POWER FOR THE AVIATION INDUSTRY W ILL COME FROM THE NEW PLANTS OF AVRO CANADA (TOP) AND CANA DIAN P & W (BELOW) BIRTH OF AN INDUSTRY Canada's New Power Plants WITH!\: the la$t two weeks of September. three new pbnts-all for either the 111:mufacrure or m·erhaul of. aero engines-were exposeJ to the public gaze for the first time. Con struction of none of the three phnts was st:1rteJ before March of 19':il. Two ol these otlicial opening, \\·ere partic- 11l.1rly sig11itiG1nt. for they markeJ the beginning in C:1nada of :1ero engine 111:1nufacture. from unshapeJ metal to linishcJ product. The three new pl:ints an:: • The .\.\· . l{o<.: C anada Limited C:1s Turbine Di\·ision·s OrenJa engine plant at i\,Lllwn. O ntario. officially opened on September 29. It has orders .Yovember, 1952 from the Department of Defence Pro Juction valued a t $66.000.000. • The Canadian Pratt Sc \Vhitney Aircraft Limited .'vfanufacturing Divi sion's aero engine pl:int at Jacques Cartier, P.Q .. shown to the press fo r the first time on September 19. Defence Production orJers for R-1.3-1(1 <.:n)!i nes tot:il over S30.000.000. • CanaJian General Electric Com pany Limited's Downs\·iew \Vorks. on Downsview Airport. ne:1r T oronto. fo r the overhaul of axial t-low turbojet engines. olriciall y opened on September 2-1. The fi rst two of these are the manu facturing plants already noted. Their aJJition to Canada's .-\viation [nJustry brings it a consiJerable distance closer to full maturity. The establishment of this new manufacturing industry has had a chain reaction throughout Can adian inJustry as a whole. and has in tact fostered the fou nJing of a number of satellite industries. A vro CanaJ:t alone can count off some -100 subcomracto rs and suppliers scattered from the \l:iritimes to \l:llli toba. ProJuction ot the Orcnda is Jirectly responsible for the starting of such plants as the Light Alloys Limited magnesium foundry at Haley, Ontario (castings): Cockshutt Aircraft Limited ( combustion systems) at BrantforJ. 7 INS IDE THE ORENDA PLANT Ill ROW O N ROW OF MACHINE TOOLS MAKE OR FINI SH PARTS LIKE COMPRESSOR CASINGS AT RI GHT Ontario; Canadian Steel Improvement L imiled. Long Branch, O ntario ( pre cision forging of blades) : and Can adian Acme Screw & Gear's engine gear di\'ision at Toronto (high quality gears). Other companies like Lucas Rotax Limited. with a new plant near Toronto. are ,·ital not only to Orenda production, but also turn out ancillary products which are used with aero engines of other types. Jn all, some 70% of the Orenda engine is subcon tracled to these and other firms . Because the official opening of the A no Canada plant has just taken place does not necessarily mean that the first Orendas are yet to be produced. P re production engines were for some time turned out by the tool pro\' ing shop and the experimental shop, and then several months ag0 the former's facili lics were lransferred to the new plant to become the first production equip ment to be installed. With the gradual add ition to the new plant of new machine tools, the experimental shop ( localed in Ano Canada's main plant on Malton Airpon) was relieved of its engine production duties and allowed to devote full time to its experimental work. I nitial production rate for the Engine Division has been reponed. unofficially, al one a day. Howc\'er. the pe:tk rate, which will probably he reached in about a year's time, will obviow,ly have to be considerably higher th:in th:it. W ith Orcndas scheduled to go in Canadair Sabres beginning next Spring, th is requ iremem alone will gohhle up two to three times that amount. And of course each CF-100 require~ not one, hut two engines. l t i~ expected that when the Orend;1 program hits its slride. some 8,000 persons will be employed al the engine plant. _ 1aturally. many thousands more will be affected through the subcon tracts. While the rapid and efficient pro duction of Orendas will depend on the co-ordinated effons of thousands. the three men chiefly responsible for the job are: T homas S. McCrae-general man ager of the Gas Turbi ne Division. Mr. i'vlcCrae was appointed to his present position last December. As one of