Blue Yonder Aviation is a Canadian aircraft manufacturer, specializing in kit aircraft for the North American amateur-built aircraft and

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

markets. The company website seems to have been taken down in late 2016 and the company may have gone out of business.

Origins

The company was originally formed by Wayne Winters in 1986 as a flying school teaching students on a single Spectrum Beaver RX550 at Indus/Winters Aire Park south of

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

.Winters, Wayne
''Airport History'', 2001.
Retrieved: 3 March 2009.Hunt, Adam. ''Merlin Magic''. ''

COPA Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Association * Cirrus Aircraft, Cirrus Owners and Pilots Asso ...

Flight'', February 2005, p. C-1. The airport had originally been purchased in 1914 by Miltor L. Winters from the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

for

Cdn$ The Canadian dollar (symbol: $; code: CAD; ) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $. There is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviations Can$, CA$ and C$ are frequently used for distinction from other d ...

24 per acre. In 1946 upon returning home from the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Ralph C. Winters purchased the land from the older Winters. In 1970 he graded the first runway on the property. Ralph Winters son, Wayne Winters assumed operation of the airport when his father retired. The airport is home to a large community of pilots and aircraft, including a large number of ultralights.

Present history

In 1996, Blue Yonder purchased the rights to the

Merlin The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

from Merlin Aircraft and started manufacturing the aircraft in a converted pig barn on the property. Winters designed the open-cockpit EZ Flyer in 1991 and the Twin Engine EZ Flyer in 1999. The EZ Flyer proved successful and 30 have been completed alongside approximately 50 Merlins. Blue Yonder constructs kits or completed aircraft on a ''made-to-order'' basis. For several years US manufacturer

Comp Air Comp Air Inc, formerly known as Aerocomp Inc, is an aircraft manufacturer based in Merritt Island, Florida, owned by Ron Lueck.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook'', pages 97-100. BAI Communications, 1998. Downey, Julia: ...

marketed Blue Yonder-produced Merlin kits in the USA under the name "Aero Comp Merlin", although this arrangement is no longer in effect.Hunt, Adam. ''Merlin Magic Revisited''. ''

Flight'', October 2005, page C-1.Hunt, Adam. ''Pilot Report: EZ Flyer''. ''

Flight'', May 2001, p. C-1. In 2011 the company introduced a single-seat twin-engine, single-seat, high-wing aircraft, marketed as the Blue Yonder EZ Fun Flyer. Only one was registered in Canada.Vandermeullen, Richard: ''2012 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide'', Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 46. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851

Aircraft

Merlin Manufacturers

Blue Yonder is the fourth manufacturer of the Merlin design. Companies who have built the Merlin were:Armstrong, Kenneth. ''Choosing Your Homebuilt - the one you will finish and fly! Second Edition''. Goleta, CA: Butterfield Press, 1993, pp. 195–201. .

References

External links

Official website archives
on

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

{{Blue Yonder Aviation Aircraft manufacturers of Canada Aviation in Canada