Editing Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow (section)

==Operational history==

===Foreign interest===
Canada unsuccessfully tried to sell the Arrow to the US and Britain. The aircraft industry in both countries was considered a national interest and the purchase of foreign designs was rare.<ref name="Peden 1987, p. 72"/>

Nevertheless, from 1955 onwards, the UK had shown considerable interest in the Arrow. Desiring a high-performance interceptor like the Arrow, the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] began the [[Operational Requirement F.155|F.155 program]] in 1955, projecting a service entry date of 1962. As the program continued, it was clear the aircraft would not be ready by that date. It was also clear that new versions of the Soviet M-4 bomber would be available in 1959 that would outperform their existing [[Gloster Javelin]]s, leaving a several-year gap where the RAF would have no effective anti-bomber force. Attention turned to interim designs that could be in service by the late 1950s to cover this period. At first, consideration was given to the [[thin-wing Javelin]] that would provide moderate supersonic performance, along with the extremely high performance but short range [[Saunders-Roe SR.177]].

A new round of development produced an improved Mach&nbsp;1.6 version of the thin-wing Javelin, and the Arrow was put aside for the time. But it was soon clear that the new Javelin would not enter service until at least 1961, too late to stop the new M-4s and with the F.155 designs coming on only two years later. In April 1956, the UK's [[Air Council]] recommended a purchase of 144 Arrows to fill the role of the thin-wing Javelin. These would be powered by UK engines; the [[Rolls-Royce Olympus|Bristol Olympus 7R]] – {{convert|17000|lbf|kN|abbr=on}} thrust dry, {{convert|23700|lbf|kN|abbr=on}} with [[Afterburning|reheat]], the [[Rolls-Royce Conway|Rolls-Royce Conway Stage 4]] – {{convert|18340|lbf|kN|abbr=on}} thrust dry, {{convert|29700|lbf|kN|abbr=on}} with reheat, or [[de Havilland Gyron]] – {{convert|19500|lbf|kN|abbr=on}} thrust dry, {{convert|28000|lbf|kN|abbr=on}} with reheat.

Procurement of the Arrow from Canada, and setting up a production line in the UK, was studied. The unit price per aircraft built in the UK was estimated at £220,000 each for a production run of 100 aircraft, as opposed to the estimate of £150,000 per aircraft for the thin wing Javelin.<ref>defe7-1409e06_06</ref> The CF-105 would serve as a stopgap until the F.155 project came to fruition, but with the F.155 due in 1963 and the Arrow not likely to reach the RAF before 1962, there was little point in proceeding.<ref>Whitcomb 2002, pp.&nbsp;84 and 215–216.</ref>

The infamous [[1957 Defence White Paper]],<ref>[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/films/1951to1964/filmpage_streaked.htm "1951–1964"]. Central Office of Information for Ministry of Defence. Retrieved: 29 June 2012.</ref> described as "the biggest change in military policy ever made in normal times", led to the cancellation of almost all British manned fighter aircraft then in development,<ref>Slessor, Sir John. [http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/fora35&div=56&id=&page= "British Defense Policy"]. ''Foreign Affairs'', 35(4), July 1957.</ref> and completely curtailed any likelihood of a purchase. In January 1959, the UK's final answer was no; Britain countered with an offer to sell Canada the [[English Electric Lightning]].<ref>Whitcomb 2002, p.&nbsp;220.</ref>

The French government expressed an interest in the Iroquois engine for an enlarged version of the [[Dassault Mirage IV]] bomber, the Mirage IVB. This was one of several engines being considered, including the Olympus, with an order for 300 Iroquois being considered. Acting on media speculation that the Iroquois engine program was also in jeopardy of being cancelled, the French government chose to end negotiations in October 1958<ref name = 'campagna110-111'>Campagna 1998, pp.&nbsp;110–111.</ref> and opted for an upgraded version of the indigenous [[Snecma Atar]], instead.<ref name="Stewart pp. 290–291">Stewart 1998, pp.&nbsp;290–291.</ref> There was never an explanation for this decision offered by the French government, even after Avro tried to offer the Iroquois as a private venture.<ref name="Stewart pp. 290–291"/>

