farrellj's Journal: Blueprints of Avro Arrow Found!

Any Canadian who knows anything about our Aerospace industry will have heard about the Arrow, which in 1958 had it's first flight, but all too soon the project was shut down, some say due to cost, others due to pressure from the US since it would litterally blow the doors off anything anyone else in the world had. Don't believe me? Well, it had a top speed rating of Mach 1.98 (Maybe more, but it was never tested beyond that). Anyways, here are some specs:

Cruising speed: 701 mph (Mach 1.06)
Max speed: 1,312 mph (Mach 1.98)
Climbing speed(0 to 50 000 feet): 4 minutes 24 seconds
Operating ceiling: 58 500 feet
Interception ceiling: 75 000 feet

It would have comparable to the F-15, but flying a full 15 years before the first flight of the F-15! True, the F-15 would outperform it, but not by much.

The Arrow was also unique because it was the first fly-by-wire aircraft with force-feedback controls using digital computers to control the avionics and fire-control. Remember, this was in 1958.

One of the big bugaboos around the cancelation of the Arrow program was that all of the prototypes were destroyed, as were all of the plans...or so they thought. It seems that a woman in New Brunswick has a some of the blueprints. You can read about it at CTV.COM.

After the cancellation of the project, many of the prime engineers went to work for NASA, where they made a huge contribution to the Gemini and Apollo programs...including the designers of the Gemini space craft, and the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM). Men landed on the moon because of the work of Canadians who worked on the Avro Arrow.

If you are interested in more information about the Avro Arrow, just do we google search, you will turn up lots of info!

ttyl
          Farrell