Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation


The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation was an Australian aircraft manufacturer. The CAC was established in 1936, to provide Australia with the capability to produce military aircraft and engines.

History

In 1935 the Chief General Manager of BHP, Essington Lewis, visited Europe and formed the view that war was probable. On his return to Australia, concerned at the lack of manufacturing capabilities there and at the possibility of aircraft not being available from 'traditional' sources during wartime, he commenced a lobbying campaign to convince the Government of Australia to establish a modern aircraft industry. The government required little persuasion and encouraged negotiations between a number of Australian companies. The outcome of these negotiations, begun in August 1935, was the formation of CAC the following year. Initially the companies involved were BHP, General Motors-Holden and Broken Hill Associated Smelter. These were joined by Imperial Chemical Industries, the Orient Steam Navigation Company and the Electrolytic Zinc Company at the time of CAC's formation. By September 1937 a factory had been completed at Fishermans Bend.
Shortly after the establishment of CAC, Mascot-based Tugan Aircraft was purchased. This led to Lawrence Wackett joining the company; he immediately became the General Manager. It is almost entirely due to Wackett's efforts that the Wirraway became the first aircraft produced by CAC. In 1935 Wackett had led a technical mission to Europe and the United States to evaluate modern aircraft types and select a type suitable to Australia's needs and within Australia's capabilities to build. The mission's selection was the North American NA-16; with CAC's modifications this became the Wirraway. CAC also undertook production of the Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engine used in the Wirraway and also built some propellers when supplies from alternative sources became problematic. With its first aircraft type the company thus became one of very few in the world that have produced an aircraft fitted with engines and propellers made by the same company.
While CAC largely produced Australian versions of foreign aircraft, it also developed a number of original designs during and after World War II. These indigenous designs include the Wackett, which was only the second type produced by the company. The Wackett was a simple trainer aircraft, but later designs during World War II were the sophisticated Woomera and CA-15, however these types were destined to fly only in prototype form. Other, jet-powered aircraft designs in the 1950s and 1960s did not even leave the drawing board, however in 1951 CAC was given the go-ahead to design and manufacture a version of the F-86 Sabre with a revised engine and armament. The Sabre was developed and produced concurrently with the indigenous Winjeel trainer, with Sabre manufacture coming to an end in 1961.
In 1964 after a large amount of political lobbying CAC began producing components for the Sabre's replacement, a version of the Dassault Mirage III, as a subcontractor to the Government Aircraft Factories. In 1967 CAC commenced licence production of a version of the Aermacchi MB-326 optimised for Australian conditions, this programme ending in 1972. In 1971 CAC joined the small number of aircraft manufacturers which have built both fixed- and rotary-winged aircraft, when it began production of a variant of the Bell Kiowa for the Australian Army and Royal Australian Navy, the last of these was delivered in 1977. The same year CAC embarked on a Life Of Type Extension programme for the Macchi, which was suffering fatigue problems. The LOTEX programme lasted until 1984. CAC became a fully owned subsidiary of Hawker de Havilland in 1985 and was renamed Hawker de Havilland Victoria in 1986. It was purchased by Boeing Australia in 2000.
CAC produced an extremely wide range of aircraft for the Royal Australian Air Force and civilian operators. These aircraft included the:
The Kiowa was the last type built by CAC. The company was part of the Australian Aircraft Consortium which designed the A10 Wamira, but this programme was cancelled in 1985 shortly after the prototype was completed. At the time of purchase by Hawker de Havilland, CAC had begun delivering components for the GAF-built version of the F/A-18 Hornet.

Aircraft design and production

During its existence the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation produced over 1700 aircraft of all types, including prototypes and aircraft assembled locally from imported components. Of these, almost 550 were examples of aircraft types wholly designed by the company. The designations used by CAC reflected production or design work in fulfillment of different in-house projects or government contracts rather than different types produced. Early types were given consecutive manufacturer's construction numbers, while later types were given c/nos. with the model number as a prefix. Construction numbers 1210 to 1224 appear not to have been assigned. The list of company designations and construction numbers is:CA-1 First Wirraway production contract; 40 built CA-2 Wackett prototypes; two built CA-3 Second Wirraway production contract; 60 built CA-4 Woomera prototype; one built CA-5 Third Wirraway production contract; 32 built CA-6 Wackett production contract; 200 built CA-7 Fourth Wirraway production contract; 100 built CA-8 Fifth Wirraway production contract; 200 built CA-9 Sixth Wirraway production contract; 188 built CA-10 Proposed Wirraway variant not built CA-11 Woomera production contract for 105 aircraft. Contract cancelled, only one aircraft flew CA-12 First Boomerang production contract; 105 built CA-13 Second Boomerang production contract; 95 built CA-14 Experimental Boomerang fitted with turbocharger; one built.CA-15 Single-seat fighter; one built.CA-16 Seventh Wirraway production contract; 135 built CA-17 First Mustang production contract; 80 assembled from imported components CA-18 Second Mustang production contract; 120 built, production of a further 50 cancelled.CA-19 Third Boomerang production contract; 49 built CA-20 Contract to modify Wirraways for use by the RAN ; 17 modifiedCA-21 Third Mustang production contract for 100 aircraft; contract cancelled, none builtCA-22 Winjeel prototypes; two built CA-23 Designation of a two-seat twin-engined supersonic jet fighter design. None built but extensive design work undertaken CA-24 Contract for production of 72 of variant of the Hawker P.1081; none builtCA-25 Winjeel production contract; 62 built CA-26 Sabre prototype; one built.CA-27 Sabre production contract; 111 built CA-28 Ceres production, built as private venture; 21 built CA-29 Production sub-contract for wings, fins, rudders, tailcones and engines of GAF-built variant of Mirage IIIE; 101 airframe shipsets and 140 engines builtCA-30 Macchi production contract; 20 assembled from imported components plus 77 built CA-31 Jet trainer design; none built.CA-32 Kiowa production contract; 12 assembled from imported components plus 44 built CA-33 Contract for modifications to the RAAF fleet of Lockheed P-3C Orions; installing the Barra Sonobuoy system and associated systems after delivery of each aircraft from the USA; 20 aircraft modified CA-34 Designation used for CAC's participation in the A10 Wamira projectCA-35 Contract for modifications to a Fokker F27 Friendship to install the LADS system developed by the DSTO CA-36 Production sub-contract for the wing pylons, engine access panels, aft nozzle fairings, aircraft-mounted accessory drive gearboxes and engines for the GAF-built version of the F/A-18 Hornet; 73 airframe shipsets and 158 complete engines built, plus parts of another 17 engines

Aero-engine production

Engine types produced by CAC include the:

Bus body building

To supplement revenue and retain skilled sheet metal workers, CAC produced and bodied buses based on Bedford chassis under the brand name of Comair. CAC major shareholder in the 1950s was General Motors Holden and from 1946 until 1973, Comair produced over 3,600 bus bodies, primarily on Bedford OB, SB and VAM 70 chassis for Victorian operators. Subsequently, General Motors Holden divested its shareholding in CAC and the company signed a licensing agreement to build VöV-Standard-Bus bodies on MAN chassis. It bodied 135 MAN SL200 chassis for ACTION. It resumed production on Bedford chassis in 1977, but only a few were produced.