In the US, the [[WS-201|1954 interceptor]] program was well underway, and would ultimately introduce the [[Convair F-106 Delta Dart]], an aircraft with many similarities to the Arrow. More advanced designs were also being considered, notably the Mach&nbsp;3 [[Republic XF-103]], and by the time the Arrow was flying, the much more advanced [[XF-108 Rapier|North American XF-108]]. Both of these programs were cancelled during the mock-up stage, as it was believed the need for a manned interceptor of very high performance simply did not exist as the Soviets were moving their strategic force to ICBMs. This argument added weight to the justification for cancelling the Arrow.<ref>Whitcomb 2002, pp.&nbsp;80, 181–182.</ref><ref name = 'campagna109-110'>Campagna 1998, pp.&nbsp;109–110.</ref> In 1958, Avro Aircraft Limited president and general manager [[Frederick Thomas Smye, Jr.|Fred Smye]] elicited a promise from the USAF to "supply, free, the fire control system and missiles and if they would allow the free use of their flight test centre at&nbsp;... Edwards AFB."<ref>Smye 2014, p.&nbsp;87.</ref>

===Cancellation===
The Arrow's cancellation was announced on 20 February 1959. The day became known as "Black Friday" in the Canadian aviation industry.<ref>Zuuring 1999, p.&nbsp;112.</ref> Diefenbaker claimed the decision was based on "a thorough examination" of threats and defensive measures, and the cost of defensive systems.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last= Godefroy|editor-first= Andrew B.|date= 2009|title= Projecting Power: Canada's Air Force 2035|url= http://airforceapp.forces.gc.ca/CFAWC/eLibrary/pubs/Projecting_Power-Canadas_Air_Force_2035_e.pdf|publisher= Canadian Forces Aerospace Warfare Centre|page= 68|isbn= 978-1-100-12396-7}}</ref> More specifically, the cost would have needed to be amortized over hundreds of manufactured models. At the time the trend was "away from conventional bombers" that the Avro Arrow could intercept and "towards atmospheric weapons like [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s", according to Global News.<ref name="Hobson2013">{{cite news|last= Hobson|first= Elton|date= 25 March 2013|title= 55 years later, biggest question surrounding Avro Arrow remains "what if?"|url= http://globalnews.ca/news/427985/55-years-later-biggest-question-surrounding-avro-arrow-remains-what-if/|work= [[Global News]]}}</ref> As a result, the foreign demand for the Avro Arrow had declined substantially.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last= Boyne|editor-first= Walter J.|last= Cafferky|first= Shawn|date= 2002|title= Air Warfare: An International Encyclopedia|chapter= Avro Canada Aircraft (A.V. Roe Canada)|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FW_50wm8VnMC&pg=PA55|volume=I|location= Santa Barbara, California|publisher= [[ABC-CLIO]]|pages= 55–56|isbn= 978-1-57607-345-2}}</ref> Canada's alternative to the Arrow was to purchase some American [[McDonnell F-101 Voodoo]] interceptors and [[CIM-10 Bomarc#Bomarc B|Bomarc B missile]]s.<ref name="Hobson2013"/><ref>{{cite news|last= Gurney|first= Matt|date= 10 September 2012|title= Arrows didn't make sense then, and don't now|url= https://nationalpost.com/opinion/matt-gurney-arrows-didnt-make-sense-then-and-dont-now/wcm/29cc24af-a03c-44f8-8935-8d77ac47a642|work= [[National Post]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last= Siggins|first= Maggie|date= 1979|title= Bassett: John Bassett's Forty Years in Politics, Publishing, Business and Sports|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=zoyhdkdVSS8C&pg=PA145|location= Toronto|publisher= James Lorimer & Company|page= 145|isbn= 978-0-88862-284-6|author-link= Maggie Siggins}}</ref>

The decision immediately put 14,528 Avro employees, as well as nearly 15,000 other employees in the Avro [[supply chain]] of outside suppliers, out of work.<ref>Stewart 1998, p.&nbsp;269; Peden 2003, p.&nbsp;157; {{cite news|last= Harrison|first= Mark|date= 23 February 1959|title= Diefenbaker surrenders our sovereignty?|work= [[Toronto Star|Toronto Daily Star]]|page= 1}}</ref> 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 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.<ref>Peden 2003, p.&nbsp;78.</ref>

An attempt was made to provide the completed Arrows to the [[National Research Council of Canada]] as high-speed test aircraft.<ref>Whitcomb 2002, p.&nbsp;202.</ref> 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 [[Royal Aircraft Establishment]] (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.<ref>Shaw 1979, p.&nbsp;89.</ref>

