SkAoUt
Hullo neighbour.
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2001
- Posts
- 6,294
Ah yes, the CF105 Arrow. The US screwed Canada on that one. The Arrow was a brilliant design, there are rumors of one being hidden away. How likely is that? Pretty low, but someone did try to do it. It was so close to happening that the guy was there with a tug ready to tow it to a secure location in the middle of the night. When he pulled up in the tug, he found the nose wheel had been cut off at the bottom. It really was a national catastrophe on many levels. So many ideas that were far ahead of their time.
As for being the only Canadian aircraft worth mentioning, I have to disagree. The DeHavilland Beaver is still a pretty amazing bird that is still serving faithfully 60 years later. The Otter is somewhat less important, but there are far less of them.
It was just terrible timing. The space race shifted focus for militarization and our prime minister at the time was just as petty as most politicians so that the former liberal govt' program got the axe. Still a brutal decision that the Canadian aviation industry never recovered from (not to mention the 30,000+ people out of work).
Fair point! How could I forget the Beave?!? Lotta beaver out there. Valuable enough to some for complete airframe (everything but the serial #'s) rebuilds. Ensuring that they'll be around for decades to come.