Gregor FDB-1 (Fighter Dive Bomber) is a Canadian biplane fighter, designed in 1938 by Michael Gregor and built by Canadian Car and Foundry. The aircraft at the time had an innovative, cutting-edge design, an all-metal airframe, the use of blind rivets, retractable main landing gear and clean aerodynamic shapes.

In 1938, an emigrant from Russia and a naturalized American, Michael Gregor (born in Georgia as Mikhail Leontyevich Grigorashvili) joined the Canadian Car & Foundry company, which in those years was a leading manufacturer of buses and railway equipment with limited experience in construction aircraft, wanted to expand its share in the aviation market.

The first test flight took place on December 17, 1938, the test pilot noted poor downward visibility due to the straight gull of the upper wing, excessive sensitivity of the controls and too large a deflection angle of the flaps. Among the innovations introduced into the design of the FDB-1 was an anti-propeller parachute housed in the tail cone, operated by a switch from the cockpit.

FDB-1 has demonstrated high maneuverability. At altitudes below 4600 m, despite the high speed of the enemy, no modern single-seat low-wing fighter could successfully withstand Gregor's car, which, with a rate of climb of 3500 fpm (1070 m / min), was one third higher than the corresponding parameters of the new Hurricane and Spitfire fighters. ... However, Michael Gregor's prototype car was never tested with weapons.

Although the Mexican Air Force has shown interest in the aircraft, the Canadian government has refused to issue an export license. There were no other potential customers for a biplane fighter in the monoplane era, and after several years of storage in a hangar at a Montreal airport in 1945, the plane was destroyed by a sudden fire, and Michael Gregor himself sank into obscurity, becoming the designer of a small company Chase Aircraft.

Photo	Description
	Drawing FDB-1

Bibliography

• Encyclopedia of Military Equipment / Aerospace Publising /
• War Planes of the Second World War / Green, William /