List of aircraft of the Royal Canadian Navy

This is a list of aircraft of the Royal Canadian Navy covering the period until 1968 when all aircraft operations were transferred to the newly unified Canadian Armed Forces, originally with Maritime Command and since 1975 with Air Command, which has subsequently been renamed as the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Royal Canadian Navy Grumman Tracker banking away.

Prior to the Second World War the Royal Canadian Navy did not operate aircraft. The Royal Navy Air Service's Royal Navy Canadian Air Service used Curtiss H.12 flying boats to carry out anti-submarine patrols off the Canadian East Coast.

During the Second World War, Canadian personnel manned the carriers HMS Nabob (from 1943 until sunk in 1944) and HMS Puncher (from 1944 until returned to the US in 1946), with their complement of Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based aircraft.

With the loan of HMCS Warrior in 1946, RCN received its first aircraft, operating Fairey Firefly fighter-bombers and Supermarine Seafire fighters loaned from the Royal Navy. When both aircraft and the ship failed to meet Canadian requirements, HMCS Magnificent was purchased in 1948, along with Hawker Sea Fury fighters and in 1950, Grumman Avenger torpedo bombers. The Navy considered purchasing Grumman Hellcat fighters, but these were rejected in favour of the Sea Fury.

From then until 1968, the RCN operated a variety of fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft. After the Canadian Forces sold off HMCS Bonaventure in 1970, Canadian naval vessels operated only Sea King helicopters. The Trackers were transferred to land bases to perform coastal patrols, while the Sikorsky HO4S plane-guard helicopters were retired, and other types still in service were allocated as per their RCAF equivalents.

Aircraft that remained in service after unification are highlighted in blue.

Aircraft
Name1968 CF
designator		Place of
manufacture		Primary
role(s)		Service
period		#
used		Notes
Avro Anson Mk.Vn/aCanadautility/trainer1946–19522[1] ex-Royal Canadian Air Force
Beechcraft ExpeditorCT-128UStransport/trainer1952–196010[2] ex-Royal Canadian Air Force
Bell HTL-4 & HTL-6n/aUSutility helicopter1951–19678[3]
Canadair Silver StarCT-133Canadatrainer1955–200216[4][5] ex-Royal Canadian Air Force
de Havilland DH.82C Tiger Mothn/aCanadatrainer1948–19573[3] ex-Royal Canadian Air Force
Fairey Albacoren/aUKtorpedo bomber1943–19496[note 1]
Fairey Fireflyn/aUKfighter strike-reconnaissance1946–195376on loan.[6][7][note 2]
Fairey Swordfishn/aUKtorpedo bomber1946–194822[8][note 2]
Grumman Avengern/aUStorpedo bomber/ASW/AEW1950–1960125[9][10][note 3][note 4]
Grumman CS2F TrackerCP-121US/CanadaASW1956–199499+1?[9][note 5]
Hawker Sea Furyn/aUKfighter1948–195775[13][14][15][note 6]
McDonnell F2H Bansheen/aUSfighter1955–196239[16][17][note 3]
North American Harvardn/aCanadatrainer1946–195836[note 7][note 8]
Piasecki HUP-3 Retrievern/aUSrescue/utility helicopter1954–19643[18][note 9]
Schweizer SGS 2-12n/aUStraining glider1946–19491[23]
Sikorsky CHSS-2 Sea KingCH-124CanadaASW helicopter1963–201841[18]
Sikorsky HO4Sn/aUSrescue & ASW helicopter1952–197013[18][24][note 10]
Supermarine Seafiren/aUKfighter1946–195435on loan.[18][note 2]
Supermarine Walrusn/aUKutility amphibian1946–19464[27][note 2][note 11]

