Arrow History
Brief History of the Avro Arrow
After World War II, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union started to become deadly. This marks the beginning of the Cold War. It lasted from the 1950s to the 1970s when the Berlin War came down. Canada was forced to join the Cold War in case of a massive Soviet invasion. Luckily, none of that happened. Canada and the United States signed the NORAD (North American Aerospace Defence Command) to protect one another from the Soviet Nuclear weapons and strategic bombers.
A.V. Roe Canada Company was ordered by the Royal Canadian Air Force to create an all-weather interceptor. The first design was the CF-100 Canuck, but the designers already went looking for a replacement for it before it was even in service in 1951. The Avro Arrow's design used Alexander Lippisch's thin delta wing designs. This platform has several advantages for the high altitude and high speed travel. If they used the traditional wings, it could add drag, which was not good for high-speed travel.
Mark I
The Avro Arrow Mark I was the first one to go into production in 1955. It was the first one to roll out as a prototype. The Mark I used a J75 engine and had no weapons that were configurable; it required a ballast to even out the centre of gravity. There were major issues during its testing phase -- it had problems with the landing gear, the firing control system and stability augmentation needed heavy recalibration. The problem with the landing gear was that it was too thin in order to fit into the wings. The gears jammed because of the twisting in order to tow the gears onto the wings.
Mark II
The primary difference between the Mark I and the Mark II is that Mark II was the fitting of the Orenda PS-13 Iroquois engine and the Astra Firing Control System. Yet, the Astra Firing Control System was not yet ready to be install, so the RCAF still insisted in taking flight tests.
Controversy
The Avro Arrow project had a pretty efficient cost. It had an initial cost of CAD $27 million yearly. In September 1955, A.V. Roe Canada Company asked the government another CAD $59 million, but the government capped them to only eleven prototypes and CAD $219 million a year. After John Diefenbaker and the Conservatives won the election, they cancelled the Arrow project.
There are currently rumours that one of the Arrows, RL-206 (Mark II) is buried under CFB Gimili intact. Another rumour suggests that the Arrow project was closed because the government suspected that there were Soviet KGB operatives working in the factory because the MiG-29 was very similar to the Arrow.
