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One of the most spectacular post World War II fighter aircraft was the Canadian CF-105 Arrow, designed to counter the threat of long-range bombers delivering nuclear weapons by flying across the pole to North America.
The Arrow originated in 1953, when the Royal Canadian Air Force submitted Avro Canada with a specification for a supersonic, missile-armed interceptor. It called for a two seat, twin engine aircraft with a range of 200 to 300 nautical miles and a cruising speed of Mach 1.5 at an altitude of 50,000 feet. The time from the engine start to 50,000 feet and Mach 1.5 was to be less than 5 minutes.
Avro’s design, the CF-105 Arrow, opted for a shoulder-mounted delta wing that housed 2,800 gallons of internal fuel room and was very efficient at high altitudes, though it had increased drag at lower speeds and higher drag while maneuvering (dogfighting). Since interceptors flew in straight lines at high altitude and high speed, these were minor concerns.
The thin wing required aviation’s first 4, 000-pounds-per-square-inch hydraulic system to supply enough force to the control surfaces. It also had an advanced (for the era) automated flight control system that kept the aircraft on a set course and speed and could perform automatic landings and takeoffs.
The Arrow also had a special air conditioning system to cool the fuel tanks, weapons bay and cockpit from heat friction at high speeds.
The weapons bay on the bottom fuselage was bigger than the bomb bay of the B-29 or Lancaster and the doors opened in 0.3 seconds and a missile fired in 2 seconds. The weapons system was the American Hughes MX-1179, pairing an existing MA-1 fire-control system with the AIM-4 Falcon missile in both radar-guided and heat-seeking variants.
In March 1955, Avro was awarded a contract for five Arrow Mk.1 flight-test aircraft, to be followed by 35 Arrow Mk 2s. The engine originally intended to power the Arrow was scrapped when the Arrow was nearly completed, so the first five Arrows had Pratt & Whitney J75 turbojets, while a new Iroquois engine was developed for the production Mk 2s.
To cut costs, the program eliminated the prototype phase and built the first test airframes on production jigs. Any changes would be incorporated into the jigs while testing continued, with full production starting when the test program was complete.
Go-ahead on the production was given in 1955, and the rollout of the first CF-105 took place on Oct. 4, 1957. It was intended to be spectacular; not only was the Arrow Canada’s first indigenous modern fighter, but it was also huge – 80 feet long, 50 foot wing span and 21 feet high – and was painted a gloss white.
The company invited more than 13,000 guests to the event, but the rollout was overshadowed by the launch of Sputnik the same day. The first Arrow flew on March 25, 1958, and aircraft demonstrated excellent handling throughout the flight envelope. The aircraft went supersonic on its third flight and, on its seventh, broke 1,000 mph at 50,000 feet while climbing and still accelerating. A top speed of Mach 1.98 was eventually reached at three-quarters’ throttle, even with the lower-powered engines.
No major problems were encountered during the testing phase, though two crash landings occurred when the very long landing gear wasn’t properly aligned.
But even before its rollout, the demise of the Arrow had begun. In June 1957, a progressive conservative government under John Diefenbaker came into power in Canada. In August 1957, this government signed the North American Air Defense Agreement with the United States, which required the subordination of the Canadian Air Defence Command to the U.S. AF command and control.
The United States wanted to integrate Canadian air defense into the American SAGE system, which used nuclear armed Bomarc surface to air missiles, so there was pressure to cancel the Arrow and buy Bomarcs to be fired from two bases in Canada – one in Northern Quebec and the other near North Bay in Ontario.
Finally, on Feb. 20, known as “Black Friday,” the project was cancelled. Within two months of the project cancellation, all aircraft, engines, production tooling and technical data were ordered scrapped. The rushed destruction incited a number of conspiracy theories blaming the Americans but, at least partially, it was because a Soviet mole had infiltrated Avro and provided the Soviets data they used to produce the MiG-25 Foxbat.
The cancellation of the Arrow was very controversial. It was the biggest research and development project in Canada and the cancellation resulted in the biggest layoffs in Canadian history. It was estimated that about 80 percent of Avro Canada’s jobs were lost with the cancellation of the Arrow project and it permanently damaged the Canadian aerospace industry. A large number of engineers from Avro left Canada and went to NASA’s Space Task Group to become lead engineers in NASA’s manned space programs – projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.
This “brain drain” and the later purchase of American fighters for the RCAF generated conspiracy theories centered on American interference with the Arrow program. In 1997, the Canadian Broadcast Company broadcasted a two-part mini-series, “The Arrow,” roughly based on this idea. It was extremely popular but was a docudrama rather than an accurate history.
In fact, the magnificent-looking Arrow was a great accomplishment for Avro Canada and the Canadian Aircraft industry but it was also a “white elephant.” Had the project continued there would almost certainly have been huge cost overruns on the weapons systems and new engines.
More importantly, the threat it was meant to counter, the Soviet manned bomber, never truly materialized, as the Soviets moved on to intercontinental ballistic missiles to deliver nuclear weapons.
Since the Arrow had no ground attack or dogfighting capability it would have been useless for normal fighter missions, and production would have been an extraordinarily expensive and a wasteful effort for a country with a small defense budget.
(Dr. Michel is currently deployed downrange)
