De Havilland Canada To Build Manufacturing Complex & Airport

srgalahad

srgalahad

Charter Member 2022
De Havilland Canada To Build Manufacturing Complex & Airport

DeHavilland Canada says it will build its own towered airport and manufacturing complex worth hundreds of millions of dollars east of Calgary, Alberta, over the next 15 years and is considering building at least three of its iconic designs at the new facility. The huge complex will cover 1,500 acres and include aircraft assembly, parts manufacturing, 3D printing, maintenance and repair, research and educational facilities. Future expansion may include commercial development. It will be known as De Havilland Field.

Concept video in link below:

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news...+Ingests+Vulture-Thursday,+September+22,+2022
 
I wasn't aware Viking Air had changed their name to De Havilland Canada, LTD. That is very good to hear; glad they're re-embracing their roots, and hope their CL-515 waterbomber venture is successful.Just think if the Western States had a fleet of CL-415's or even CL-215's at their disposal to help fight wildfires as the need arose, like they do in Canada...
 
ViperPilot2 said:
I wasn't aware Viking Air had changed their name to De Havilland Canada, LTD. That is very good to hear; glad they're re-embracing their roots, and hope their CL-515 waterbomber venture is successful.Just think if the Western States had a fleet of CL-415's or even CL-215's at their disposal to help fight wildfires as the need arose, like they do in Canada...
Click to expand...

Well... Viking, and Pacific Sky Training (https://www.pacificsky.ca/?lightbox=dataitem-jgy3gk484) and the holding company (Longview Capital) basically all got rolled into the new DHC. DHC has been quiet about most everything except when they release these media blasts. It's possible that the 'divisions' will still see some individual identity for a while as the company develops.

The tanker is now apparently billed as the DHC-515 https://dehavilland.com/assets/media/dhc-515-firefighter.jpg and includes some steps up from the 415 "including design changes that incorporate new materials, and corrosion protection to reduce maintenance costs. For today’s and future navigational standards, it offers a complete upgrade of the flight deck with an advanced avionics suite"
I've seen reference to options for a larger cargo door to allow multi-mission capability including SAR.

Bridger Aerospace in Montana https://bridgeraerospace.com/about/ operates six CL-415EAFs (5 plus one for Q4 delivery). It appears they did contract work in Alaska this summer as well as in the PNW.

The DHC-6/400 is in limited production (Viking) and one was just recently delivered.

So, If the 515 goes as hoped and with more than the 23 Letters of Intent, and a path is seen to ramp up Twotter production, AND possibly resume Dash 8 production, then there is cashflow to support future clean-sheet designs.

Alas, I doubt they will resurrect the Chipmunk :kilroy:

Along with the industry news, they have eased out the inclusion of a DeHavilland Canada "fleet museum" on the site. Possibly too late to be able to include a complete Buffalo, but there are lots of the other frames available to display.

BTW, if anyone is interested in the location, you can try to search for the current (and in FSX) FZ6 (Duke / Strathmore) farm strip which is the approximate location of the future airport - roughly 120*/11DME from the YYC VOR - at least from what I can guesstimate from the PR info.
 
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