Editing Avro Canada (section)

==Avro Canada aircraft==

===CF-100 Canuck===
[[File:CF.100 Mk.1.JPG|thumb|left|A CF-100 Mk 3 painted as the CF-100 prototype, on display at [[The Hangar Flight Museum]], [[Calgary]]]]
{{main|Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck}}
In 1946, A.V. Roe Canada's next design, the Avro XC-100, Canada's first jet fighter, started at the end of the era of propeller-driven aircraft and the beginning of the jet age.<ref name="Frontiers"/> Although the design of the large, jet-powered all-weather interceptor, renamed the [[Avro CF-100 Canuck|CF-100 Canuck]], was largely complete by the next year, the factory was not tooled for production until late 1948 due to ongoing repair and maintenance contracts. The CF-100 would have a long gestation period before finally entering RCAF service in 1952, initially with the Mk 2 and Mk 3 variants.

The CF-100 Canuck operated under [[NORAD]] to protect airspace from Soviet threats such as nuclear-armed bombers during all weather and day/night conditions. Although not designed for speeds over Mach 0.85, it was taken supersonic during a dive by test pilot [[Janusz Żurakowski]] in December 1952.<ref>Whitcomb 2008, p. 89.</ref>

A small number of CF-100s served with the RCAF until 1981 in reconnaissance, training and electronic warfare (ECM) roles.<ref name="Frontiers"/> In its lifetime, a total of 692 CF-100s of different variants, including 53 aircraft for the [[Belgian Air Force]], were produced.

===C102 Jetliner===
[[File:Avro Canada C102 Jetliner model.jpg|thumb|right|Model of the C102 Jetliner.]]
{{main|Avro Canada C102 Jetliner}}
Work was also underway on a jet-powered civilian short- to medium-range transport<ref>Floyd 1986, pp. 3–4.</ref> known as the [[Avro Jetliner|C102 Jetliner]].<ref name="Frontiers"/><ref name="avroland">[http://www.avroland.ca/al-c102.html "The Avro C.102 Jetliner."] ''Avroland''. Retrieved: 15 April 2009.</ref> It nearly became the first jet transport in the world when it first flew in August 1949, a mere 13 days following the first flight of the [[de Havilland Comet]]. The Jetliner represented a new type of regional jet airliner that would not see comparable designs until the late 1950s. An aggressive marketing campaign was directed at U.S. airlines and the USAF.

When the [[Rolls-Royce Avon]] AJ-65 engine was withdrawn from foreign markets by the British government, the design was modified to take four [[Rolls-Royce Derwent|Derwent]] engines of higher weight and lower performance. The resulting design could no longer meet the operating range requirement of [[Air Canada|Trans-Canada Airlines]]. The sales prospects of the Jetliner floundered after the launch customer TCA withdrew from consideration of the four-engine variant.<ref>Peter Piggot, ''National Treasure: The History of Trans Canada Airlines'', Harbour Publishing, 2001 {{ISBN|1-55017-268-9}}, pages 241–242</ref> The American industrialist [[Howard Hughes]] even offered to start production under license.<ref name="avroland"/>

The company was still attempting to get the CF-100 into production at the time and, consequently, the Canadian government cancelled any further work on the C102 due to [[Korean War]] priorities: [[C. D. Howe]] demanded the project be stopped to increase production of the CF-100,<ref>Floyd 1986, p. 45.</ref> so the second C-102 prototype was scrapped in the plant in 1951, with the first relegated to photographic duties in the Flight Test Department. After a lengthy career as a camera platform and company "hack", ''CF-EJD-X'' was broken up in 1956. The nose section now resides in the [[Canada Aviation Museum]] in Ottawa.

===CF-103===
 {{main|Avro Canada CF-103}}
In 1951, during production of the CF-100 Canuck, a design was explored for a revised version with swept wings and tail modifications.  Known as the [[Avro Canada CF-103|CF-103]], it offered transonic performance with supersonic abilities in a dive. However, the basic CF-100 continued to improve through this period, and the advantages of the new design were greatly eroded. It was considered an interim aircraft between the CF-100 and the more advanced C-104 project, and as such development did not progress beyond creation of a full-size wooden mock-up and separate cockpit.<ref name="stimson">Stimson, Thomas E. Jr. [https://books.google.com/books?id=peEDAAAAMBAJ "Era of the Flying Triangles."] ''Popular Mechanics,'' 106 (3), September 1956, pp. 89–94.</ref>

===C104 Advanced Fighter===
By 1950, several design proposals for a supersonic interceptor were explored which included versions with swept wings, a tail-less delta wing (similar to the [[Dassault Mirage IV]]), side-body engine intakes, in-nose engine intakes (similar to the [[MiG-21]]), turbine engines and rocket engines, and combinations of several.<ref name="Page p. 12">Page et al. 2004, p. 12.</ref>

In 1952, two versions of a design for a delta-wing fighter known as C104 were submitted to the [[Royal Canadian Air Force]]: the single engine C104/4 and twin-engined C104/2.  The designs were otherwise similar, using a low-mounted delta-wing; the primary advantages of the C104/2 were a larger overall size which offered a much larger internal weapons bay and gave twin-engine reliability. Subsequent discussions between the RCAF and Avro examined a wide range of alternatives for a supersonic interceptor, culminating in RCAF "Specification AIR 7-3" in April 1953.  Avro's response became the CF-105.<ref name="Page p. 12"/>

[[File:Cf-105 Arrow002.jpg|thumb|left|CF-105 Mk 1 interceptor]]

===CF-105 Arrow Mk.1 and Mk.2===
{{main|Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow}}

The need for a newer and much more powerful interceptor aircraft was clear even before the CF-100 entered service. The CF-105 Arrow was rolled out on 4 October 1957, coincidentally the very same day the USSR launched [[Sputnik 1]] into orbit, heralding the dawn of the space age and potentially the end of the Arrow's main target, the long-range bomber. The design was a development of the C104, but with the delta wing raised to the top of the fuselage allowing for simplified structure, easier access to the engines and the weapons bay in the belly, as well as a weapons bay larger than that of the [[Consolidated B-24 Liberator|B-24 Liberator]] or [[Avro Lancaster|Lancaster]] bombers. The aircraft was very advanced, powerful, and broke numerous records. Many "firsts" were included, such as fly-by-wire technology, and simultaneous development of a new weapons fire control system and the advanced [[Orenda Iroquois]] engine. The weapons were stored in an interchangeable pod in the internal weapons bay, allowing for ease of re-arming and switching from missiles to other kinds of weapons. Only the Mark 1 model (with lower-powered American engines) flew, including one that reached Mach 1.98.<ref>Page et al. 2004, pp. 115–118 (Pilot flight logs).</ref> The first flight was on 25 March 1958. A total of five Mark 1 aircraft were completed with several of the 29 Mark 2 models (with more powerful Iroquois engines) on the production line nearing completion.  The sudden cancellation of the Arrow project by the Canadian government on 20 February 1959 led to a massive corporate downsizing and an attempt to further diversify. Many Avro Aircraft engineers who remained were reassigned to marine, truck and automobile projects. Numerous engineering and technical staff left Avro Canada primarily for the United Kingdom and the United States in a rapid "[[brain drain]]".<ref name="Frontiers"/>