De Havilland Buffalo (Unusual Aircraft Collection)

Modern military aircraft from foreign countries don't often perform at American airshows, so it was a rare sight to see this Buffalo cargo plane from Canada at the 2006 Thunder Over Michigan airshow.

The Buffalo was designed by the British company de Havilland, which built World War Two planes like the Mosquito, post-war jet fighters like the Vampire, Venom and Sea Vixen, and also produced the world's first jet airliner, the Comet.   The Canadian subsidiary of de Havilland built float planes like the Beaver and Otter, and then came up with a much larger aircraft, the two-engined Caribou.   The Caribou was designed for the United States Army, and built on the excellent short takeoff and landing (STOL) capabilities of de Havilland Canada's previous aircraft.   The army bought 159 of them and used them extensively in Vietnam.   The CIA's Air Americatransport service also used them in Indo-China for covert operations.   Some of the army planes were captured by the communists at the end of the war and continued in service for several years, just like other captured American aircraft.

The Buffalo was a turboprop version of the Caribou, but with a high tail which made an already maneuverable aircraft even more maneuverable.   It was also designed for the US Army, but political fighting between the American armed services meant that the army was no longer allowed to operate large fixed-wing aircraft, so suddenly the Buffalo no longer had a customer.   The Royal Canadian Air Force therefore bought 15 of them, and others were sold to Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, India and Zambia.   In 2009 it was decided to replace the Canadian Caribou aircraft with the Italian-designed Spartan.