Avro CF-105 Arrow

Cancellation

The Arrow's cancellation was announced on 20 February 1959.

The day became known as "Black Friday" in the Canadian aviation industry.

“	The government... has made a thorough examination in the light of all the information available concerning the probable nature of the threats to... North America in the future years, the alternative means of defence against such threats, and the estimated cost thereof. The conclusion arrived at is that the development of the Arrow aircraft and Iroquois engine should be terminated now.	”
—Prime Minister Diefenbaker addressing the House of Commons, 20 February 1959.[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

The decision to terminate the program immediately put 14,528 Avro employees out of work, as well as nearly 15,000 other employees in the Avro "supply chain" of outside suppliers.

Declassified records show Avro management was caught unprepared by the suddenness of the announcement by the government; while executives were aware that the program was in jeopardy, they expected it to continue until the March review.

It was widely believed that during this lead-up to the review, the first Arrow Mk 2, RL-206, would be prepared for an
attempt at both world speed and altitude records.^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]
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An attempt was made to provide the completed Arrows to the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] as high-speed test aircraft.

The NRC refused, noting that without sufficient spare parts and maintenance, as well as qualified pilots, the NRC could make no use of them.

A similar project initiated by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (Boscombe Down) had resulted in Avro Vice-President (Engineering) Jim Floyd's preparing a transatlantic ferry operation.

This proposal, like others from the United States, was never realized.

Aftermath

Within two months of the project cancellation, all aircraft, engines, production tooling and technical data were ordered scrapped.

Officially, the reason given for the destruction order from Cabinet and the Chiefs of Staff was to destroy classified and "secret" materials utilized in the Arrow/Iroquois programs.

The action has been attributed to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] fears that a Soviet "mole" had infiltrated Avro, later confirmed to some degree in the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].
^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien][Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}
Rumours had circulated that Air Marshal W.A. Curtis, a World War I ace who headed Avro, had ignored Diefenbaker and spirited one of the Arrows away to be saved for posterity.

These rumours were given life in a 1968 interview, when Curtis was asked point-blank if the rumour was true.

He replied: "I don't want to answer that.

" He proceeded to question the wisdom of printing the story of a missing Arrow, and wondered whether it would be safe to reveal the existence of a surviving airframe only nine years later.

"If it is in existence it may have to wait another 10 years. Politically it may cause a lot of trouble."

The fanciful legend endures that one of the prototypes remains intact somewhere.

Following the Canadian government's cancellation of the Avro Arrow project in 1959, CF-105 Chief Aerodynamicist [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] led a team of 25 engineers to NASA's [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to become lead engineers, program managers, and heads of engineering in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s manned space programs—Projects [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}
The Space Task Group team would eventually grow to 32 Avro engineers and technicians, and become emblematic of what many Canadians viewed as a "[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]" to the U.S.

^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien][Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}
Many other engineers, including Jim Floyd, found work abroad in either the UK or the United States. Work undertaken by both Avro Canada and Floyd benefited supersonic research at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], Avro Aircraft's UK parent, and contributed to programs such as the HSA.1000 supersonic transport design studies were ultimately influential in the design of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected,^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien][Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}
to serve in the role originally intended for the Avro Arrow.

The controversy surrounding this acquisition, and Canada's acquiring nuclear weapons for the Voodoos and Bomarcs eventually contributed to the collapse of the Diefenbaker government in 1963.
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Although nearly everything connected to the CF-105 and Orenda Iroquois programs was destroyed, the cockpit and nose gear of RL-206, the first Mk 2 Arrow, and two outer panels of RL-203's wings were saved and are on display at the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in Ottawa, alongside an Iroquois engine.
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With specifications comparable to then-current offerings from American and Soviet design bureaus, at the time of its cancellation, the Arrow was considered by one aviation industry observer to be one of the most advanced aircraft in the world.

The Avro Arrow's cancellation eventually led to the end of Avro Aircraft Limited (Canada) and its President and General Manager, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], who was fired shortly afterward. In 1962, the Hawker Siddeley Group formally dissolved [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and transferred all [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] assets to its newly-formed subsidiary, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

“	In its planning, design and flight-test programme, this fighter, in almost every way the most advanced of all the fighters of the 1950s, was as impressive, and successful as any aircraft in history.

Variants

Mark 1

The Arrow Mark 1 was the initial version powered by two Pratt & Whitney J75 turbojet engines that produced 23,500 pounds-force (105 kN) of thrust each.
The Mk 1 was used for development and flight testing.
Five were completed.^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}


Mark 2

The Mk 2 version was to be fitted with the Iroquois engine and would be evaluated by RCAF acceptance pilots as well as Avro test pilots.

The Astra/Sparrow fire control system had been terminated by the government in September 1958 with all aircraft to employ the Hughes/Falcon combination.

At the time of cancellation of the entire program, the first Arrow Mk 2, RL-206, was ready for taxi trials; Avro expected it to break the world speed record, but it never flew.

Top speed would have been limited by atmospheric frictional heating, but according to project engineer James Floyd, "[t]he aluminum alloy structure which we favoured was good for speeds greater than a Mach number of 2."


Other designs

Avro Canada had a wide range of advanced Arrow variants under development at the time of project cancellation.

Frequent mention is made of an Arrow that could have been capable of Mach 3, similar to the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

This was not the production version, but one of the design studies, and would have been a greatly modified version of the Arrow Mk 2, featuring revised engine inlets and extensive use of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] or [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to withstand airframe heating.

Avro Arrow replicas

A replica Arrow built by Allan Jackson was used in [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] (CBC) production.

He began building a full-scale replica of the Arrow in 1989, and was approached by the producers of the Arrow miniseries in 1996, then about 70% complete, who made an offer to complete the construction if the replica could be used for the production.

It was used on the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and several public appearances at air shows.

The replica was later donated to the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in his home town of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

While in a temporary outdoor collection, it was damaged in a wind storm in 2009.

It has since been repaired, but is no longer on publicdisplay.

The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] completed a 0.6-scale remote controlled replica aircraft built for public flight demonstration.

Following eight years of research, construction started in September 2000. Built of modern-day [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]
under Canadian Recreational Aircraft legislation, construction involved five years of volunteer labour and half-million dollars in materials and parts.

The scale model has been successfully flown on a number of occasions.
^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}
The [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], located at the former [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], features a full-size replica Arrow built by volunteers with assistance from local aerospace firms. With a metal structure, the replica features many authentic-looking components including landing gear constructed by[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the original Arrow primary landing gear sub-contractor.

Painted in the colours of Arrow 25203, the Arrow replica was rolled out for a media event on 28 September 2006 and was on public display on 8–9 October 2006 to commemorate the original aircraft's rollout in 1957.

Operators


[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir cette image] [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

• [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] – Arrow was cancelled before entering service.