de Havilland Canada

de Havilland Canada designed and built aircraft at Downsview and Malton. After wartime Mosquito and Tiger Moth work it produced Canadian STOL types: Chipmunk, Beaver, Otter, Caribou, Buffalo and, in 1965, the Twin Otter. The 1963 report lists 6,200 employees. Later came the Dash 7 and Dash 8.

Beaver, Otter and Twin Otter were the bush-plane workhorses of the North. Downsview was a major Toronto aerospace employer.

Why it mattered

Beaver, Otter, and Twin Otter were the bush-plane workhorses of the North. Downsview was a major Toronto aerospace employer. Dash 8/Q400 later became a Canadian regional-airliner export.

Now

Ottawa bought the company in 1974, sold it to Boeing in 1986, then it went to Bombardier in 1992. Longview bought the Dash 8 programme and the de Havilland name in 2019. Downsview assembly ended in 2022. The company broke ground in 2026 on a new plant in Wheatland County, Alberta.

Changed hands (2019) · Now: De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited (Longview Aviation Capital)