Planes and Choppers Photos

Diamond Aircraft Industries is an Austria-based manufacturer of general aviation aircraft and motor gliders, which also has a large manufacturing facility in London, Ontario, Canada. The company was founded as Hoffmann Flugzeugbau by aircraft designer Wolf Hoffmann in 1981, and then in 1985 became Hoffman Aircraft Limited as a subsidiary of Simmering-Graz-Pauker AG, with its headquarters moved to Vienna. In 1987 the company moved its factory toWiener Neustadt, Austria. In 1991 the parent company was renamed HOAC AG and purchased by the Dries Family. In the same year, the company started development of the HK36R a Rotax 912 powered motorglider, which was the precursor to the DV20 Katana, the company's first production general aviation aircraft. In 1992, to supply the North American market more directly, the company opened a second manufacturing facility in London, Ontario, Canada. The Canadian operation used the name Dimona Aircraft until it was changed to Diamond Aircraft in 1996, while the parent company remained HOAC. In 1998 the parent company was renamed Diamond Aircraft GmbH to better fit the North American operation's naming. Since November 2011 the company has been majority owned by Medrar Financial Group of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This will provide continued production of the company's piston-engine line and also allow development of the ongoing D-Jet project to continue.