53 YEARS AGO TODAY…the Arrow is cancelled…and CANADA returns to Research and Development Obscurity

IN 1959, CANADA WAS on top of the world with aircraft interceptor and jet engine programmes so advanced that the Avro Arrow introduces almost 30 aviation firsts. Simultaneously, the Orenda Iroquois is also on stage, set to be licence-built by Curtis-Wright Inc. of America for a production run of 12,000 jet engines!

In spite of these incredible technological achievements, the Prime Minister of Canada, J.G. Diefenbaker, cancels both cutting edge projects and squanders Canada's chance to retain its technological lead.

Canada would never recover.

The CF-105 Avro Arrow Interceptor program, and the PS-13 Orenda Iroquois Engine program, become the last time CANADA reaches 'for the stars' and contributes seriously to military technological advancement as a NATO member nation.

Awesome photo courtesy of Marc-Andre Valiquette's Destruction of a Dream Volume 3! If you don't have Marc-Andre's four volume series about Avro Canada and the Avro Arrow…what…are you waiting for?!