Canadair CL-44

The Canadair CL-44 was a Canadian turboprop airliner and cargo aircraft based on the Bristol Britannia, developed and produced by Canadair in the late 1950s and early 1960s and named after the Yukon territory. Canadair held a licence to build the Britannia and in January 1957 received a contract to build a long-range transport for the Royal Canadian Air Force to replace its North Star, first eight aircraft and later 12, designated CC-106 Yukon, with the civil version the CL-44-6. The fuselage was 12 ft 4 in longer than the Britannia 300, and Rolls-Royce Tyne engines replaced the Bristol Orion after that programme was cancelled. The Yukon carried 134 passengers and a crew of nine. It first flew on 15 November 1959 and had early engine and electrical troubles, but later set a world record in December 1961 by flying 6,750 miles from Tokyo to Trenton, Ontario, in 17 hours. The CL-44D4 freighter had a hinged swing tail for loading, and the stretched CL-44J carried passengers across the Atlantic for an Icelandic airline. Only a small number were built, and the Yukons retired in March 1971.