Victory Aircraft Victory Aircraft Limited was a Canadian manufacturing company that , during the Second World War , built mainly British - designed aircraft under license . It acted as a " shadow factory , " safe from the reach of German bombers . Initially the major wartime contract to manufacture Avro Lancaster heavy bombers was to go to the National Steel Car Ltd . headquartered in Hamilton , utilizing the Malton , Ontario factory ( near today ' s Toronto Pearson International Airport ) . National Steel Car was already producing Westland Lysander aircraft and involved as a subcontractor in the manufacture of Hawker Hurricane fighters , Avro Anson trainers and Handley Page Hampden bombers . Questions arising as to the company ' s abililty to manage the project led to the Government ' s expropriation of the plant on 4 November 1942 and the setting up of the Crown Corporation , Victory Aircraft Limited , incorporated under the Department of Munitions and Supply Act , 1940 c . 31 . J . P . Bickell , one of C . D . Howe ' s " dollar - a - year men " headed Victory Aircraft Ltd . as president and chairman of the board . Wartime production . Although originally designated to produce the Martin B - 26 Marauder medium bomber , the Malton plant received a contract on 18 September 1941 to build the Avro Lancaster Mk X heavy bomber . When the first drawings arrived in January 1942 , the complexity of the project seemed daunting . Some 500 , 000 manufacturing operations were involved in manufacturing over 55 , 000 separate components that went into a Lancaster ( excluding engines and turrets and small items such as rivets , nuts and bolts ) . Avro Lancaster X . A Lancaster Mk I ( R5727 ) from Avro Aircraft ( UK ) was flown across the Atlantic in August 1942 , to act as a " pattern " aircraft for production . Differences between the British Lancasters and the Canadian built versions ( known as the Mk X ) revolved around engines , instruments and radio equipment being manufactured in Canada or the United States instead of England . The Rolls - Royce Merlin engines were the same design , but manufactured by Packard in the United States . A later series Lancaster Mk X replaced the original Frazer - Nash FN 50 mid - upper turret with a US - made Martin 250CE turret moved to a new location farther back on the upper fuselage due to differences in weight between that unit and the original turret . All major sub - assemblies of the Canadian Lancasters were interchangeable with the British versions so that in the event of damage , spare parts were immediately at hand . Initially , all components were built at Malton except for the bomb doors , flaps , ailerons and elevators , that were produced by Ottawa Car & Aircraft Ltd . Later , more of the parts were subcontracted out with Canadian General Electric Co . Ltd . of Toronto constructing the fuel tanks , tailplane , fins and rudders , while the outer wings were subcontracted to the Fleet Aircraft Limited plant in Fort Erie , Ontario . From the first blueprints arriving to the first test flight took only 16 months , an impressive accomplishment , not lost on Avro ( UK ) management . The Malton work force climbed from 3 , 300 ( 1942 ) to 9 , 521 in 1944 , most of them initially unskilled workers and about a quarter of them women . Almost exactly a year to the day from when the " pattern " aircraft was flown to Canada , the Canadian prototype , ( serial number KB700 ) , rolled off the Victory Aircraft assembly line on 1 August 1943 . Named the " Ruhr Express , " much publicity was made of its christening , first flight and its departure ( albeit delayed as the prototype was wheeled out missing some of its essential gear and was barely able to fly ) to England . Nevertheless , the Avro Lancaster setting off for war was an occasion for which the country could be proud . Eventually , Lancaster production at Victory Aircraft Ltd . reached the impressive mark of one aircraft per day . After being ferried to England and sent to operational squadrons , the Canadian " Lancs " were assigned to No . 6 Group RAF , the RCAF component of RAF Bomber Command , to complete this " all - Canadian " contribution to the war effort . The Malton plant went on to build by war ' s end , a total of 3 , 629 Avro aircraft : 3 , 197 Ansons , 430 Mk X Lancasters ( including six Lancastrian transport conversions ) , one Mk XV Lincoln heavy bomber , and a single York transport . End of Victory Aircraft . Victory Aircraft ceased operations on 11 November 1945 . In 1945 , the Canadian government sold Victory Aircraft to Hawker Siddeley Group who used it for their subsidiary A . V . Roe Canada Ltd ( known as Avro Canada ) .