The
CF-105 AVRO ARROW
A
Canadian Legend Proving what we are capable of
- an event now
lost in time.
BY AL-HAFIZ VIRANI
Version 5.2, as of February 17th,
2000.
The
CF-105 Avro Arrow - Purly Canadian
The
American Strategic Air Command
A
Lie
AVRO
C-102 Jetliner and Velvet Glove Missiles.
Brainwashing
the Nation
Denying
the Truth
The
American Space Program and Ex-Avro Engineers
Living
The Dream
Never
Stop Dreaming

Presently, this essay is being 'fixed
up' (version 6) and will soon be updated.
More information will be included; including
specs, as well as information on the order to scrap the project and the
planes.
As well, every attempt will be made to avoid
and remove any sort of plagarism that may have occured, (as this was orriginaly
intended as an essay for school,) and to more properly credit sources,
and also to include more of my own opinions.
The
CF-105 Avro Arrow - Purly Canadian
By
legend it is the world's most fastest and feared aircraft. It was designed
by Canada - It no longer exists. Canada's controversial ultra high speed
high intensity supersonic fighter interceptor the CF-105 Avro Arrow project
was terminated on the 20th of February 1959. The five completed planes
were all ordered destroyed, along with all related information. They were
blowtorched, and reduced to scrap metal. There is strong evidence pointing
to political scandals, conspiracies, and cover-ups, not only relating to
the Arrow, but to the Canadian designed C-102 Jetliner commercial planes
and Velvet Glove
missiles
as well. There are allegations of a strong CIA and American government
involvement. There are many skeptics who stubbornly, despite the enormous
evidence, fail to acknowledge the Arrow for what it really is or was. Ironically,
and often fustratingly, it is the Canadians who often refuse to
accept the Arrow and all it stood for; a symbol of who we are and all that
we are capable of. We have to take price in Canada and its ability to beat
any nation at whatever it wants. We must acknowledge the achievements of
this great nation, not avoid them, if we want to show the world what being
a Canadian is all about. The Arrow story shows what happens when we don't.
As it ended up, most of our technology went to the Americans. We should
- we must - all learn a strong lesson from the story of the
Arrow; a strong lesson that we must not forget - in order to insure the
survival of, and that we do not lose faith in one of our most greatest
privileges - Canada. - It depends on it. So that someday,
- we must hope - perhaps, we may still have it.
The
American Strategic Air Command
The Americans
were afraid of the Arrow and its capability of shooting down the CIA's
utra top secret U2 spy planes, which they claimed were onlywhich they claimed
were only weather research-gathering planes. Since the
Arrow made their planes look like
a toy designed by Fisher-Price, they had no other alternative
to suggest and insist on a unified defense system. It is not known
to a great extent of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)'s involvement
in the termination of the Arrow project, but Prime minister Diefenbaker
and all those thought to be responsible for the decision to scrap the Arrow
had denied that they had had any prior knowledge of the Arrow's destruction.
It is said that the order to destroy the aircraft came directly from the
CIA itself. The NORAD agreement, in accordance with the Buy American
Act implemented by Canada, stipulating a joint defense system between
the United States and Canada and the allowing of the duty free transport
of defensive goods into Canada, appears to have been set up by the US solely
for the defense of the American Strategic Air Command. The defense of Canada
was not a requirement. The Canadian government denied that the Americans
were setting up BOMARK and SAGE missiles, even though official documents
and memos had been sent to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and to the
Canadian government describing such
activity
by the United States. The US warned that their nuclear missile bases would
be established just south of the Great Lakes if Canada refused to comply
to US demands and buy the BOMARK and SAGE missiles. The US knew full well
that Canada could not afford both the missiles and the Arrow. They knew
that the purchase of the missiles by Canada would mean the unavoidable
termination of the CF-105 Avro Arrow project. Had US nuclear strikes on
Soviet bombers been fired from the American side of the border, regardless
of weather they actually hit the bombers, and especially if they
missed, the inevitable result would have been the US nuclear missiles landing
in
Canada; most probably in southern Ontario and Quebec - the most populated
areas of Canada.
A
Lie
During the Conservative
Cabinet meeting that took place on January 13th, 1959, Minister Pearkes
stated that Canada's 100 interceptors would not be able to help North American
defense against the Soviet threat. He said Canada could rely on the US's
long range F-108. In fact, the F-108 was only a name attributed to the
next possible plane that could be built. The F-108 had not even come close
to getting on the drawing boards. No long range plane called the F-108
has ever been designed or built since then.
AVRO
C-102 Jetliner and Velvet Glove Missiles.
The Arrow was
not the first great Canadian achievement that was destroyed. It was one
of many. One of which is the AVRO C-102 Jetliner. Before the Arrow, on
July 27, 1949 the British DC Comet, barely rose a few feet off of a runway
in England, to become the world's first commercial Jetliner. In less than
two weeks, Canada's commercial Jetliner took off on August 10, 1949. In
less than an hour it had already broken every single record on high speeds,
time, distance, and on height, with altitudes reaching over 13, 000 feet.