the foremost aero engine engineers in the U.S.. he came lo A\'ro Canada from GMC's Allison Di\'ision, where he had been assistant director of engi neering. Born at !vlelrose. Massachu setts, in 1904, Mr. McCrae received his fo rmal education at Bates College. Lewiston, .'vlaine. and Boston Uni versity. He joined the Curtiss A irplane & Motor Company in Buffalo in 1925 and worked on the developmenl of the Curtiss D-12 Conqueror, the Super Conqueror, the Challenger, and the Chit£tai n engines. H e joined General Motors in Detroit in 193 l and then transferred to the Allison Di,·ision of this company in 1936, becoming :.mis tant chief engineer in 1939. D ouglas W. Knowles-chief engi neer of the G as Turbine Di \'ision, Mr. Knowles took over this posr shonl y after the recent resignation of Pa ul Dilworth. Previously he had been chief development engineer. Mr. Knowles has played a prominent role in the development of a gas turbine industry in Canada. He studied engim:ering at the University of Toronto and, follow ing h is graduation. was sent to Eng land hy . ' RC to study ga~ turbine aero engines at Power Jet~ Limited. On his return to Canada he bec:ime associated with Turbo Research L im ited ( the crown company which preceded Ano Canada·~ Gas Turbine Di,·ision). He has been successively head of hhoratory design. chief test engineer. and chief development engineer of the Dil'ision and its predecessor company. Zoltan S. Cyma-chic[ plant engi neer of the Gas Tu rbine Di,·ision . \fr. Cyma joined Ano Canada's predeces sor, the . ·ational Steel Car Company Limited, in 1941. Since then. down through the days of \"ictory Aircraft. he has been responsible for the plan ning of the company's facilities . A graduate with a \ !aster's Degree in mech:.mical engineering irom the Uni \'ersity of L\\'o\\' in Poland. he receil'ed the Polish Cil' il Award for long and outstanding sn,·ice in that country·, aircraft industry. For six years he \\'as works manager of the Podlaska \ ~'yt wornia Samolotow (:'(ational Aircraft \lfanufacturir:g Plant ) near V/arsaw. Prior to leaving P olan:.! in 1939, he was delegated hy the Polish go,·ern ment to take over licenses for de,·elop ment and manufacturing with aircraft firms in France. ltaly. Czechoslovakia. Germany. and Great Britain. About the new plant itself-located about a half mile from the main Ano Canada plant on \l!alton Airport. near Toronto, the Engine Dil'ision col'ers approximately ten acres and has 462,000 square feet of production space. Added to this is 67,000 square feet to house storage facilities, inspection, raw materials and pre-operations: 34,000 square feet for engine test cells : 70.000 ~quare ft:el for scrl'icc buildings and a '50.000 square foot exten~ion AIRCRAFT SEVERAL OF THE PRE-PRODUCTION RUN OF ORENDA5 ARE AT LEFT. RIGHT IS T.S. McCRAE, G.M. OF AVRO' S GAS TURBIN E DIV. alreaJy unJer construction for a~sembly anJ o\·crhaul. The building is Jc sig ned so that it can be expanded on short notice to double its size. Of strictly permanent-type construc tion , the plant is a structural-steel reinforccd brick structure. fts acres of Hoor arc maJc of I ~-inch-thick Jouhle rei nforced concrete. g iving a 3.000 lb. test base. The roof ( there is n feet of heaJ room) is composed of precast con crete slabs. cork insulation and stand ard roof insulation. This appa rently elaborate roof is designed to preYent excessi\·e heat loss ( or penetration) . :111 importan t point in this air-conditioned plant. Because of the precise man u factu ring operations i1woh·ed in fabri cating engines. almost the entire plan: ( 12.000.000 cu. fr.) is kept at a co;i stanc 73°F. summer and winter. T he standards room. where inspection in struments are checked. is kept at 69° P. plus one degree. and relatiYe humidity cannot exceed -!'5° ~. The air conditioning system c:1:1 handle 8 1.000 cu. tt. of ai r per minute in each of chi: building's eight zones. .