Joseph-Armand Bombardier

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.

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. In 1959 he launched his world-famous Ski-Doo, which was originally planned to be called Ski-Dog but a printing accident spelt it as Ski-Doo and the name has stuck ever since. The Ski-Doo was ranked 17th place on CBC Television's The Greatest Canadian Invention in 2007. Bombardier died in 1964 of cancer but the snowmobile idea was a success. 225 units were sold during 1959 and more than 8,210 units were sold during 1963.

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 which was referred to as the B12, but demand was halted when Canada entered World War II. The B12 was manufactured by L’Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée. Bombardier also brought to market a C18 which served the public as a school bus. Over 3,000 units of the B12/C18 were manufactured. Bombardier offered his expertise to the Canadian government and started producing specialized military vehicles for the Allies. Bombardier also produced specialized vehicles for logging and mining operations, which they called the Muskeg.

Joseph-Armand Bombardier (French pronunciation: ​[ʒɔzɛf aʁmɑ̃ bɔ̃baʁdje]; April 16, 1907 – February 18, 1964) was a Canadian inventor and businessman who was the founder of Bombardier. His most famous invention was the snowmobile.