===Aftermath===
Within two months of the project cancellation, all aircraft, engines, production tooling and technical data were ordered scrapped.<ref name = 'campagna121'>Campagna 1998, p.&nbsp;121.</ref> Officially, the reason given for the destruction order from cabinet and the chiefs of staff was to destroy classified and "secret" materials used in the Arrow and Iroquois programs.<ref>Stewart 1998, pp.&nbsp;274–276.</ref> The action has been attributed to [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] fears that a Soviet "mole" had infiltrated Avro, later confirmed to some degree in the [[Mitrokhin Archive]]s.<ref>Andrew and Mitrokhin 2000, p.&nbsp;219.</ref> <!--this is more of an urban myth that continues to be propagated by unreliable sources---->

Rumours had circulated that [[Wilfred Curtis|Air Marshal W.&nbsp;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 directly 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."<ref>McNenly, Pat. "Avro Arrow". ''Toronto Star'', 30 November 1968, p.&nbsp;1.</ref> The legend endures that one of the prototypes remains intact somewhere.<ref name = 'blissarrow'/>

[[File:Avro CF-105 Arrow at Canada Aviation and Space Museum.jpg|thumb|left|Arrow nose section on display at the [[Canada Aviation and Space Museum]].]]

Following the cancellation of the Avro Arrow project, CF-105 chief aerodynamicist [[Jim Chamberlin]] led a team of 25 engineers to [[NASA]]'s [[Space Task Group]] to become lead engineers, program managers, and heads of engineering in NASA's manned space programs—projects [[Project Mercury|Mercury]], [[Project Gemini|Gemini]] and [[Apollo project|Apollo]].<ref name="French and Burgess p. 196"/> The Space Task Group team eventually grew to 32 Avro engineers and technicians, and became emblematic of what many Canadians viewed as a "[[brain drain]]" to the United States.<ref name="French and Burgess p. 196">French and Burgess 2007, p.&nbsp;196.</ref> Among the former Arrow team engineers to go south were [[Tecwyn Roberts]] (NASA's first [[flight dynamics officer]] on Project Mercury and later director of networks at the [[Goddard Space Flight Center]]), [[John Hodge (engineer)|John Hodge]] (flight director and manager on the cancelled Space Station Freedom project), Dennis Fielder (director of the Space Station Task Force, later the Space Station), [[Owen Maynard]] (chief of the LM engineering office in the Apollo Program Office), [[Bruce Aikenhead]], and Rod Rose (technical assistant for the Space Shuttle program).<ref name="Tecwyn">[http://www.llanddaniel.co.uk/Tecwyn_Roberts.html "Tecwyn Roberts"]. ''llanddaniel.co.uk''. Retrieved: 5 May 2011.</ref><ref>Pillinger, Colin. [http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=407382 "Red, white and blue Moon"]. ''[[Times Higher Education]]'', 16 July 2009. Retrieved: 5 May 2011.</ref> Many other engineers, including Jim Floyd, found work in either the UK or the United States. Work undertaken by both Avro Canada and Floyd benefited supersonic research at Hawker Siddeley, Avro Aircraft's UK parent, and contributed to programs such as the HSA.1000 supersonic transport design studies, influential in the design of the [[Concorde]].<ref>Whitcomb 1999, pp.&nbsp;251–259.</ref><ref>[http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1680494&show=pdf "Pattern of the Industry"]. ''Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology''. 1960, 32(1).</ref>

In 1961, the RCAF obtained 66 [[McDonnell CF-101 Voodoo]] aircraft, one of the American designs the RCAF originally rejected,<ref>Page et al. 2004, p.&nbsp;13.</ref>{{#tag:ref| Although the source indicates it was the F-101 that was evaluated, it was the XF-88 Voodoo that was flying at the time while the F-101 was a revised and upgraded variant only in the development stage in 1953.|group=Note}} 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.<ref>Stursberg 1975, p.&nbsp;122.</ref>

Although nearly everything connected to the CF-105 and Orenda Iroquois programs was destroyed, some were saved and are on display at the [[Canada Aviation and Space Museum]] in Ottawa: the cockpit and nose gear of RL-206, the first Mk&nbsp;2 Arrow, and two outer panels of RL-203's wings, alongside an Iroquois engine.<ref>[http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/collections/artifacts/aircraft/AvroCanadaCF-105Arrow/ "Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow 2"] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110050019/http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/collections/artifacts/aircraft/AvroCanadaCF-105Arrow/ |date=10 January 2011 }}). ''aviation.technomuses.ca''. Retrieved: 24 September 2010.</ref>

