interesting video on the CL-44 (Yukon) as I have a few miles of travel in my Army days. Oh and the seats were in backwards for safety and really seemed weird.
That would have been worth mentioning in the video that all passengers flew seated backwards and caused a fair bit of air sickness.
Excellent video and commentary. Send more. Thank you.
The CC-106 was the first aircraft I ever flew in, back in 1965 on my way to Germany. What I remember most was the fact that the passenger seats were all installed facing aft. It was a very unsettling experience.
I was quite surprised to find a 2018 _Aeroplane_ magazine article describing how a CL-44 Swingtail transported the entire 1963 British stable of fifteen F1 Grand Prix cars to the USA for competition, a tribute to the exceptional loading capacity of the airframe.
Great to see a video of it in action, I've only seen photos before.
It’s quite a shapely aircraft. I never would’ve known of this if you hadn’t made this..
Good video on another interesting and attractive Canadian aircraft. I must say I have a real weakness for the late fifties RCAF colour scheme with the old Canadian flag on the tail! Must go back to seeing photos of the Golden Hawks aerobatic team when I was a kid! Thank you again
My first YUKON flight was Dec 1969 from Trenton over to Dusseldorf. Sat facing backwards the whole way............:)
mine was 1968
My father Red Webber was a Flight Engineer on the Yukon’s. my Mother would know it was time to get him from Uplands airport when she heard him fly over our house in Nepean
Thanks for putting RACF content on RUclips. The subject matter is very underrepresented.
It's funny. I love these videos but every time I watch them I then just look to our current efforts and Bombardier fumbling the ball at nearly every point and it just kills me to think of the potential we once had.
But still have it ! in Québec ! many..many générations of fiter and assembleur of aircraft structure. Now... at Mirabel, there the A 220 and many others company that play with aérospatial ! but it need a strong gouvernance of Canada and provinces to invest in such project.
@@gentleman4512 Once I have the opportunity to fly again I'm going to go out of my way to get tickets on an A220. So pleased to have Bombardier producing one of the best new airliners in the class, even if it wears an Airbus nametag.
@@polyus_studios Any chance of you doing one on the DCH-7? Could put you in touch with someone who can get some good and current footage of it
You are right. Look behind to see what we HAVE done and then KNOW what we CAN do. That is great to hear. @@gentleman4512
...I remember when Loftleidir had the CL-44s. They offered the lowest fares from New York to Europe each way for 99 USD (via iceland).
Another great video bringing great aircraft to well deserved attention.
The Yukon is a beautiful bird.
This is excellent review video of a little known very cool aircraft. Thank You!
Looks great with the later, larger windshield. Lovely looking aircraft! Where is CL 44 Guppy based these days?
First of your vids I've watched. Excellent informitive and clear narration on aircraft I have not seen before. I have subscribed. Keep up the great work! 👍👍
Great video, love hearing about these lesser known aircraft and about Canadian aviation history. Do you know, with such a limited production run, did Canadair made any money on these? Only suggestion is that when you do your stats it would be great to have range in nautical miles, speeds in knots, and altitude in feet.
I never knew this aircraft existed. Thanks for your history on Canadian aircraft. Beautiful airplane!
We live just a few blocks from the one in Cuenca, Ecuador. There was talk about it being returned to Canada for restoration, but for now, it remains a nightclub that changes ownership and names quite regularly.
How were the cable/hydraulics for the tail control surfaces accommodated in the swing tale?
If it's anything like the swingtails of today, they disconnect them at specific points where there is a joint, a simple unhook and the cable goes slack, just remember to reconnect before flight
Having worked on the CL-44 from 1965 to 1972 for Flying Tigers, this question was asked many times. All the flight controls were torque tubes with bevel gearboxes. At the swing tail break, the rotary motion of the torque tubes was converted to linear motion to tappets forward and aft of the break which were engaged when the tail was closed. The aft tappets via a gearbox once again converted back to rotary motion through a series of torque tubes to the elevator servo tabs and same for the rudder. No cables! In fact, the ailerons used the same concept. At low air speeds, the ailerons were aided by electric actuated spoilers. Engine controls were via cables. The CL-44 was a great airplane and I understand that the only one in existence is the Guppy which had Tigers tail number of 447T.
I flew the CL44 in Africa in the mid 70s. It was an interesting aircraft to fly. It was instrumentAl in the breaking of UN sanctions imposed on Rhodesia.
In 1964, my Dad's USAF unit was moved from Japan to Hawaii. The USAF chartered Flying Tiger Lines CL-44s, in bare bones passenger configuration, to fly personnel and dependents to and from Hawaii. We took off from, Tachikawa Air Base, but because the runway there was too short for the CL-44 to take off with a full bag of gas, we had to land at Tokyo International to top off. The longish wait at Tokyo International for gas was followed by a very, very, long flight to Hickam AFB in Hawaii. Still, it's cool to have been able to fly as a passenger on a swing tail CL-44!
