 This group of vehicle designs were variations on what later became known as hovercraft.Founded in 1944 as crown corporation Turbo Research Ltd., it was established to conduct research and cold-weather testing of jet engines for the RCAF during the Second World War.Initial studies were undertaken into centrifugal-flow engine design, which later were eclipsed by a new axial-flow design, the TR.4, later known as the Chinook, the first Canadian-designed jet engine.