Reuben Fleet’s Canadian door

In 1928 the board of Consolidated Aircraft decided to drop its light trainers. Its founder, Reuben H. Fleet, saw a use for them anyway and set up Fleet Aircraft at Fort Erie, Ontario, just across the Niagara River from Buffalo, to hold the foreign rights. Consolidated bought the business back as a division in 1929, and in 1930 Fleet Aircraft of Canada was formed. The little Fleet biplanes went on to be licence-built as far away as Romania.

Finches for the Empire

The Second World War made Fort Erie a training-aircraft factory for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. The Finch, a tandem biplane with a sliding canopy added for the Canadian winter, was built for the RCAF from 1939; 431 went to its elementary flying schools. Then came the Fort intermediate trainer and the Fairchild Cornell under licence. At its peak Fleet turned out about 160 aircraft a month, with roughly 4,000 employees, largely women, and some 4,000 aircraft in all.

Canucks and after

Peace was harder. Fleet bought the rights to Bob Noury’s side-by-side N-75 and built it as the Canuck from 1945, but war-surplus aircraft and unemployed pilots flooded the market and production stopped in 1947. A light helicopter flew but was never built. Fleet ended aircraft manufacture in 1957 and became Fleet Aerospace, a parts maker under Magellan Aerospace. After a 2006 employee buyout it lives on as Fleet Canada, building parts for Twin Otters and cockpit enclosures for the Chinook.

المصانع

• Fort Erie works · Gilmore Road, Fort Erie, Ontario — Original factory, still used by Fleet Canada

الناس

• Reuben H. Fleet · founder — Founder of Consolidated Aircraft
• J. Omer (Bob) Noury · designer — Designed the N-75 that became the Canuck