Joseph Armand Bombardier

Biography

Born in Valcourt, Quebec, Joseph-Armand Bombardier dabbled in mechanics from an early age. He acquired experience by reading, taking notes and repairing what he found until he opened his own garage at age 19, where he would repair cars and sell gasoline in the summertime.

During wintertime, he worked on developing a vehicle able to travel on snow. At that time, the Quebec government did not clear snow from secondary roads, so residents of these areas stored their cars for the winter season. The idea to build a winter vehicle came to Bombardier after a blizzard in which his young son fell ill of peritonitis and died because he could not be brought to the nearest hospital.

The first B7 (B for Bombardier and 7 for 7 passengers) snowmobiles were sold during the winter of 1936–37 and were well received. A new plant able to produce more than 200 vehicles a year was built in 1940. A new 12-passenger model was made available in 1941, but demand was halted when Canada entered World War II. Bombardier offered his expertise to the Canadian government and started producing specialized military vehicles for the Allies.

After the war, business declined when the Quebec government began clearing snow from secondary roads in 1948. Bombardier went on to build smaller snowmobiles during the 1950s and developed a new market for recreational products for one or two people. Barely 200 snowmobiles were sold when the model was launched in 1959, but by the time of Bombardier's death in 1964 the idea was a success and more than 8200 units were sold annually.

Honours

In 2004, Autoroute 55 in Quebec was named autoroute Joseph-Armand-Bombardier between Stanstead and Autoroute 20 (autoroute Jean-Lesage) near Drummondville. The Bombardier Glacier in Antarctica is also named after him.

In 2000, Joseph-Armand Bombardier was honoured by the government of Canada with his image on a postage stamp.

He is a member of the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame.