One of the few vivid memories I have of high school is sitting in a hot crowded gym listening to Prime Minister John Diefenbaker give one of his characteristically bombastic speeches.
I retain nothing of what he said. I do remember his reaction when a rain of paper airplanes descended from the balcony where sat the thuggish senior students, one of them a scary cousin who would go on to be a scarier RCMP forensics expert.
Each of the paper planes carried the word "Avro Arrow", a reference to the cutting edge fighter/interceptor aircraft project that Diefenbaker had unilaterally, maliciously and stupidly killed the year before.
(Did I say killed? It was obliterated. Blueprints, models, tooling, engines, airframes, complete aircraft, all were cut up, burned or otherwise demolished. Nothing remained but a few bits and pieces ... and tantalising rumours of the survival of CF202, one of the those prototypes that would have revolutionised fighter plane technology.)
Diefenbaker was so livid that 1960 afternoon, I don't think he finished his peroration, which may have been a first for the Conservative -- of course he was a Conservative -- gasbag.
The death of the Avro Arrow destroyed Canada's highly regarded aeronautics and aerospace industry. Avro was the third largest company in the country in February 1959, with 40,000 employees and arguably the world's most advanced research and design team.
How good were they? More than 30 of the engineers were head-hunted by a newborn NASA scrambling to catch up with the Russians. They played leading roles in putting men in space and on the moon. More would be taken on by the developers of the SST. It started a brain drain that really hasn't stopped.
Why is this of interest to anyone outside Canada? No reason, really, except this.
Next time you see a photo of one of the recently retired NASA shuttles heading to its final destination in a museum, or of the British-French Concorde, take a close look at the design.
Now take a look below at the 1959 Avro Arrow (wasn't she beautiful?).
Notice anything in particular? You win a prize if you thought "delta wing" aircraft, whose supersonic capability came from the minds and genius of the brilliant people at Avro Canada. They deserve your recognition and respect.
RIP, Avro Arrow: Your legacy lived on.
Just not in your place of birth.
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Comments
The big question is what caused the Avro Arrow's demise and why was it destroyed. :( Wouldn't want to have a young country like Canada having the world's most advanced aviation research and design team, now would we? ...
Loving it much..
Carry on dear...
Yah, Tom, it's a different kind of "conservatism" up here. I can't begin to explain it, not even to myself, but it inevitably leads to toadying to some other country.
Chicken, Avro was a creation of Hawker-Siddley, a Brit concern that, among other things, designed the Lancaster bomber during the war. Many Lancs were built in Canada at Victory Aircraft in Malton (near Toronto) to such a high standard that H-S later bought the operation from the government to create Avro Canada. Much more to the story, of course, but that's sort of a potted look at it.
Hi Grif! Thanks for stopping by. As Older/Exasperated quite rightly points out below, the Arrow wasn't the only delta-wing fighter in the works at the time. It is said, however, that the 200 series, with its homebuilt Iroquois engine, would out-perform anything else in the skies, with 200 series prototype hitting mach 2.5 out of the box.
Canucks are an insidious lot, John -- we turn up in the damndest places. Like family trees.
O/E, I was aware of the Convair, but it wasn't built to RCAF specs to intercept Russian bombers flying over the Pole. I probably should have noted the other delta wings (Russia had the MiG 21 in the works as well), but I guess my inelegantly expressed point was that it was the Avro brains trust that wound up at NASA and Concorde and that's what I remember every time I see those pictures.
Thank you, Mission. It just struck me, seeing photos of the shuttle, what a large debt was owed to Avro Canada.
Yeah, it has an all-too-familiar ring to it, doesn't it, VA? While we're at it, we'd best not mention submarines....
Btw, someone told me last week that a group of baboons is known as a "parliament of baboons." Fitting, huh?
RIP, Avro Arrow.
R♥
SS, I've said before that a man has a right to dictate policy on reproductive rights just about the time he has his first period. I would hope that, if this jackal from Kitchener gets his bill on the floor for debate, every woman in this country fills the streets. Oh, and I do SO love Parliament of Baboons. How ... appropriate.
Thank you, Fusun. Nice it is to see you here, and thanks for reading and commenting.
: )