Every week for over 40 years starting from when I was a young aircraft engines engineer with Rolls-Royce Of Canada Limited in Dorval Montreal I have received a copy of the fine McGraw-Hill aircraft magazine called Aviation Week and Space Technology
I was pleased to find that the cover of this week's issue depicts a Canadian built Bombardier Q400 regional turboprop flying over a well known Canadian metropolis
Inside is an interesting article on the small 4 year old successful airline (Porter) that owns it and fortunately the article is viewable on the Aviation Week website at:-
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/gener...o&channel=awst
in the magazine the article is on two facing pages and their bottoms are adorned with a large version of this splendid photograph (that appears as a small version on the webpage linked above) of one of the Q400s on the ground at the Billy Bishop Airport on the island just off the Toronto dockland area
here is part of that photo enlarged to show the texture
So what (Is that all about) you may be asking especially if you live on Touhy Avenue
My interest was aroused when I read:-
"Porter now serves 14 cities in eastern Canada and the U.S., including Newark, Boston and Chicago"
because we could if necessary take a 30 minute taxi ride to Newark Airport then wait the obligatory 2 hours caused by the religious aspirations of a group of nut cases then fly north to Billy Bishop Airport then it's only a short taxi ride to the Plantages Hotel opposite Massey Hall
two names I have mentioned:-
Billy Bishop who he??
"William Avery (Billy) Bishop (1884-1956) was Canada's highest-scoring fighter pilot of World War One, with 72 confirmed victories"
http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/imag...ileflagcan.jpg
and Mr Bombardier??
from the wiki
"Joseph-Armand Bombrdier was a mechanic who dreamed of building a vehicle that could "float on snow""
In the 60's Bombardier were only the well known manufcturers of Skidoos
The wiki reveals a fact that I never knew that sounds rather like an urban legend:-
"The skidoo was originally called the "Ski-Dog" because Bombardier meant it to be a practical vehicle to replace the dogsled for hunters and trappers. By an accident, a painter misinterpreted the name and painted "Ski-Doo" on the first prototype"
Later the company he started took over Canadair in St Laurent Montreal and the Canadian offshoot of the UK's old De Haviland company for whom my favourite author (Nevil Shute) worked but I did not think Bombardier ever took over Rolls-Royce of Canada
Amazing I have just remembered that there was a division of R-R C that developed a tracked snow vehicle called the "Go trac"
and I found this picture of one on a forum at:-
http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/showthread.php?t=6093
where it is allegedly a Bombardier product
Aviation Week Billy Bishop and Bombardier
