With a history stretching back before the first powered flight in 1901, Canadian Car and Foundry traces its roots back to 1897. However, the company that became known for building buses, railroad stock, and eventually airplanes for the Canadian market was established in 1909, following an amalgamation of multiple companies. When A.V. Roe Canada purchased the company nearly 50 years later in 1957, it became part of Hawker Siddeley Canada.