The C-102 Jetliner flew an astonishing eight years before the world's first
Bowing's 707 - an American plane that probably used the Jetliner technology.
Jim Floyd, who later worked on the Arrow, was part of the designing team
of the Jetliner. At one point the New York press said that "This should
give our nation a good healthful kick in its placidity. The fact that our
massive but underpopulated good neighbor to the north has a mechanical
product that licks anything of ours is just what the doctor ordered for
our overdeveloped ego. The Canadian plane's feat accelerates a process
already begun in this nation - a realization that Uncle Sam has no monopoly
on genius." In 1956, the revolutionary C-102 Jetliner project was terminated
and all existing Jetliners were destroyed and reduced to scrap metal, just
like the Arrow - despite the fact that hundreds of orders were pouring
in for the purchase and manufacture of C-102 Jetliners. National Airlines
was to purchase four aircraft at 1 million dollars each and six more at
a later date. The United States Air Force had ordered 20 Jetliners. It
was recorded in a report that no one had wanted to buy the plane and that
it was terribly designed. Surprisingly, this information surfaced within
Canada - and only Canada itself, and ironically the only one's who seemed
to believe it were the Canadians. These reports were later proven to be
false. The US Bowing project in Seattle was composed of mainly ex-Avro
engineers with many of the senior engineers from the Arrow program contributing
their Arrow and Jetliner technical know-how to the US civil and military
programs. Another great Canadian achievement; the Velvet Glove project
-
the highly advanced and powerful supersonic Air to Air Missiles, developed
and built by Canadair of Montreal and costing over 24 million dollars in
research and development alone, were ordered destroyed and the project
canceled. Just before the project was terminated, it was decided that the
Canadian missiles would be used on a new supersonic plane being designed
by Avro at the time - the CF-105. The already-proven Canadian built missiles
were replaced by untested American SAGE and BOMARK missiles. The American
missiles were never used.
Brainwashing
the Nation
One of the largest
attempts at brainwashing ever made in Canada were devised by the Royal
Canadian Air Force and the Canadian government. Documents proved that the
Canadian government felt that the Arrow was far too good, and more
powerful than of any country - therefore they had to be destroyed.
Makes sense doesn't it? A propaganda and disinformation campaign was implemented
and currently is still in effect since 1957. Many propagandic and
altered information had been placed into history text books, periodicals,
and newspapers. The most damaging of all are the history textbooks. They
are designed to give young Canadians wrong information, telling them that
a Canadian heritage is nonexistent and that the country is young and has
achieved practically nothing. They are designed to give pro-American nationalism
and dedicate all achievements to the Americans. They imply that Canada
has no real heroes, and that those who were "heroes" made no difference
to anyone anyway. Ironically, this information is only found in Canada.
Many of the brainwashing anti-Canadian propaganda found in Canadian
history text books include; "the Arrow never existed," "the Arrow was
obsolete," "The Arrow was of such poor design that it would never be able
to fly, and the aerodynamics were terrible," "the aircraft was not Canadian,
it was designed by British and American engineers." The later is one
of the most ridiculous; the entire Avro Arrow Dream Team of Bob Lindley,
James Jim Floyd, Guest Hake, and Jim Chamberlin, was Canadian. Sure there
were a few engineers at A. V. Row that weren't Canadian born, but to say
that their achievements didn't really count because they weren't truly
Canadian is blow to the back of the head for all those thousands of Canadian
immigrants in this Country. Their achievements count as contributions that
were made by Canadians; as they are Canadian citizens. Another false myth
is that the company was in a mess. Actually, Avro was one of the largest
companies in Canada. Others include, "the Arrow cost too much,"
The Arrows cost did rise from $2 million to $5 million per plane, but not
the $12.5 million stated by the Conservative government and Primeminister
Diefenbaker. The Arrow cost was based on the first 5 aircraft in which
the American bought Pratt & Whitney J-75 engines were used.
In fact, the cost of the Arrow was rapidly decreasing and all the Arrow
money would remain in Canada. Eventually, with the production of the rest
of the aircraft the price would drop to less than $2 million per aircraft.