-\t present. three 600 ton refriger:1tio:1 units-with a reserYe capacity to take care of any plant expansion-are in stalled. Fans :ire part of the system to keep the air moYing in the zones. The air condi tion ing requirement ruled out windows in the pl:tm- the o nly windo\\"S .ire to he round in thl' (\\·o-storey administration block at the front of the pl:int. The elimination of windows :ilso nude it somewhat easier to proYide uniform lighting through out the planr. T he lighting is excep tionall y good ( 3-1--10 foot candles :it the working lcYd) :ind is proYided by some 13 miles of fluorescent fixtures. .\"nvi:mber, 1952 Canadian Pratt & Whitn ey S O:VfEWHAT sm:iller than the Ano Canad:i plant, but paralleling it in importance is the 3-10.000 square foot Canadian Prate & Whitney Aircraft :1ero engine plant at Jacques Cartier. approximately one mile from this same lirm ·s engine oYerhaul and repair centre at Longueuil. P .Q. In one way at least. the establishment of the P & W plant is even more commendab!t: than chat of the AHo Canad:i plant-the former was projecteta i11i11g the origi11:1l letter oi intcm irom DDP to huilJ \Vasp cngin::,. tht archittn, had heen chosen. That wa, on .\larch 2. 19'il. T en Ja,·, latt:r an option wa, obtained on the land. Soil was first hroken on June 7 and the: last of the stec:I \\':lS in place by January 11 of thi, year. A month latc:r. a pn.:-fahricatccl conc rete roof coYcred th<.: oprn ,keleton of steel and brick . By the end of f'cbru:iry work h:id progrc.:,,ed ,uflicicntly to provide , torag<.: ,pace for m:1chint tools. The fi rst production 01><.:ration was started on ,\ lay 12. whrn the fir,t lathe st:irted runing metal. k ey 111:111 111 lht' C::111:1dian P t< V..1 HJ .\!anufacturing Di,·ision is John \V. R. Drummond. Yice-presiclent. manufac tu ring. Ax ial Overhaul Base AL THOL'G H it i, not the first gas turbine eni:ine O\'erhaul centre 111 Canad:i ( de H:n·ill:ind has hec.:n oper ating one for the o,·erhaul ot Goblin. since late in I 9-19) . the new Canadian General Electric Downs,·ie\\' \ \l orks is ne,·erthelcss the first such facility for axial Ro\\' engines. Until its opening some months ago, General Electric J--17 engines from the RCAF's Sabres were sent down to the C .S. for overhaul. This was. or at le:ist it could ha\'e been. :1 fantastic:illy lengthy and costly procedure. .-\ny one engine took six months from the time it \\'as shipped to the C .S. until it was returned to Canada. E\'en a longer time was in YOl\'ed if the RC.-\F did not keep :1 steady Aow of engines going to the G.E. TURBINE SPIN Pll o,·erhaul ccmrc, in the L.S. Like an) other pipeline. this ont' worked best "'hen it \\':ts kept lull :ill the time. T o keep it full. ho\\·c,·er. requi red an enormous number of eng ines. and to tic up engi11cs in this manner is n:itur ally quite costly. In actu:d f:1ct. the RC:\F \\'a., n.:cemly able w \\'Ork out ~ temporary agrcement \\'ith the CS.-\F \\'hereby RC.-\F engine, in need ot oYerha~d \\'t:re exchanged for alre:idy o,·crha~led CS.'\F engines. \\'hile the ne\\' plant i, o,·erhauling J--17's only at the present time. current RC.'\f- plam call for it l<> become also the main centre for the o,·crhaul of Orendas. The plam "·ill. of course. o,·c:rhaul only those engine, in use in aircraft in Canada: those 1mm the Air Di\'ision will go to 8ristol .'\ eroplane Compam·. \\'hich ha, el:1hor:1te OYCr haul facilitie, in the l-.K. .-\t present. the Dm\'11s,·ie\\' \\' orb has about 72.00(1 square fcc.:1 of floor space :ind employ, I fl(I pcr,011s. Like other cldcncc facili1 ic, \\'hid1 :m· hein).! constructed at \'ariou; IH1i111, :1cro,, the land. it i, homed in :1 wl,stamial steel. brick and concrelt: ,tructure. readily adaptable to rapid c.:xpansion. Con struction \\'a, first sta rted in .\l:irch of 19'i l. and the first cngin<.: was o,·er hauled \\'ithin 18 months of this date. Tht plant contaim all the faci lities neccs,ary to dis:isse:nhle. repair and O\'crhaul, rc-as,e111hle and tes t the com plete.: <.:ngine, and thei r :iccessories. Like the Orenda pl:int. the Downs view V-'orb i, own<.:d by the Canadian C on:rn111ent. hut it i, oper:11td by C:in adian ( ;rneral Elt.:ctr ic, which wa, rc \JH11\\ihlc lor all the planning n:quircd lo !,ri ng the O\'erhaul centre into being. \\'orb lll:lllagcr i~ n. L. r>:l\·i,. AIRCRAFT

Canada's New Power Plants

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