Toronto. In the late 1950s as I sat on a runway waiting for takeoff, the pilot announced that we could look out a cabin window and see the famous Avro Arrow about to take off. I was thrilled to see the tiny pointed machine in action. It was a shock when a short time later our Prime Minister, John G Diefenbaker, killed the entire project.
The project and all the models and aircraft were literally taken off the face of the earth. Over the years one story or another would announce the efforts underway to raise an aircraft said to be at the bottom of Lake Ontario.
My good friend George Dunbar suggested the CBC link shown here and the idea of researching a photographer associated with Avro Arrow project. The recent (July 14th) CBC News article raised the question again about finding and raising one of the Arrows but with a greater probability of success using modern technology. Part of the article covered the photographer 83 year old Jack Hurst who first joined the Avro Arrow project when he was 17.
George Dunbar replies, “That Arrow story was interesting, wasn’t it? Although in truth, the Arrows that were tested and rocketed into Lake Ontario were only scale models (3-4 metres in length) used to measure aerodynamic properties. They won’t find a full-size plane in the Lake!
“By the way, my very close friend Eric Jordan and his partner, Paul Stephens, were producers on the CBC four-hour docudrama about the Arrow, made in 1996. Apparently it’s now available on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PMnlnqRex4
“Eric and I both started our film-making careers at IBM.
“They had a full-size replica built for the film. Couldn’t fly of course — it moved on the ground with electric motors on the wheels. I believe it’s been preserved in a Canadian museum somewhere.”
George
