Museum of Ingenuity Charts Bombardier Historical past

The Bombardier model is without doubt one of the most acquainted names within the world aviation business and has its origins in Quebec, Canada. The Museum of Ingenuity J. Armand Bombardier (Musée de l’ingéniosité J. Armand Bombardier) in Valcourt, Quebec — ninety minutes east of Montréal, Canada’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau Worldwide Airport — charts the historical past of Bombardier and its founder Joseph-Armand Bombardier.

What will not be generally identified is Bombardier’s beginnings and its position within the design and manufacture of snowmobiles. Bombardier launched a seven-passenger snowmobile in 1937 and based his firm L’Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée in 1942.

Following the invention of the Ski-Doo within the late Fifties and its phenomenal success, the corporate was listed publicly in 1969 and diversified into the railway business in 1970. Along with supplying vehicles for the brand new Montreal subway system within the Nineteen Seventies, Bombardier efficiently bid for a contract with the New York Metropolis Transit Authority in 1982 to supply 825 subway vehicles.

Bombardier’s foray into aerospace adopted in 1986, when the corporate bought Canadian plane producer Canadair. On the time, Canadair was manufacturing the long-lasting Challenger widebody enterprise jets and the CL-215 amphibious firefighting plane. Bombardier continues to develop and manufacture enhanced Challenger plane and has outmoded the CL-215 with the Bombardier 415 amphibian.

With its buy of Canadair, Bombardier started a revolution in regional jet improvement with the Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) program and subsequent sequence of plane. Additional acquisitions within the Nineteen Nineties included Learjet with its luxurious personal jets and Boeing’s de Havilland with the long-lasting Sprint 8.

This positioned Bombardier as the one producer of each turboprop and jet 50-seat regional plane. Lately the event of the C sequence of plane and the preliminary partnership and subsequent sale to Airbus resulted within the rebranded A220 regional plane.

The format of the museum has a chronological order with an introduction to J. Armand Bombardier’s first innovations in a reconstructed copy of his workshop, a 270-degree brief movie of the corporate’s historical past and an exhibition house of the evolution of the corporate. Although comparatively small, the museum additionally has a powerful assortment (or reserve) of Bombardier snowmobiles that may be accessed with an enhanced ticket.

Aviation buffs could also be disenchanted by the restricted house accorded to the corporate’s aerospace historical past and will want to additionally embody Ottawa’s Canada Aviation and Area Museum on their itinerary. Although inside the Museum of Ingenuity J. Armand Bombardier, there’s a free flight simulator and an 8.6 p.c scale mannequin used for wind tunnel testing of the C Collection household of plane. One among solely twenty used as a part of the 4,500 hours of wind tunnel testing undertaken for the event of the plane.

For many who want to improve their go to to the Museum of Ingenuity J. Armand Bombardier additional, you possibly can pre-book a 90-minute guided tour of the Bombardier Leisure Merchandise (BRP) manufacturing unit located throughout the highway from the museum. BRP manufactures a spread of manufacturers together with Ski-Doo snowmobiles, Sea-Doo watercraft and Can-Am Off-Highway autos.

John has at all times had a ardour for aviation and thru a profession with Air New Zealand has gained a robust understanding of aviation operations and the strategic nature of the business.

Throughout his profession with the airline, John held a number of management roles and was concerned in initiatives such because the introduction of each the 777-200 and -300 sort plane and the event of the IFE for the 777-300. He was additionally a part of a small staff that created and revealed the interior communications magazines for Air New Zealand’s pilots, cabin crew and floor workers, balancing a mixture of company and social content material.

John is educated to postgraduate degree reaching a Masters diploma with Distinction in Airline and Airport Administration. He has been the course director of an undergraduate business pilot coaching programme at a number one London college and a member of Heathrow Group Belief’s ‘Communities for Tomorrow’ panel.

John is presently dwelling in Canada and is contracted as an exterior teacher for IATA (Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation) and different aviation-related organizations.

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