The Way We Were ::: 1946 ::: CANADA

Yep, that’s a CHIPMUNK, created right here, in TORONTO, in 1946.

The MAIDEN FLIGHT of the DHC-1 Chipmunk, "the first indigenous design of the de Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd*", occurred on May 22, 1946 from the runway directly in front of this example, at RCAF Station Downsview, now, Bombardier Aerospace Toronto.

It surely became Prince Philip’s first love. He took his VERY FIRST flying lesson in one in 1952. However, the British Chipmunks lacked the "cool" teardrop canopy the Canadian version had, opting for a multi-paneled canopy instead.

Suprisingly, only 217 would be built in Canada.

The Chipmunk design was mass licensed for British production and Great Britain built almost a 1000 “Chippies”! SIXTY-SIX were also licence-manufactured in Portugal by OGMA (Oficinas Gerais de Material Aeronáutico, at Alverca).

A total of 1230 Chipmunks were built worldwide.

Approximately 130 still fly today, but now in civilian hands, which is a strong testimony to the aircraft’s continuing popularity.

© * Wikipedia

WE WILL Rebuild You…

…we have the technology.

The MIGHTY LANC is being rebuilt at TAM.

THIS LANC was used by the RCAF to give OPERATIONAL ASSISTANCE to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

The Way We Were ::: 1944 – 1945 ::: CANADA

1944 – 1945 CANADA builds 1,134 De Havilland Mosquito Fighter-Bomber aircraft for the British war effort.

The fuselages were built at the General Motors Plant in Oshawa, Ontario and were shipped to De Havilland of Canada at Downsview, in Toronto. Engine assembly, instruments, radios, radar, fuel systems, engine controls and radio navigation aids were added at Downsview. Test flights of the newly assembled Mosquitos, nicknamed “Mossies” were also conducted there.

All 7, 781 De Havilland MOSQUITO FUSELAGES were built by forming up plywood layers made of 3/8" sheets of Ecuadorean balsawood that were sandwiched between sheets of CANADIAN BIRCH.

Strange BUT True!

MOSQUITOs produced in Toronto had to land, passing over Dufferin Street at car windshield height. A sentry was posted on Dufferin Street to control a manual traffic light that stopped traffic when a “Mossie” came in to land (See my photo of the TAM display above).

The runway was extended in 1944 and Dufferin Street was closed off to accommodate this extension.

A Mosquito IX also holds the record for the most missions flown by an Allied bomber in the Second World War.

Designated LR503, and "F for Freddie", this Mosquito first served with 109 Squadron and later with 105 Squadron. She flew 213 successful operational sorties during the war over occupied Europe.

TWO DAYS after VE DAY she crashed on the 10th of May 1945 at RCAF Station: Calgary (YYC) in Alberta, ironically, during a victory tour.

The Mosquito was doing celebratory high-speed low passes around the airport when it struck a balloon releasing pole that sheared off its port wing and some of the “Mossie” tail.

Both crew were killed, and the accident was attributed to pilot error.

INCIDENTALLY, the USAAF ordered 40 Canadian built Mosquito bombers (B Mk XX version) and all 40 were converted to photo-reconnaissance aircraft and were delivered as F-8s.

Some Downsview De Havilland staff were quite surprised to see these “Mossies” when they rolled out of the factory in American air force (USAAF) markings!

::: MADE IN Toronto. Again!

There’s one thing that I’ve learned about Canadians.

WE HATE losing.

In hockey… or in AVRO Arrows.

I must again lament the loss of the Arrow… because it is in so DEEPLY INGRAINED in the Canadian psyche. In the psyche of Canadians that matter, that is.

NOW CANADIANS, instead of lamenting (with Kleenex in hand) over picture books of a plane that ONCE WAS… it’s not too late to tell the story of the Arrow to your son, this time with the Arrow right behind you!

Where will you find an ARROW?

Well, at the Toronto Aerospace Museum.

Life-size, and in all its’ regalia (day-glo colour scheme) ~

But we’re Canadians, so the story can’t end there!

We need to come full-circle; we need a flying version.

So a 2/3 scale Arrow is being built, right now, in Alberta.

And so, the Arrow WILL TAKE to the skies yet again.

AND A government that tried to erase the Arrow (OUR SYMBOL of advanced technological achievement, and of a “little” country that could) from our Canadian conscience forever, ultimately, failed, In the end.

Yes, THERE WAS an Arrow, there is an Arrow… in fact, damn it… ARROWS are springing up all over the country.

‘nuff said ~


But jus’ so you don’t think the AVRO Arrow was any ole’ plane… here are:

CF-105 AVRO Arrow “FIRSTS and NOTABLES”

