page_title: Canadair North Star
section_title: RCAF service
hierarchical_section_title: Canadair North Star / Operational history / RCAF service
caption_attribution_description: English: Canadair C-5 aircraft 10000 of the R.C.A.F. near Ottawa, Ont., 25 September 1951. Image has been cleaned up.
context_page_description: The Canadair North Star is a 1940s Canadian development, for Trans-Canada Air Lines, of the Douglas DC-4. Instead of radial piston engines used by the Douglas design, Canadair used Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engines to achieve a higher cruising speed of 325 mph compared with the 227 mph of the standard DC-4. Requested by TCA in 1944, the prototype flew on 15 July 1946. The type was used by various airlines and by the Royal Canadian Air Force. It proved to be reliable but noisy when in service through the 1950s and into the 1960s. Some examples continued to fly into the 1970s, converted to cargo aircraft.
context_section_description: The RCAF North Stars were unpressurized and were used on a variety of transport duties. Like other North Stars, they were notorious for the high level of cabin noise caused by the Merlin engines, as unlike the radials of the DC-4, the exhaust from the individual cylinders is not collected and exhausted via a single outlet, but instead exits the separate individual ejector-exhaust stubs in high-pressure bursts.
  In an effort to reduce cabin noise, the sole C-5 variant was powered by Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engines that were considerably quieter. The only C-5 was delivered to the RCAF in 1950, entering service with No. 412 Transport Squadron RCAF in Uplands, Ottawa, specially outfitted for the transportation of VIP passengers. It was used to transport the Canadian Prime Minister, the Queen, and numerous other dignitaries on various high-profile missions, serving faithfully for 17 years, later becoming a crew trainer before being retired and sold in the United States.
  North Stars were also employed by 412 Squadron RCAF on various VIP transport duties and, overall, the aircraft provided valuable and reliable long range transport services for the RCAF. From 1950 to 1952, during the Korean War, RCAF North Star aircraft were employed ferrying supplies to Korea across the Pacific Ocean. They flew 599 round trips over the Pacific and delivered seven million pounds of cargo and 13,000 personnel on return trips. They flew 1.9 million miles without a fatal crash and outhauled the United States Air Force C-54s on the Korean run. After 1967, the remaining North Stars were assigned to No. 426 Transport Squadron RCAF initially deployed to Dorval, Quebec and then to Trenton, Ontario. Gradually, their service life diminished in the 1970s and most were declared surplus.
caption: RCAF C-5 North Star
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