Can Car’s final attempt to produce its own design was the FDB 1, the so called ‘Gregor Fighter’, named after Michael Gregor, the chief aeronautical engineer who preceded Miss MacGill. The FDB 1 was designed as a highly manoeuvrable, biplane fighter/dive bomber with retractable undercarriage and powered by a Pratt & Whitney R 1535 SI34 G Twin Wasp Junior. The fuselage was of stressed skin construction while the wings were fabric covered metal structures with trailing edge flaps on upper and lower planes and automatic leading edge slots on the former. Port and starboard sections of the upper wing were separate, joining the fuselage in a modified gull wing form, which helped to improve forward visibility.
Despite the excellent manoeuvrability of the prototype, which first flew on 17 December 1938 at Fort William, Ontario, its speed was considerably less than had been predicted and there were problems with controls and flaps. Aircraft of this type were rapidly becoming outdated and, since by this time CCF had become involved in what was to be its most successful contract, the Gregor Fighter was placed in storage at Cartierville, Quebec, where it was burned in 1945.
All Aero 