See also

References

Notes
  1. transferred to RCN but never flown
  2. ex-Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm
  3. ex-US Navy
  4. Extensively modified for Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) role, number includes Airborne early warning (AEW) variant.
  5. 101 RCN CS2F serial numbers were assigned. 99 Trackers built under licence by de Havilland Canada were assigned RCN serial numbers 1502-1600 and used operationally. At least 1 US-built S2F-1 was obtained as a pattern and test aircraft and assigned RCN number 1500, but it is unclear whether this aircraft was returned to US Navy as BuNo 136519 and a second test aircraft was assembled by DHC as 1501 from Grumman-provided parts, or if 1500/136519 was dismantled by DHC and then assigned number 1501 upon reassembly.[11] 1501 was subsequently used as a stationary instructional airframe at Shearwater until 1972.[12]
  6. 1 FB.10 and 74 FB.11
  7. ex-Royal Canadian Air Force
  8. Built by Noorduyn and Canadian Car & Foundry
  9. Ex-US Army, built as H-25A and transferred to RCN in May 1954,[19][20] modified and redesignated on delivery to conform to US Navy HUP-3 standards[21][22]
  10. 3 built as HO4S-2 and 10 built as HO4S-3; 1 HO4S-2 badly damaged in landing accident and subsequently used as stationary instructional airframe, 2 remaining HO4S-2 aircraft upgraded to HO4S-3 standards in 1955-1956[25][26]
  11. Used by No.1 Naval Air Gunner School/743 Fleet Requirements Unit

Citations
  1. Pettipas, 1986, p.9 & 42
  2. Pettipas, 1986, p.42 & 80
  3. Griffin, 1969, p.495
  4. Lockheed CT-133 Silver Star (T-bird) 1955 accessdate: 21 January 2014
  5. Pettipas, 1986, p.59
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-12-05. Retrieved 2011-03-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. Griffin, 1969, p.12, 589,
  8. Griffin, 1969, p.589
  9. Griffin, 1969, p.13
  10. Griffin, 1969, p.601-602
  11. Walker, R.W.R. "Royal Canadian Navy – CS2F Tracker detailed list - part 1". Canadian Military Aircraft Serial Numbers. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  12. "Grumman CS2F/CP 121 Tracker". Shearwater Aviation Museum. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
  13. Griffin, 1969, p.14
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-06-11. Retrieved 2011-03-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. Walker, R.W.R. Sea Fury detailed list, 2004. accessdate: 21 January 2014.
  16. Griffin, 1969, p.15
  17. Griffin, 1969, p.602
  18. Griffin, 1969, p.17
  19. Walker, R.W.R. "Royal Canadian Navy – HUP detailed list". Canadian Military Aircraft Serial Numbers. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  20. Baugher, Joe (2 September 2018). "1951 USAF Serial Numbers". joebaugher.com. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  21. "Piasecki HUP-3". ingeniumcanada.org. Ingenium Canada - Canada Air and Space Museum. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  22. "Piasecki HUP-3". www.shearwateraviationmuseum.ns.ca. Shearwater Aviation Museum. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  23. Pettipas, 1986, p.10 & 25
  24. Griffin, 1969, p.602-603
  25. Walker, R.W.R. "Royal Canadian Navy – HO4S detailed list". Canadian Military Aircraft Serial Numbers. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  26. Murray, Robert. "Canada Aviation Museum Aircraft – Sikorsky HO4S-3 (S-55) Horse – Royal Canadian Navy (RCN)" (PDF). Canada Aviation Museum. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  27. Griffin, 1969, p.17, 511 & 573

Bibliography

Posting War Ship Listings: Postwar Canadian Ship Listing 1945–Present

  • Griffin, John A. Canadian Military Aircraft Serials & Photographs 1920 - 1968. Ottawa: Queen's Printer, Publication No. 69-2, 1969.
  • Molson, Ken M. and Harold A. Taylor. Canadian Aircraft Since 1909. Stittsville, Ontario: Canada's Wings, Inc., 1982. ISBN 0-920002-11-0.
  • Walker, R.W.R. [url: http://www.rwrwalker.ca/ Canadian Military Aircraft Serial Numbers], 2004. accessdate: 21 January 2014.
  • Howard, John. Royal Canadian Navy Aircraft Serial Numbers accessdate: 21 January 2014.
  • Pettipas, Leo. Canadian Naval Aviation 1945-1968. L. Pettipas/Canadian Naval Air Group, Winnipeg: 1986, ISBN 0-9692528-0-3
  • Pettipas, Leo. Aircraft of the RCN. L. Pettipas/Canadian Naval Air Group, Winnipeg: 1988, ISBN 978-0-9692528-3-2
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