Cool! I knew of the 377 derived Guppies but not of this one. Thanks!
Wondering how big were the props ?
Just a bit under 8ft, I have a couple!
Great video, thanks for sharing
In the 1980's I was in aviation school at Guilford Technical Community College and our classrooms and hangar adjoined the ramp and hangar where Wrangler/Blue Bell based their swing-tail CL-44's at Greensboro, NC. The crews didn't mind if we drifted over during breaks to take a look at the aircraft as they were being loaded, unloaded, and serviced. They flew huge loads of finished denim to Puerto Rico for final cutting and sewing to make Wrangler blue jeans. Then they flew the finished products back to Greensboro for distribution. These aircraft were huge, and it was nearly a seeming miracle that the tail could swing around and open the entire fuselage for bulk loading with forklifts. Yet the aircraft was so well designed and built, it was a routine operation. These beasts were completely laden on both legs of the trip. Talking with one of the crews one day, I learned that they flew the airplanes to Belgium for maintenance. Although we had a very large, internationally known aircraft maintenance company on the field, it was cheaper to fly them to Belgium for maintenance, even including the fuel for the flight. And a little skip across the Atlantic was no big deal for this plane, especially unladen. My house was directly under the flight path from Greensboro to Puerto Rico just a few miles from the airport. These massive aircraft would come over my house, fully laden, in full output cruise climb probably 1000-1200 feet AGL. It makes the hair stand up on my arms even now to recall the impact of those four powerful Rolls-Royce turboprops as they imparted their massive power to the air. They literally shook the ground under your feet as they went over.
One thing you didn't mention was the the seats in the CC-106 Yukons faced toward the tail of the aircraft, mostly for safety in case of a ditching at se on the flights to CFB Europe. Theis upset a few people because of the nose attitude of the aircraft especially on takeoffs.
I didn't know that. I never like facing backwards, even on trains, and with take-off, as you point out, you would be tilted forward and that would be very unpleasant!
Great show, sir....!! 👍
Do the Royal Canadian Navy McDonnell F2H-3 Banshee next!!!
Buffalo Air in yellow knife has a Dc-6 swingtail. One of two left I believe.
WRANGLER AVIATION made great use of them. Original Blue Bell jeans got to haul fuel for them in the 1980s at Greensboro NC
Getting out of the USAF In July of 1964, I flew from Okinawa to Japan, to Wake island to Travis AFB on a Slick CL-44.
The airplane was loud and slow compared to a Boeing 707. It seemed like it took forever to get to Travis AFB.
Then to Tulsa, OK. and then to Ponca City Oklahoma.
What’s the plane at 8:23 with the nose open?
Slicing and dicing the Lockheed Electra or chopping the P-3 Orion. ; ) I know. different aircraft! Got to have a little fun, eh!
I one thought about an imaginary all-props airlines. Tu-114, CL-44, Il-18, etc... Never realized the CL-44's legs matched that of the Tupolev.
These guys had such potential... But it seemed that Canada's luck in aviation is stuck rough.
I want to travel to Cuenca... I was living in Ecuador for 6 Years in the north, Cuenca is the south. I will check if the plane still there.
The Yukon was the airplane I was in when we came back from Germany when I was a kid.
thanks for the history
I remember flying on the Yukon as a air force dependant. Namao to Trenton
My old man flew these for Seaboard World Airlines here in the states. Hauled cargo all over the world with them. The RR Tynes would have every dog in a 100 mile radius howling in pain!
Great vlog!
BOAC Cunard leased two CL44 from Seaboard &Western in the early 60s
These aircraft were in full BOAC livery
Such a pretty aircraft!
8:25 what on earth is that in the background?
it’s the ATL-98 Carvair
I worked at London Gatwick airport in the late 60s & early 70s. I well remember the RCAF and civilian ones coming through on a regular basis.
So was this beast piston or turboprop powered?
at 1:40, anyone know what the tracked vehicle is?
XM571 Utility Carrier i think. Maybe made by Canadair, but little info online.
8:23 is that the Saab?
the plane on the background is an ATL-98 Carvair
@@nguyenhoangan-matt thanks
The key to immortality... "As long as someone remembers you, you will live on forever!". Let's ditch Justin and elect an ex-Airforce person as prime minister.
Amazing!!!
Topgun bird. And the Argus was the worlds #1 Subhunter keeping Russians out of our backyard. The incredible Argus also carried nuclear depth bombs.
used to see the flying tiger swing tails at Yokota as a kid in '63 or so if my math is right.
