Op-Ed Article

The Amazing CF-105 Avro Arrow

I watched a summary by British and American military aviation experts this week in which all of the very important breakthrough military aircraft in the 20th century were reviewed. 

Making the top five list was our own CF 105 Avro Arrow which John Diefenbaker cancelled on Feb 20, 1959. These experts (no Canadians on the panel), could not over emphasize how this Mach 3 interceptor lead the entire world by one full generation in design, performance, missile, engine, use of titanium, on board computer technology, and affordability. Nothing on earth could touch it. 

The U.S. was seriously considering buying the jet and using it as their front line fighter. The Soviets on the other hand had apparently infiltrated the project and had stolen many of its secrets. In 1965 they introduced the MIG 25 Fox Bat fighter which utilized much of the Arrow's technology. 

The Avro actually outperformed the later U2 and other specialty built high altitude spy planes even with the Avro having a full missile load.

Diefenbaker replaced the Arrow with a two generations older American F101 Voodoo fighter and a complement of U.S. Bomarc missiles which had a range of only 200 miles. The commentators went on to state that defence contractors around the globe were ecstatic over Canada's unbelievably short sighted decision to scrap the program along with all the tools and the five flying prototypes. Within five years many of the other manufacturers had caught up to the Avro's spectacular capabilities. 

Why scrap this plane and lose the tens of thousands of jobs and the brain trust that went with it? Apparently Diefenbacker needed money to fund his farm based campaign pledges. It certainly doesn't make one feel proud of our political class. Oh Canada indeed!

Mickey Moulder

Death Row:  On the tarmac at Avro.

Additional Material

Audio Clip

CBC Archives - The Arrow is Destroyed
Runtime 00:01:48  Listen.

Clicking on the link above with take you to the CBC Archives Web site.

 Read the article as it appeared in the
 Windsor Star, Tuesday, June 5, 2007.

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