• First a/c designed with digital computers being used for both aerodynamic analysis and designing the structural matrix (and a whole lot more).
• First a/c design to have major components machined by CNC (computer numeric control); i.e., from electronic data which controlled the machine.
• First a/c to be developed using an early form of "computational fluid dynamics" with an integrated "lifting body" type of theory rather than the typical (and obsolete) "blade element" theory.
• First a/c to have marginal stability designed into the pitch axis for better maneuverability, speed and altitude performance.
• First a/c to have negative stability designed into the yaw axis to save weight and cut drag, also boosting performance.
• First a/c to fly on an electronic signal from the stick and pedals. i.e., first fly-by-wire a/c.
• First a/c to fly with fly by wire AND artificial feedback (feel). Not even the first F-16's had this.
• First a/c designed to be data-link flyable from the ground.
• First a/c designed with integrated navigation, weapons release, automatic search and track radar, datalink inputs, home-on-jamming, infrared detection, electronic countermeasures and counter-countermeasures operating through a DIGITAL brain.
• First high wing jet fighter that made the entire upper surface a lifting body. The F-15, F-22, Su-27 etc., MiG-29, MiG 25 and others certainly used that idea.
• First sophisticated bleed-bypass system for both intake AND engine/exhaust. Everybody uses that now.
• First by-pass engine design. (all current fighters have by-pass engines).
• First combination of the last two points with an "ejector" nozzle that used the bypass air to create thrust at the exhaust nozzle while also improving intake flow. The F-106 didn't even have a nozzle, just a pipe.
• Use of Titanium for significant portions of the aircraft structure and engine.
• Use of composites (not the first, but they made thoughtful use of them and were researching and engineering new ones).
• Use of a drooped leading edge and aerodynamic "twist" on the wing.
• Use of engines at the rear to allow both a lighter structure and significant payload at the centre of gravity. Everybody copied that.
• Use of a LONG internal weapons bay to allow carriage of specialized, long-range standoff and cruise missiles. (not copied yet really)
• Integration of ground-mapping radar and the radar altimeter plus flight control system to allow a seriousstrike/reconnaissance role. The first to propose an aircraft be equally adept at those roles while being THE air-superiority fighter at the same time. (Few have even tried to copy that, although the F-15E is an interesting exception.)
• First missile armed a/c to have a combat weight thrust to weight ratio approaching 1 to 1. Few have been able to copy that.
• First flying 4,000 psi hydraulic system to allow lighter and smaller components.
• First oxygen-injection re-light system.
• First engine to have only two main bearing assemblies on a two-shaft design.
• First to use a variable stator on a two-shaft engine.
• First use of a trans-sonic first compressor stage on a turbojet engine.
• First "hot-streak" type of afterburner ignition.
• First engine to use only 10 compressor sections in a two-shaft design. (The competition was using 17!!)

The Avro Arrow was one of Canada's finest aviation achievements, even though it never entered service.

© www.AvroArrow.org
© www.globalaircraft.org
© Special Projects In Research

COME and Gone –

THAT’S A WW II vintage de Havilland Mosquito perched on the top of this memorial. Remember that…it’ll be important later!

SO MANY aircraft companies have come and gone…

de Havilland
Avro
Handley-Page
Hawker
Supermarine
Vickers
Fleet
English Electric
Bristol
Hunting
Gloster
Auster
Blackburn
Douglas
Consolidated
McDonnell
Hispano Aviación
Curtis
Stinson
Hughes
And who could forget the Wright Company, of course!!

And the men who made these forgotten planes, have also come…and gone.

BUT SOME have been remembered.

Right here on this very memorial.

For their heroism and their ultimate sacrifice.

IN DEFENCE OF THE EMPIRE…

…some of Canada’s, de Havilland employees, gave their lives between 1939 – 1945. They are forever enshrined here, in front of the main office of BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE (Toronto), the eventual successor to the de Havilland Company of Canada.

No other remnant of the de Havilland era remains today, save this memorial, and the lone, insignia-less, de Havilland sign, which is also found above the main office.

But if you look real close, you’ll see something else, unexpected, unknown…

ONE OF THE de Havillands, themselves, gave his own life alongside that of his employees.

It wasn’t enough just to produce fighter planes for the war effort.

Even more was demanded apparently…

And no family was spared…

And no special preference was accorded him on this memorial plaque either.

And so these men, de Havilland employees, who produced the MOSQUITO FIGHTER PLANE, both in Canada and in the UK…were called additionally, to make that ultimate sacrifice of their lives…to protect the freedoms that we enjoy, and value so much in Canada today.

The Way We Were ::: 1957 ::: CANADA

The ROLL-OUT of the CF-105 Avro Arrow…here again at the Toronto Aerospace Museum in 2006~

AVRO CANADA was "wrapped up" very quickly after PM Diefenbaker cancelled the Arrow interceptor and Iroquois engine programmes. Former Avro employees were sought out immediately, by eager American and British aerospace employers. THESE VERY ex-Avro Canada engineers went on to produce Lougheed, McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing aircraft, the Concorde and then THEY PUT America in space!

Yup…Diefenbaker's irrational posturing (with Crawford Gordon, President of AVRO CANADA in 1959) and final decisive stupidity, set ALL THAT, Canada's first BRAIN DRAIN, in motion.

NEWLY-ELECT Prime Minister Diefenbaker, who preached "a brave new world" as his campaign promise…in the end, completely lacked ANY VISION or bravery whatsoever.

FOREVER TO BE REMEMBERED, as that "small town prairie lawyer" who rose to the occasion, at that defining moment, so drunk with "newfound" power and who so enraged, deliriously and maliciously, demanded an end to our (AVRO CANADA's) momentous cutting-edge, and preeminent aerospace achievements…and We…WE, the slumbering citizens of Canada, just as lost for letting him shamefully end it!

EVERY TIME I think of this needless and HORRENDOUS aviation tragedy, the death of the Arrow interceptor and the Iroquois engine projects, how close we came, I get so mad…DAMN IT…I don't know what to do!!!!!!

You'd think the years would lessen the blow!

Nope.

IF THIS reflective RAGE doesn't still consume you…even now…well then, you just can't be all that Canadian~