Particularly good video! but politic, politics, politic always politic like we say in French "La maudite politique" I am also proud as a Montrealer to know that Canadair made airplane (may be not has advance as the Arrow) but still exceptionally good and worthy. “Merci”
@@polyus_studios Continue the good work. I also enjoyed the back ground music.
rr tyne is a turboprop not piston
RR Tyne 515 on the -D4. 5,095 ESHP.
Cl 44 từng chở thiêt bị cho nhà mây giấy bãi bằng do Thuỵ điển viện trợ. Năm 1975.❤
As a born American I wish to offer my own, personal apologies to our neighbors and friends up in Canada for the GREED of my own government towards the aerospace industry and the role it played in robbing CANADA of its rightful place as a true front of the innovators and their creations which allowed NASA to be the first and so far only space agency to manage a human "walk" on a neighboring celestial body. We OWE ya buddies! Just want you to know MANY of us haven't forgotten and never will! You're NOT the 49th contiguous "state" but we're sure lucky you ARE a good friend and partner here in North America. I just HOPE my government in Washington DC. NEVER forgets, ever. If they DO? Don'tcha worry!!! We'll make SURE to remind them!
You incorrectly stated that they were piston powered; they were clearly turboprops.
We still use ft, mi, kts in aviation, if you can stick with that it'll be more consistent.
I wonder why most people always refer to Boeing and Douglas while Canadair and Convair made far more inovative concepts, not even to mention Lockheed.
The problem was that the other stuff was too expensive. The Convair jets were cool in that they were the fastest but they guzzled up way too much fuel. Douglas had major safety issues.
@@ChairmanMo don't spoil my love with true facts ;)
I could't even affort the aircraft's i flew myselve.
@@pascalcoole2725 Hahahahahahha
But what does Canada do now?
ty
Buffalo Airways has a Swing Tail that is stuck in Alaska due to paperwork. I believe it's a DC-6 ?
It's certified in Alaska but not Canada.
In the mid 80s, I worked at Dallas Love Field, Texas, (KDAL) and there was one of these swing tails CL-44 on a ramp by 31R. After several months, it flew away, never to return. I was amazed of how that tail swung out. The constant foward fuselage and the swing tail made sense and very practical. Damn politics. Canada has had its share of issues with aviation and politics. Shame.
Ugh tell me about it.
Well, there was 35 CL-44 parked in Cartierville airport in Montreal...nobody wanted to buy one single one...So Ottawa gave the lot to George E. Batchelor, the owner of Arrow Air in Miami, USA. Then he sold many of them to Flying Tiger, Seabord World, Slick, Tradewind and Wrangler, so the Cargo lines started to operate...there was no aircraft transport before the Canadair CL-44 started to fly. It was built to fly to support the Viet Nam war, but Nixon shut down the war them there was no business for the CL-44.
Who would've thought that Canada had an aircraft industry?
& I thought the JUMBO I was in made a sharp turn to miss N. Korea...😃
👍
Why would they build an unpressurised aircraft at the time they built this? It would limit their use completely....
Canada has the unfortunate position of being nextdoor to the USA which will always try to beat down any Canadian attempts to enter markets that the US considers its right to serve. It isn't unknown for the US to almost give their products away and make its money on the spares that will be necessary due to poor quality.
Woo hoo
Coming form the business, we always said that Canada could have been a great aviation manufacturing country, but the people there kept voting for their Pierre Trudeau and he did everything he could to destroy his own military and devastate his own aviation industry. Any time somebody showed interest in a Canadian aircraft, mysteriously a political issue always prevented the sales.
I just can't believe the people there actually put his son in charge of the country. Oddly enough, their aviation industry is tanking again.
not THE LEAST BIT ACCURATE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CANADIAN AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURING WAS LONG BEFORE TRUDEAU CAME ALONG. The first commercial and capable jet was killed by US interests in 1949 , the Arrow by Dief's capitulation to the same US interests in 1959. Trudeau became pm in 1968. Nice try though
Why can't Bombardier build aircraft for the RCAF. Most comments to these videos talk of how our erospace industry is dead. What about Bombardier. Are they not able to design and build transports or patrol aircraft.
Bombardier is a badly run company that must constantly
be bailed out with Canadian taxpayers money!
I don't see how this plane revolutionized cargo transport? It was only sold in small quantities, thus not an economically viable development for the factory that made it.
It was the first major aircraft with a swing tail system suitable for palletised loads. And at the time it boasted one of the fastest turn around times for loading/offloading.
: )
Jung
Peas and rice, Im not going to be the first.
Cool Canadian name. But looks like new found affinity for horrible Soviet designed Anything . Is it still operational in any capacity,? Gate guards?
1x used as a nightclub in S. America. The CL-44 that was converted to a Guppy sits at Bournemouth Airport, UK