THE CL44

The Canadair CL44, in the 1970s, was considered a large aircraft, just a few inches smaller than the contemporary Boeing 707. The CL44 had a maximum takeoff weight of just over 95 tons, could carry 29 tons of freight. Four Rolls Royce Tyne twin spool turboprop engines, driving the world's largest propellers and simultaneously producing thrust from the jet pipes, could take it a thousand miles on 5 tons of fuel.

The Yukon (essentially a CL44 without the swingtail) held the world long range flying record of almost 24hrs continuously airborne, a record that held until the introduction of the B747SP.

The stretched version was for many years the largest passenger aircraft on the north Atlantic and pioneered the low-cost airline concept.

The swingtail allowed large items never previously carried by air to be loaded. The ’Hi-Loader’ we see on every major airport today owes its development to the CL44 freighter. The performance of the CL44 enabled to the remarkable expansion of global airfreight. The US operators established transPacific and transAtlantic schedules, while European operators opened up routes to Africa, the Middle and Far East.

Charters to remote parts of the world, that had few navaids and poor communications, and where large aircraft were rarely seen, made life on board a CL44 a unique and independent aviation experience that could never be repeated by aircrew today.