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The RCAF needs a new plane
It's the closest thing Canadian industry has to a love story and a murder mystery. The Avro Arrow, a sleek white jet interceptor developed in Malton, Ontario in the 1950s, could have been many things. It might have become the fastest plane in the world, our best defence against Soviet bombers, the catalyst to propel Canada to the forefront of the aviation industry. Instead, it became a $400-million pile of scrap metal, and the stuff of legends.
Avro's latest success story is the CF-100 "Canuck," a long-range, all-weather jet designed to intercept nuclear-armed Soviet bombers crossing the Arctic Ocean. But there are fears of a "bomber gap," and the RCAF wants a plane that can fly higher and faster than anything currently available. Avro, under new president and general manager Crawford Gordon, has the answer.
• The Canadian government-owned Victory Aircraft company in Malton was bought by Britain's Hawker Siddeley, and renamed A.V. Roe Canada, which became Avro Canada Ltd.
• Crawford Gordon became president and general manager of A.V. Roe Canada in 1951, at age 37. He was a protégé of Liberal minister C.D. Howe, who was responsible for Canadian industrial production during the Second World War. Gordon immediately diversified the company, turning it into 39 separate companies, including Avro Canada and Orenda Engines.
• The Avro Jetliner was built for Trans Canada Airlines (which became Air Canada.) Only one Jetliner was ever built. It carried airmail from Toronto to New York in April 1950 and set numerous records before C.D. Howe ordered Avro to suspend production and focus on warplanes.
• The sole Jetliner was leased to American aircraft mogul Howard Hughes for six months, who used it as a personal toy. In February 1957 it was cut up for scrap.
• Avro began designing the CF-100 "Canuck" in 1946; the first one flew in January 1950. It is the only operational Canadian combat aircraft ever built. The plane was not ready for use in the Korean war, but 692 were built between 1950 and 1958. Belgium used 53 CF-100s.
• The Canuck took its name from the Curtis JN-4 Canuck trainer used in the First World War. Unofficially, pilots and crew members referred to it as the "Clunk."
• An "interceptor" is any fighter or missile designed to stop enemy aircraft or missiles.
Program: Dateline Special
Broadcast Date: March 2, 1980
Guest(s): James Floyd, Robert Lindley
Narrator: Cy Strange
Producer: George Robertson
Writer: George Robertson
Duration: 2:33
Last updated: January 18, 2012
Page consulted on March 26, 2013
All Clips from this Topic
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Stock footage of Avro employees at work.
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The first sleek white Avro Arrow is unveiled in front of a crowd of 12...
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Audio of the plane's first flight, with comments from Arrow engineers ...
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Canada's first supersonic fighter plane makes its triumphant first fli...
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The Bomarc missile casts a shadow over the Avro Arrow as Canada enters...
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After a test flight, a parachute breaking mechanism fails, causing a m...
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Despite the huge impact the Avro Arrow's cancellation will have on Can...
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14,525 shocked Avro workers are terminated at once. As they leave, the...
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A robot named Electro is at the 1960 Canadian National Exhibition, try...
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In an astonishing act of devastation, all traces of the Avro Arrow are...
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"Morningside" looks at how the Russian satellite cast a long shadow on...
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Canadians follow American strategy, and interest turns to nuclear weap...
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To catch Soviet bombers, the Royal Canadian Air Force puts out the cal...
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Prime Minister John Diefenbaker has some bad news for Avro, but Avro p...
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In the months following Black Friday, Avro's team of world-class engin...
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April 1959: all five Arrows are cut to pieces. Nobody in Ottawa will o...
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A report on the history of the Avro jetliner that was discontinued in ...
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More than three decades after the Arrow's first flight, the doomed pla...
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Historian Michael Bliss and broadcaster and former Avro employee Elwy ...
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Lake Ontario hides sunken treasure: nine test models of the Avro Arrow...