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Navy to search for Avro Arrow scale models
Last Updated Fri, 25 Jun 2004 17:39:53
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/06/25/canada/avrohunt_040625
TORONTO - Two Canadian warships equipped with high-tech scanners and specially trained divers will begin a search of Lake Ontario for nine scale models of the famed Avro Arrow early next month.
Navy spokesperson Mike Bonin admits it will be like looking for a needle in the haystack.
The models, three-metres long with a two-metre wingspan, are exact replicas of the Arrow, the technologically advanced fighter plane developed in Canada in the 1950s that became a national legend.
The scale models were launched on rockets over the lake during the plane's development to provide flight engineers with technical data.
All nine models crashed into the lake, as expected, and sank to depths of up to 244 metres and would now be obscured by decades of silt.
Aviation enthusiasts and conservation groups have been searching for the lost models ever since. In 1999, two of them were located, but the searchers didn't have required permits.
Arrow fans, who believe the jet could have propelled Canada to the forefront of the aviation industry, have mixed emotions about the fact the Canadian military is now taking a lead role.
Author and enthusiast Palmiro Campagna called the navy's search an attempt to right the wrong.
Prime Minister John Diefenbaker abruptly cancelled the Avro program in 1958, citing spiralling costs. More than 14,000 workers were laid off and all Avro Arrow prototypes were destroyed.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Also - From 1999
Avro Arrow model found in Lake Ontario
Last Updated Tue Jun 22 08:49:33 1999
BRIGHTON, ONTARIO - A test model of Canada's most famous aircraft has been discovered on the bottom of Lake Ontario.
The first flight of the Avro Arrow prototype took place on March 25, 1958. Less than a year later, the entire project was scrapped by the Diefenbaker government. Its development was viewed as too costly. The government ordered the prototypes destroyed.
One of the Arrow prototypes in Lake Ontario
Aviation conservation groups such as the Aerospace Heritage Foundation of Canada have been scouring the bottom of Lake Ontario looking for the models ever since.
Dave Gartshore found one of the nine scale models that was fired into the lake some 40 years ago. But a permit is required to search for the Avro models, something Gartshore does not have.
Bob Saunders found a second model a few days after Gartshore. He says a permit should be required for such a search.
"The fact that someone was doing it improperly is a fact the ministry has to address," Saunders says.
Despite his lack of permit, Gartshore feels that he has accomplished something worthy of recognition.
"I feel I do deserve a bit of recognition for finding the first confirmed Avro Arrow model," Gartshore says, "I don't want it. I said all along it's going to the Trenton Museum."
In the eyes of many Canadians like Gartshore, a museum is an ideal location for the models. The Avro Arrow was more than just a plane. It became a symbol of Canadian excellence long after its demise because of its advanced technical innovations.
Nine test models of the fighter jet have endured, and there are seven left to be found on the bottom of Lake Ontario.
Last Updated Fri, 25 Jun 2004 17:39:53
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/06/25/canada/avrohunt_040625
TORONTO - Two Canadian warships equipped with high-tech scanners and specially trained divers will begin a search of Lake Ontario for nine scale models of the famed Avro Arrow early next month.
Navy spokesperson Mike Bonin admits it will be like looking for a needle in the haystack.
The models, three-metres long with a two-metre wingspan, are exact replicas of the Arrow, the technologically advanced fighter plane developed in Canada in the 1950s that became a national legend.
The scale models were launched on rockets over the lake during the plane's development to provide flight engineers with technical data.
All nine models crashed into the lake, as expected, and sank to depths of up to 244 metres and would now be obscured by decades of silt.
Aviation enthusiasts and conservation groups have been searching for the lost models ever since. In 1999, two of them were located, but the searchers didn't have required permits.
Arrow fans, who believe the jet could have propelled Canada to the forefront of the aviation industry, have mixed emotions about the fact the Canadian military is now taking a lead role.
Author and enthusiast Palmiro Campagna called the navy's search an attempt to right the wrong.
Prime Minister John Diefenbaker abruptly cancelled the Avro program in 1958, citing spiralling costs. More than 14,000 workers were laid off and all Avro Arrow prototypes were destroyed.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Also - From 1999
Avro Arrow model found in Lake Ontario
Last Updated Tue Jun 22 08:49:33 1999
BRIGHTON, ONTARIO - A test model of Canada's most famous aircraft has been discovered on the bottom of Lake Ontario.
The first flight of the Avro Arrow prototype took place on March 25, 1958. Less than a year later, the entire project was scrapped by the Diefenbaker government. Its development was viewed as too costly. The government ordered the prototypes destroyed.
One of the Arrow prototypes in Lake Ontario
Aviation conservation groups such as the Aerospace Heritage Foundation of Canada have been scouring the bottom of Lake Ontario looking for the models ever since.
Dave Gartshore found one of the nine scale models that was fired into the lake some 40 years ago. But a permit is required to search for the Avro models, something Gartshore does not have.
Bob Saunders found a second model a few days after Gartshore. He says a permit should be required for such a search.
"The fact that someone was doing it improperly is a fact the ministry has to address," Saunders says.
Despite his lack of permit, Gartshore feels that he has accomplished something worthy of recognition.
"I feel I do deserve a bit of recognition for finding the first confirmed Avro Arrow model," Gartshore says, "I don't want it. I said all along it's going to the Trenton Museum."
In the eyes of many Canadians like Gartshore, a museum is an ideal location for the models. The Avro Arrow was more than just a plane. It became a symbol of Canadian excellence long after its demise because of its advanced technical innovations.
Nine test models of the fighter jet have endured, and there are seven left to be found on the bottom of Lake Ontario.
