CL-28 / CP-107 Argus
The Canadair CL-28 Argus, a long-range maritime patrol plane built in Canada, was a development of the Bristol 175 Britannia airliner for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Canadian Forces (CF). In its early years, the Argus was reputedly the finest anti-submarine patrol bomber in the world. The Argus served throughout the Cold War in the RCAF's Maritime Air Command and later the CF's Maritime Air Group and Air Command.
Based on the Bristol Britannia, a British passenger aircraft, it carried an operational crew of 15, and was equipped with sophisticated radar and antisubmarine weapons. With a range of over 8100 km, it operated primarily from bases at Greenwood, NS, and Summerside, PEI. The Argus first flew in March 1957, and a total of 46 were built in 2 versions. It was replaced by the American-built Lockheed Aurora.
The history of Canadair CL-44 began in 1952, when the Canadian Air Force began to search for a new maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft to replace the Avro Lancaster. As a result, in 1954, a licensing agreement was concluded between Canadair and Bristol Aeroplane Company on the development and production in Canada of a modified version of the Bristol 175 Britannia four-engine airliner.
The new naval patrol (reconnaissance) aircraft CL-28 Argus received the wing, tail unit and landing gear from the Britannia airliner. Modifications were made, taking into account the need to place the arms suspension points), combined with a new un-presurrized fuselage with an armament compartment. Instead of the Bristol Siddeley Proteus, four piston engines of the R-3370-RC981 Turbo-Compound with a capacity of 3700 hp were installed on the aircraft. The prototype Argus was flown on March 28, 1957, followed by 12 Argus I aircraft and 20 Argus 2 aircraft in service only in the Canadian Air Force.
Canadair CL-28 (military designation CP-107 Argus Mk.I) was designed to meet the need for an aircraft for maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare, which arose in 1952. This aircraft was developed based on the Bristol Type 175 Britannia airliner. The fuselage was redesigned to accommodate two compartments for weapons, and the supercharging system was removed as unnecessary, as the customer intended to use the aircraft as a naval reconnaissance aircraft for flying at low altitudes. Argus Mk.1 first ascended into the air on March 28, 1957. Twelve more aircraft were equipped with APS-20 radars, a closed fairing under the nose of the fuselage. 20 copies of Argus Mk.2 were equipped with EMI ASV.Mk.21 radars and Julie echolocation system, closed by smaller fairings. The production was completed in 1960.
The usual number of crew members of Argus was 15 people, including three pilots, two flight engineers, three navigators, and seven anti-submarine operators. This allowed the crew on-duty to fly on duty during the flight, which lasted up to 20 hours. The places for the crew included: a place for an observer / bombing operator in the glazed bow section; the main cockpit of the pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer; behind them were the navigator on duty and the radio operator; Six or seven operators of an anti-submarine system were deployed in the rear compartment, led by a tactical coordinator, two places for aft observers were behind this compartment.
The anti-submarine equipment installed on the Argus aircraft included search radar, a magnetic-anomaly detector [MAD], electronic meter-meters and an acoustic detector of diesel operation. Acoustic buoys, light flares and naval markers were placed in the compartment at the rear of the fuselage, and offensive weapons, among which could be acoustically guided torpedoes and deep-sea bombs, loaded into two internal compartments designed specifically for armament.
With Canadair effectively delivering the Argus, it was a generally straightforward matter to offer a Britannia based configuration to meet a RCAF necessity for a vehicle to supplant the maturing DC-4m Northstar.
In 1972 due to problems associated with the fuselage, a special version of the Lockheed P-3 Orion was acquired, designated as the CP-3 Aurora, and by the end of 1981 all the aircraft of model CP-107 were decommissioned.
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