During the post-war boom, airlines were clamoring for aircraft to help them meet the strong post-war demand for commercial air services. Canadair took the opportunity to purchase surplus wartime aircraft and refit them for civilian use; the first projects involved DC-3's and their military variant, the C-47 and the C-54, the military version of the DC-4.
The PBY-5A Canso, also called the Catalina by its
designers at U.S. Consolodated Aircraft, was a wartime project inherited from Canadian
Vickers.