CP-107 Argus

The Canadair Argus, RCAF designation CP-107, was built in Canada during the Cold War as a replacement for the Lancaster and the Neptune. Designed specifically for anti-submarine warfare, it typically carried a crew of 15 and combined British and Canadian engineering with American engines. Based on the British-made Britannia, it had a 43.38-meter wingspan about the same as an American B-29, but weighed 15,000 kilograms more. With two bomb bays, it could carry depth charges, photo-flash bombs, homing torpedoes, air-to-surface missiles, and two folding fin rocket pods. It used the highest octane fuel of any non-racing, piston-driven aircraft and could fly for 22 hours straight, though its specialized fuel was hard to obtain and was burned at a rate of 1135 liters per hour. Canada’s Mark IIs remained in service for three decades and were considered highly effective. One of 20 Mark IIs purchased by the RCAF in 1958, tail number 10732 was taken on strength May 29, 1959, flew with the 415 Maritime Patrol "Swordfish" Squadron at RCAF Station, later Canadian Forces Base, Summerside in Prince Edward Island, and bore the squadron’s swordfish marking on its tail. When the squadron moved in 1988 to CFB Greenwood in Nova Scotia, the Argus was replaced by the Lockheed CP-140 Aurora, which had entered service in 1980 and remains in use.

Ontario · Canada