page_title: Bristol Aerospace
section_title: Bristol Aerospace
hierarchical_section_title: Bristol Aerospace / History / Bristol Aerospace
caption_attribution_description: English: Canadian Forces CF-116A (CF-5A) Freedom Fighter, serial number 116749, arrives at Bristol Aerospace on 01 April 1987. This was the first CF-5 to arrive as part of the consolation contract for the company not getting the CF-18 overhaul contract. The aircraft is seen with the members of the Aircraft Servicing Crew who received it upon arrival at the plant.
context_page_description: Bristol Aerospace is a Canadian aerospace firm located in Winnipeg, Manitoba and is an operating division of Magellan Aerospace. Today it is the only remaining and surviving subsidiary of Bristol Aeroplane Company.
context_section_description: In 1967 the parent Bristol Aeroplane, whose UK aircraft construction division had been incorporated into the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) in 1960, was purchased for its Bristol-Siddeley engine business by Rolls-Royce, and renamed Bristol Aerospace. It remained part of Rolls Royce though nationalization and subsequent privatization again.
  In the late 1960s, and the early 1970s under the joint U.S.-Canadian project known as the Meteorological Data Sounding System (MDSS) the company developed meteorological sounding rockets for the U.S. Army and other user agencies, such as U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The MDSS rockets were lighter, more reliable, and less expensive than those being in use by the Army.
  During the 1970s the company continued to be involved in overhaul and maintenance work, and the CRV7 became a major product line.
  The concept for the Wire Strike Protection System (WSPS) evolved from a tragic helicopter crash in Italy in April 1976 where 444 Squadron CH-136 Kiowa helicopters were conducting rescue missions following the earthquake in northern Italy. Maj Andre Seguin, then a flight commander with 444 Tactical Helicopter Squadron out of Lahr, West Germany conceived the wire protection system following a fatal wirestrike. The Unit CO tried to get formal recognition for Seguin for the concept during late 1976, but there was no meaningful support from the Canadian headquarters. Bristol shortly thereafter took the idea and developed it. They subsequently patented the WSPS for helicopters, which cuts cables on impact. These devices can be found on many helicopters today, in the form of angular "blades" projecting from the top and bottom of the cabin area.
  In January 1987, Bristol was awarded the maintenance contract for the Canadian Forces Canadair CF-5 fleet, as a consolation contract for losing the more lucrative and longer-term CF-18 maintenance and overhaul contract to Canadair. The CF-5 effort lasted until 1995 when the federal government decided to remove them from service.  Afterward Bristol was contracted to sell off the redundant aircraft to other interested air forces and offered to include a major upgrade to the avionics system.  Bristol brokered a deal in 1996 for the purchase of ten single-seat and three dual-seat CF-5s by the Botswana Defence Force, but this was the only sale to be made.  The company returned the two CF-5D demonstration aircraft to CFB Trenton (for storage) in March 2004, ending over 70 years of aircraft repair and overhaul. The company then refocused its energies on fabricating sub-assemblies and other components for the commercial aircraft business.
caption: The first Canadian Forces Canadair CF-5 arrived at Bristol Aerospace on 1 April 1987 and was received by the company Flight Service crew.
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