AVRO CANADA "STAT", yes… long before the Concorde, and long before the "Concordski", there was…

The Avro Canada STAT… and there it is above—

And something called a Space Threshold Vehicle. Goodness!

What the hell was that??

PROGRESS lost…
Such a cost…
Give me things,
That don't get lost ~

Sorry, Neil.

These additional remnants of Avro Canada glory (there's always more stuff to look at), all days gone by now, I'm afraid. This VISUAL reflection (graphic) is courtesy of Jim Floyd.

Jim has been the Keeper of the Avroite Kingdom through the decades.

JIM FLOYD was Avro Canada's former Chief Design Engineer. Back in the 50s, Jim received aviation's prestigious Wright Brothers Medal for his groundbreaking work on the Jetliner and became the first non-American to receive it. And like an Old Testament prophet of the past, he sometimes shows up unexpectedly at Avroite, or other notable Canadian aeronautical gatherings. And when he gets his chance to speak, he looks out at the crowded gathering, and he points to us while thundering, reminding us that WE, WE, gave away Avro Canada and all her fine achievements.

And there I am, just as I'm about to pop my World War II souvenir SS cyanide pills, you know, to end it all, Jim bellows, and points at me,

"That's not the answer!"

I look at him. His eyes are fierce and like burning charcoal.

He is cradling a model of of the C-102 Avro Canada Jetliner under his arm.

"But, Jim"…I weakly respond, "There never was an Arrow, all of Diefenbaker's cabinet said so…"

"THERE WAS AN ARROW!!!!!!!! And A JETLINER, and AN AVROCAR, and A CANUCK, AN ORENDA and a AN IROQUOIS… and a whole lot of other things!!!!!!! You have no idea!"

Jim continued,

"YOUNG MAN, get rid of your despair, and throw off your apathy!! THE FUTURE, I repeat, the future is wide open!!!"

And with that, he hurls, hurls, his Jetliner model right at me.

I have no time to move. OR THINK. CLUNK! (no pun intended), the Jetliner hits me square in the forehead! And like being hit by Canadian boxer Eggerton Markus… down. I. Go.

I awake, a day later, in the hospital.

The attending staff tell me I had a seizure, and they can't explain the welt on my forehead.

They attempt to console me and tell me, it probably happened when I fell to the ground. I attempt to correct them. I tell them no, that I was actually hit by an Avro Jetliner.

And like any other no-nothing dummies, this nation turns out in droves, they ask me what's that?

"Well, you know, from Avro Canada. The people that produced the Arrow, produced the Jetliner first. It was the first jet powered airliner in North America, and the second in the world, at the time."

"What", the young doctor scoffs, "Before the Americans?"

"Nurse, 200 cc ----------------------, stat… stat!!"

"Hey, hey…", I respond, just barely conscious, "You know about the STAT?"

NOW! ::: You Know ::..

THE EGG-SHAPED tail of the LANCASTER was designed by the none-other-than, soon to be legendary, Jim Floyd when he was only a designer at A. V. Roe in England.

He worked alongside a Canadian designer…there at A. V. Roe, who kept singing the praises of some far-flung country called Canada.

Jim just couldn't get Canada out of his head.

So it worked.

And finally…Jim had to come over to see this enigma called Canada, for himself.

And there he stayed. He went on to became a Canadian citizen, and oversaw such LEGENDARY PROJECTS as the AVRO C-102 JETLINER and the CF-105 Avro Arrow.

UNBELIEVABLY, the nearsighted Canadian Government eventually scrapped both aircraft.

And the man who fell in love with Canada, was eventually rejected by his newly adopted country!

Ironic.

So back to England he went…where Jim wrapped up his aeronautical career designing the "lowly" BAC-Aerospatiale CONCORDE.

HE DID retire in Canada, and penned a book about his greatest love…the Canadian designed AVRO Jetliner. JIM FLOYD, now in his 90s, was seen recently at the Toronto Aerospace Museum Arrow roll-out this last October.

THANKS JIM for your contribution to Canadian aviation!


(Lancaster photo taken at the CNE during CIAS)

:::::The LAST Hurrah!..::.:

OCTOBER 2, 2004…British Airways CONCORDE (G-BOAG) comes in for its final TO landing.

Yup.

Good-Bye Concorde!

WE SALUTE YOU!!

I. Was. There.

(The CONCORDE is the most recognizable aircraft in the world and for most people SHE IS the symbol of aviation…her very best ambassador, representing all of aviation's hopes and achievements.)