But even with a price-tag of $12.5 million, it would have been cheaper
than any aircraft designed or built by the US or Great Britain. One of
the most outrageous claims is that, "the Arrow cancellation was good
because otherwise we would have had Arrows involved in Vietnam and in other
world conflicts, and this would not be something to be proud of." This
implies that nuclear warheads, missiles, tanks, guns, and the atomic bomb
are perfectly alright and better than the Arrow. Palmiro Campagna wrote
in his book "Storms of Controversy" that this "was typical of
Canadians unable to accept pride their achievements." Palmiro Campagna
also said in his book that there is "Pygmation psycology in Canadians
- that is, when you continually tell somebody intelligent how foolish he
is, eventually he believes it and reacts accordingly. How often have we
heard, "Well, if it's Canadian, then it can't be good" or the other, "If
it's Canadian, then it costs too much"? It is high time this ridiculous
psycology was stopped." He also mentioned how, ironically, including
the US, every other country except for Canada regards Canadian products
and have always regarded them as first class. The ridiculous irony and
these outrageous claims are an insult to the many Canadians who worked
on the projects and to Canadians and Canada as a whole. The dedication
in the front of his book says it all, "For...all the children of the
world. May their dreams become reality and not suffer at the hands of those
unable to dream." To say the Arrow never existed, is to say that there
is no such thing as a Canadian identity, and it seems that is exactly what
everyone is saying today. It appears Palmiro Campagna may have very well
been right.
Denying
the Truth
So many people
do not and will not, and continuously refuse to believe, despite the enormous
evidence, and no matter how much or how many times you tell them. For instance,
Time Magazine, in its January 20th issue, in an article by Michael Bliss
who is a professor of history at the University of Toronto, said that "In
the real world, no responsible government could have continued to
support the Arrow, and even if they had, the only result would have been
to delay the inevitable integration of the North American Defense Production."
In actual fact, the government had to have continued with the Arrow. There
was no reason to shut it down because of the high expectations. Besides,
the Arrow had already proven itself in the wind tunnel and in the rocket
test flights. Also the final result would not be an integration of the
defenses. With a defense so powerful of our own, we could crush all opposition
including the Soviets and the Americans. Besides the Americans would never
agree to being leagued with a more powerful country, especially
if it was Canada. "The Canadian Encyclopedia," Copyright
© 1988 stated that export efforts had failed and that no body wanted to
buy the Arrow, so it had to be cancelled. In fact orders were pouring
in for the purchase of Avro Arrows and the Arrow's Iroquois engine. Michael
Bliss, in his article, claimed that the Arrow was a "myth" and said
"How many younger Canadians, citizens of an independent world will buy
into an economic nationalism that that was already anachronistic 40 years
ago?" and also that "Sensible folk...want to be proud of Canada's
real
achievements." He also went on to say in his final paragraph, "I
tell my history students that the last CF-105 is stored in a barn in Saskatchewan.
It's taken out and flown once a year. - By Elvis." The Toronto
Star said on February 20th, 1986, "For all its sleek technological excellence,
the Arrow was a peace-lover's ideal weapon, it would self-destruct on use."
Skeptics such as these are ignorant of history. These stubborn people refuse
to get it into their thick unpenetrable skulls that the Arrow
is
Canada. They refuse to acknowledge that it is something we have to be proud
of. They don't realize that this extraordinary plane is a symbol of this
incredible nation; it is a symbol of Canada, a symbol of the truth. But
is the truth so impossible to believe? Why must they shut their minds to
the truth? Why are people so unpatriotic, so anti-Canadian - so stupid?
They insult themselves and support those who insult them. These have no
sense of reality; no sense of Canada; no sense of what is feels to be truly
a Canadian. They don't have the true sensation of a Canadian nationalism
that should define Canada. These ignorant people are not true
Canadians. They complain and whine about how bad it is here and how much
better it is in the States. Fine, if they don't like it, leave! I think
that they will quickly discover that they should never have left. This
kind of attitude is disgusting and those who maintain it should be ashamed
of their unbelivably ridiculous and outrageous attacks and insults to our
dignity. Why? Because Canada is the world's greatest nation. We have to
take pride in Canada and it's ability to beat any nation at whatever it
wants. We must accept and admit the achievements of this great nation not
shun them, if we want to show the people of the world who we Canadians
really are. The sad story of the Arrow shows what happens when we don't.
These people don't realize that we have to remember the Arrow not with
insults, or as a Canadian joke, but with pride as one our most defining
moments as Canadians.