At the time of its cancellation, with specifications comparable to then-current offerings from American and Soviet design bureaus, the Arrow was considered by one aviation industry observer to be one of the most advanced aircraft in the world.<ref name= "Gunston p. 18"/> According to Bill Gunston:

{{quote|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.<ref name="Gunston p. 18"/>}}

[[File:J35906 YOW-MuseeAir 20120224-153823 Reserve AilesArrow3.jpg|thumb|Prototype No. 3's wing outer panels at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.]]

The Arrow's cancellation eventually led to the end of Avro Aircraft Limited (Canada), and its president and general manager, [[Crawford Gordon Jr.]], was fired shortly afterward. In 1962, the Hawker Siddeley Group formally dissolved A.&nbsp;V. Roe Canada and transferred all its assets to Hawker Siddeley's newly formed subsidiary, [[Hawker Siddeley Canada]].<ref>Bothwell and Kilbourn 1979, p.&nbsp;266.</ref> 

The nose cone section of Avro Arrow RL-206, currently on display at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, was smuggled out of the Avro Aircraft plant in Malton by members of the RCAF Flying Personnel Medical Establishment, a detachment of [[RCAF Station Downsview]] on Avenue Road in Toronto, where it resided for many years and was employed in high-altitude work. The commanding officer of the Flying Personnel Medical Establishment, Wing Commander Roy Stubbs, provides this prologue to the former aircraft:

{{quote|One day after a change of government, the new RCAF Chief of the Air Staff came to inspect our facilities and programs and after lunch, I asked if he would like to see something special. I showed him a piece of the Arrow; cockpit section and engine nacelles and a few other bits. I asked him what we should do with it and he said to keep it hidden until the climate in Ottawa was right, and then he would arrange to have it placed in the National Aeronautical Museum in Ottawa. Eventually this was done and at least a bit of history was saved.<ref>''The Western Canada Aviation Museum Magazine''</ref><!-- need a date and page--- as the actual story would relocate the component to CFB Trenton where it also languished for years in storage, not to mention other various bits including the outer wing panels of RL-203 in storage at CFB Rockliffe--->}}

Around 2011, a new version of the Avro Arrow was privately proposed as an alternative to a [[Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Canadian procurement|Canadian purchase of F-35 aircraft]].<ref name="CBC1">{{citation|author1-last=Harris|author1-first=Kathleen|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-accused-of-axing-avro-arrow-revival-too-soon-1.1233462|date=2012-09-10|access-date=2021-10-11|title=Ottawa accused of axing Avro Arrow revival too soon|website=[[CBC News]] website|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211174656/http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-accused-of-axing-avro-arrow-revival-too-soon-1.1233462|archive-date=2015-02-11}}</ref> The proposal, promoted by former Canadian Forces infantry officer [[Lewis MacKenzie]], was rejected by Ottawa in 2012 as being too risky, too costly and too time-consuming given the need to re-engineer the 1950s-era aircraft with modern communication, targeting and stealth features.<ref name="GlobeAndMail1">{{citation|author1-last=Chase|author1-first=Steven|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-shoots-down-plan-to-revive-avro-arrow-fighter-plane/article4535481/|date=2012-09-11|access-date=2021-10-11|title=Ottawa shoots down plan to revive Avro Arrow fighter plane|website=[[The Globe and Mail]] website|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817092203/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-shoots-down-plan-to-revive-avro-arrow-fighter-plane/article4535481/|archive-date=2021-08-17}}</ref> Member of Parliament and former Canadian Forces fighter pilot [[Laurie Hawn]] described the CF-105 as having been advanced 50 years prior, but "hopelessly behind its time" in 2012.<ref name="TorontoStar1">{{citation|author1-last=Campion-Smith|author1-first=Bruce|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2012/09/10/avro_arrow_takes_flight_again_in_dream_plan_for_new_air_force_fighter.html|date=2012-09-10|access-date=2021-10-11|title=Avro Arrow takes flight again in dream plan for new air force fighter|website=[[Toronto Star]] website|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321210345/https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2012/09/10/avro_arrow_takes_flight_again_in_dream_plan_for_new_air_force_fighter.html|archive-date=2018-03-21}}</ref>