The Significance of The Cancellation of The Avro Arrow
Impossible is when something is unachievable, impractical, and hopeless, which is what the Avro Arrow was thought to be. When The Royal Canadian Air Force proposed the idea of a two-place, long range, twin-engine, day and night, all-weather, supersonic interceptor, aviation companies thought it was absurd and many refused to build it. In 1953, A. V. Roe Canada volunteered to build the interceptor to be used as a defense against the newly built, Soviet Union, long range, bomber planes that could fly across the Polar Ice Caps, and attack North America. A. V. Roe Canada named the interceptor the CF-105, which was more commonly referred to as the Avro Arrow, and it was meant to be stationed…show more content… Cancelling the Avro Arrow led people to believe that the government wasn’t doing their duty and protecting the country. In the early 1950’s, politicians became concerned about a possible surprise attack from the Soviet Union so the government started the production of the Avro Arrow, as a countermeasure in case the Soviet Union attacked. If the Avro Arrow program had been finished, it would have put Canada in a good position for defense against the Soviet Union. Previous A. V. Roe Canada employee and Avro Arrow engineer David. D. Ewart had said, “As I say, it was way ahead of its time in many respects, and it had a lot of potential for defending the North American continent, or helping defend.” Due to the Avro Arrow program and all operations being stopped, Canada became more vulnerable to the Soviet Union. One of the reasons that Diefenbaker cancelled the Avro Arrow program was because he thought that all Canada needed was American Bomarc anti-aircraft missiles but they ended up being ineffective, so he cancelled that program within two years as well. Canada had no other options and had to settle for the F-101 Voodoo fighter jets purchased from the U.S. The Royal Canadian Air Force had actually looked at the F-101 Voodoo fighter jets during their original search in the early 1950’s for an aircraft to fit their requirements and they had decided that the F-101 fell short of them. The only plane existing at the time that did meet the requirements was the CF-105 Avro Arrow. When Diefenbaker had all the completed Arrows dissembled, and all technical drawings, models, photographs, and almost all operating manuals destroyed, he destroyed the country’s best chance for protection. The Avro Arrow was so ahead of its time that no plane resembled it or was a match for it. If the program was continued, Canada would have had a