The
American Space Program and Ex-Avro Engineers
We gave
the Americans space flight - and they still have yet to say thanks. The
US's landing of the first man on the moon was only achieved through the
use of Arrow technology from ex-Avro engineers who had been fired after
the cancellation of the Arrow project. Before the Arrow technology, the
American space program was practically non-existent. Due to the limits
imposed by wind tunnel testing, pre-flight model testing was created in
1954. The technique was developed by the Canadian NACA. Eleven Arrow models
blasted off with rocket boosters of 45 000 pounds which eventually
separated from the model itself - a technique used today in NASA space
rockets. The models were constructed of stainless steel and to this day
they are still resting underneath the surface of the waters in which they
splashed down more than 50 years ago. It is not hard to notice that the
frame, design, and shape of the NASA Space Shuttle is almost identical
to the Arrow, if not somewhat larger. The transmitting system that provided
information to ground personnel was a system was a system that was later
used in the US Manned Space Program. As recorded by the Apollo Space Program
that landed Niel Armstrong on the moon, "As the Space Task Group's burden
was threatening to overwhelem it, the Canadian government unintentionally
gave the American space program its luckiest break...The Canadians never
gained much public recognition for their contribution to the manned space
program, but to the people within the program their contribution was incalculable...They
had it all over us, in many areas...just brilliant guys...They were more
mature and they were bright as hell and talented and professional to a
man." Jim Chamberlain, along with more than 30 Avro engineers, went
to NASA. He was head of engineering and designed the capsule used by John
Glenn in the Mercury Project. He was head of the U.S. Space Task Group
and directed Project Gemini, and of course, Project Apollo, which allowed
man to land on the moon for the first time. He recieved NASA's Gold Medal
for
his work. At the time of his death, he was technical director at the Johnson
Space Center in Houston.
Living
The Dream
Along with the
Arrow went a strong Canadian Nationalism. Many Canadians stopped believing
in Canada as a great nation. A native of Ottawa, Canadian born Dan Ackroyd
who played the lead role as Crawford Gordon, the president and general
manager of A.V.Row in the 8 million dollar CBC movie, "The Arrow,"
that was aired on the CBC on Sunday January 12th and 13th, 1997, said,
"The
Arrow shows us that, as Canadians, we can do anything, and we're resourceful.
I hope young people will be inspirired. We need to nurture our talent to
survive." The Canadian built ultra high-speed supersonic high-intenensity
fighter interceptors, the C-105 Avro Arrows, the C-102 Jetliners, and the
Velvet Glove missiles are perfect examples of who we are and what we are
capable of. It should be a lesson to all of us that we cannot - we must
not forget our identity if we wish to survive and we must not lose our
pride in being who we truly are; Canadian. We have to realize that
our potential is far more greater and extremely powerful compared to those
idiots south of the border. We should just stop listening to the stupid
Yankees' interpretations of history; tell them to shut up, mind their own
business, and stop telling us what to do. And then we can start to tell
the true story of history undistorted - and purly Canadian.
Never
Stop Dreaming
Canada's most
famous ill-fated ultra high speed high intensity supersonic fighter interceptor
the
controversial CF-105 Avro Arrow
met its horrible, and most unfortunate death as all five completed
planes were blowtorched to scrap
metal as a result of the order that was issued on February 20th,
1959 indicating the termination
of the project. There is an extrordinary amount of unquestionable
evidence of Canadian government
scandals, and CIA conspiracies and cover-ups, pertaining not
only to the Arrow, but to several
other great Canadian achievements as well, including the C-102
Jetliner commercial planes and Velvet
Glove missiles. Skeptics continuously and stubbornly, despite
the gross amount of evidence, refuse
to recognize the Arrow as symbol of who we are and all that
we are capable of. The most ironic
and extremely outrageously ridiculous thing, is that it is the
Canadians who are the ones who dismiss
the Arrow and the true meaning of all that it stood for -
the truth, and Canada. As it ended
up, most of our technology went to the Americans and they - and
only they - got credit for all of
it. The Arrow teaches a strong lesson that we should - we must -
learn; we must believe; and we must
understand. We must realize that those Americans are not the
best and that it shows our potential
and how much we can be capable of if only we set our minds to
it. If we just learn to allow ourselves
to dream for even a fraction of a second, we will be genuinely
surprised to learn how many things
we Canadians are truly capable of. We have to stop this insanity
of not believing in ourselves if
we want to succeed and have the strength to survive, and then only
can we be a strong unified nation;
then only can we be all that we can be; and then, and only then,
can we be the true north strong
and free. Maybe, just maybe, perhaps someday, we will.
-
B E L I E V E T H E D R E A M -
SOURCES
"Storms of Controversy"
- Palmiro Campagna.
"TIME"
magazine, Canadian Edition - January 20, 1997.
"TV Times"
The Montreal Gazette - January 11, 1997.
"The Canadian Encyclopedia"
Second Edition, Volume 1
- Copyright © 1988 by Hurtig Publishers Ltd.
SUGGESTED READINGS
"Stormes of Controversy:
The Secret Avro Arrow Files Revealed"
- Palmiro Campagna.
"Shutting Down the National
Dream: A.V. ROE and the Tragedy of the Avro Arrow"
- Greig Stewart.
"The Arrow"
- James Dow.
"Avro Arrow: The Story
of the Avro Arrow from its Evolution to its Extinction"
- The Arrowheads.
"There Never was an Arrow"
- Edith K. (Kathleen) Shaw.
"Fall of an Arrow"
- Murray Peden.
"Arrow Through the Heart:
The Life and Times of Crawford Gordon and the Avro Arrow"
- Greig Stewart.