Arrow Rl 201 on a test flight possibly 1958 over Canada's Niagara Falls. Beautiful and outstandingly fast, it was designed to intercept Russian bombers over the Arctic. (RCAF-DND)

Historic Avro Arrow test model recovered

Postwar intercepter: Conspiracies, myths, legends

An early test model of the legendary Canadian Avro Arrow intercepter, has been brought to the surface from the bottome of Lake Ontario where it had lain for over 60 years.

The first model arrow found last year on the Lake Ontario floor.. The nose of the model is believed to have bent from the high speed impact with the water. Located last year, it was brought to the surface this month (Raise the Arrow Expedition)

The CF-105 Avro (A.V. Roe) Arrow was a plane with outstanding, even previously unheard of potential.

It was in addition, sleek, beautiful, and innovative beyond anything else in its time. And then in 1959, the entire development programme of the Arrow was suddenly and “mysteriously” ended. Not just ended, but brutally so, with already built planes destroyed and even the special jigs and tools ordered destroyed.

This has led to all kinds of conspiracy theories, and myths adding to the known legendary performance and presumed even greater performance with Canadian engines also under development.

During early development, a number of large 1/8 scale models (about 3 metres long)  had been created to test high speed flight characteristics of the designs. The models fitted with sensors and telemetry were attached to rockets and fired out over Lake Ontario..

A  test model in the 1950’s atop a rocket ready to be blasted at supersonic speed over Lake Ontario. This was presumably one of the later models with full design features of the aircraft under development (via Kraken Sonar)

History and aerospace enthusiasts have been searching for them for years. Two were eventually found last year on the lake bed after a search with the latest high tech types of remote vehicles and sonar.

This month, the first model found was brought to the surface with great excitement.

Divers carefully lifted the model from the lake bed onto a platform to be lifted aboard the recovery vessel. (OEX Recovery Group)

It is believed to be one of the earliest of the test models. Other models progressed to exact scale reproductions as designs advanced.

Remnants of the the launch site for the test models can still be found on Google Earth on military property at Point Petre on the shore of Lake Ontario. (Google Earth)

The searcher will continue their work to find and recover as many of the other test models as possible.

The model has been moved to the air force base at Trenton Ontario (Raise the Arrow- Facebook)

YouTube: Avro Arrow: Supersonic Sentinel

<iframe width=”717″ height=”538″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/5ov-uGx7GaY” frameborder=”0″ allow=”autoplay; encrypted-media” allowfullscreen></iframe>

Addional information-sources

Categories: Internet, Science & Technology
Tags: , , , , , ,

Do you want to report an error or a typo? Click here!

For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.