HISTORY

Our history began in 1914, when two brothers named Jim and Grant MacDonald came to Winnipeg and started a sheet metal business. At the time, aviation was in its infancy. But by the late 1920s, air travel had become an important means of transportation. Western Canada's economy was booming, and Winnipeg was its transportation centre; often called the "Gateway to the West". The lack of adequate roads, railroads, and airfields necessitated the use of float planes.

It was the need for sea planes, sea plane floats in particular, that prompted the MacDonald Brothers to form MacDonald Brothers Aircraft Company in 1930. Its first product was sea plane floats, which it manufactured under a licence from EDO Corporation of New York, and which it continued to manufacture until the early 1980s. The Company developed into a full-fledged aircraft manufacturer by 1940, when during the second world war it employed 4,500 people.

Shortly after the war, Bristol became the repair and overhaul centre for the fledgling Canadian Air Force. The Company's location was considered ideal because Winnipeg is in the centre of the country. The city subsequently became the location of Canada's Air Command. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s the Company performed depot level inspection and repair for many of Canada's early fighter planes, such as the Mustang.

The 1950s saw the broad acceptance of the gas turbine, or jet engine. Bristol was involved on the ground floor of this new technology when it began building jet pipes for the CF100 Canuck, and subsequently won the maintenance contract for the airframe. During the rest of the 50s and 60s, Bristol built on experience in exotic materials and precision sheet metal fabrication to become a major supplier of hot section components for the gas turbine industry.

Bristol really began to spread its wings during the early part of the 1960s, when it moved into four new areas of business: repair and overhaul of jet engine afterburners, helicopters, solid rocket propellant, and nuclear reactor components.

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The Company won its first helicopter contract in 1961. The aircraft was the Hiller UH-12, and was assembled by Bristol for the Canadian Armed Forces. Also in 1961, the Company began developing solid propellant driven research rockets, which later became known as Black Brants. The Rockwood Propellant Plant was established one year later, on a 3000 acre site north of Winnipeg.

Bristol's next diversification was a result of the ingenuity of its aircraft engineers. In the early 1960s the Canadian and US Air Forces were having trouble with a new development in propulsion, the afterburner. At that time, Bristol had recently won the repair and overhaul contract for the CF-101 Voodoo, and had observed that problems with the afterburners on its J57 engines were severely reducing its reliability. A technical study was done, and a proposal for a repair and modification program was submitted. The intent was to accomplish two things: first, to save the cost of replacement; second, to improve reliability. The proposal was accepted, and the program was a complete success; as the service life of the afterburner more than doubled. Bristol has since become a centre of excellence for afterburner repair for the US and Canadian Armed Forces.

The 50s and 60s were also an interesting time for Bristol in terms of ownership. The Company had three name changes during this period, the first of which occurred in 1954 when MacDonald Brothers Aircraft was purchased by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was renamed Bristol Aerojet in 1962, and finally became Bristol Aerospace Limited in 1967 when it was acquired by Rolls-Royce Industries.

During the 1970s Bristol built upon its diversification of the 1960s. The new business areas grew in size and became very successful. Jet engine components, afterburners, nuclear and aircraft repair and overhaul continued very strongly. The latter in particular, was important because the CF-101 Voodoo contract continued through to 1984, and Bristol was also successful in its bid for the depot level inspection and repair contract for Canada's medium to light helicopters in 1971.

The 70s were also important because Bristol began to acquire many new manufacturing processes. The most significant of these was composite manufacturing, which enabled Bristol to win the contract for several large aircraft structures, such as the S-Duct for the Lockheed L-1011 and several wing parts for the de Havilland Dash 8. The former was a complex, double bonded structure, which required many innovative metal forming techniques.

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The late 70s brought a significant transition to Bristol; namely, the emergence of proprietary products as a major component of the Company's business. The most notable of these were the CRV7 defence rockets, helicopter Wire Strike Protection System, and the Black Brant research rocket. These three products have grown to be extremely successful export products for Bristol to this day.

The Wire Strike Protection System is now available for most makes and models of helicopters, with OEMs now planning for its inclusion from the drawing board stages of new helicopters versus its original retrofit design.

In January 1987, Bristol was appointed the principle industrial support centre for Canada's fleet of CF-5 aircraft. As such, Bristol became the world leader in the modernization of this aircraft. The Canadian Government made the decision to retire these aircraft in 1995 in response to budget cutbacks, offering the assets for sale through Bristol.

The Black Brant family of rockets is recognized around the world for its reliability and affordability. To date over 1000 Black Brant rockets have been launched and the Black Brant remains in production to this day. In addition to building the rocket vehicles, Bristol has also built and flown numerous rocket payloads. This experience in rocketry led the company to develop science payloads for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station. Ultimately it has led the company to the development of small satellites – the focus of Bristol’s space business today. SCISAT-1, Bristol’s first satellite was launched in 2003 and satellites for other missions are in various stages of development.

In 1997 Bristol was acquired by the Magellan Aerospace Corporation. Magellan (MAL) is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange and has operating divisions throughout the United States and Canada.

Today, as a Magellan Aerospace Company, Bristol continues to develop new technologies and incorporate new processes for future growth.

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