Storms of Controversy. Palmiro Campagna
After a series of meetings with Minister C.D. Howe and Victory officials, A.V. Roe Canada was formed. The date was December 1, 1945. Fred Smye was appointed assistant general manager and would become the administrative force behind many of A.V. Roe’s projects.5
In 1946, Turbo-Research Limited, a Crown company engaged in research work in the jet engine field, was acquired by A.V. Roe Canada. On December 2, 1954, it was decided to split A.V. Roe into separate airframe and engine companies. Fred Smye became vice-president and general manager of the aircraft division, renamed Avro Aircraft, and Walter McLachlan was appointed head of Orenda Engines. However, A.V. Roe Canada remained as the overall parent company. Another major company, Canadian Steel Improvements, was soon added to the group, and in September 1955, Canadian Car and Foundry was purchased. In the midst of these acquisitions, the company designed and produced the Orenda, a first-class jet engine; the C-102 Jetliner, which introduced North America to jet transport; and the CF-100, a world-class fighter. Frank Spriggs of Hawker Siddeley would eventually say to the A.V. Roe company, “You have demonstrated beyond question that you can talk with any aircraft or engine design teams in the world,” words that would be echoed by Fred Smye himself over A.V. Roe’s most ambitious project, the CF-105 Avro Arrow.6
Edgar Atkin was transferred from A.V. Roe in the United Kingdom to become Avro Canada’s chief engineer. He and Canadian engineer Jim Chamberlin, Avro’s chief aerodynamicist, began thinking about a replacement for the highly successful CF-100 subsonic fighter. In January 1952, with the departure of Atkin, James C. Floyd, also from the A.V. Roe Company in the United Kingdom, was appointed chief engineer. It was now his task to work with Chamberlin on the concept for the new aircraft, the Arrow. Floyd would eventually describe Chamberlin as “without a doubt the best technical man I have ever had the privilege to be associated with.”7
Floyd had originally come to Canada in February 1946 to work on the C-102 Jetliner. This was a medium-range intercity jet transport, the first of its kind in North America. The story of the Jetliner is well documented in Jim Floyd’s own book on the subject, but a few points are worthy of note here.
The Avro CF-100 over the white cliffs of Dover, England. (Jim Floyd)
Commercial jet transport had not yet made its mark on the world scene and was considered a new technology. Then, on July 27, 1949, the British-designed DH Comet rose a few feet off a runway in England to become the first commercial jet to fly. Only two weeks later, on August 10, 1949, Canada’s Jetliner flew for the first time. Unlike the Comet, the Jetliner flew for more than an hour on its maiden flight, and up to altitudes of 13,000 feet. Floyd would later be awarded the Wright Brothers Medal for this effort, the first time this medal was awarded to an individual from outside the United States.
The Jetliner design was based on simplicity, safety, high speed, comfort, and economy and was able to operate from conventional airports with no special facilities. On April 18, 1950, the Jetliner delivered the first airmail in the world on a run from Toronto to New York in half the time it normally took. In The Avro Story, Jim Floyd wrote:
On arrival in New York we were whisked downtown, flanked by a siren-blasting escort of New York City police, straight through the city to meet the mayor.
The next day the New York press had pictures of the Jetliner flying over the city, with the following caption: “This should give our nation a good healthful kick in its placidity. The fact that our massive but underpopulated good neighbour to the north has a mechanical product that licks anything of ours is just what the doctor ordered for our overdeveloped ego. The Canadian plane’s feat accelerates a process already begun in this nation — a realization that Uncle Sam has no monopoly on genius.”8
The Jetliner broke records with every flight and garnered the interest and admiration of the U.S. military, several airline companies, and Howard Hughes, who owned Trans World Airlines (TWA). Hughes used the Jetliner as his personal plane for several months while he evaluated its characteristics and flight-handling qualities. In Howard Hughes and TWA, Robert Rummel, TWA’s chief engineer, states:
The Jetliner, the first jet transport produced in North America, was an advanced, medium-range, 450-mph plane that first flew an amazing eight years before Boeing’s 707. This extraordinary achievement is all the more remarkable considering that it was the first product of a new company in a country not dominant in the development or construction of aircraft. The design, developed by A.V. Roe Canada (AVRO), was conspicuously ahead of any competitive transport. The programme represented a giant bite for any company to chew in 1946, when the project was undertaken, no matter how extensive its resources or how well qualified the individual participants.9
The president of National Airlines, George T. Baker, was also interested in the Jetliner. According to Rummel, Baker was ready to purchase four aircraft at $1 million each with options for six more. The United States Air Force was prepared to order 20 for military training, and preparations were underway to have an American engine sent to Avro for testing. Howard Hughes also entered into serious negotiations for the manufacture of the Jetliner. However, because of the war in Korea, Minister of Munitions and Supply C.D. Howe had ordered all work to cease in favour of accelerated production of the CF-100 fighter. The Jetliner would not be put into production. Ironically, the CF-100 would go into squadron service in 1953 as the Korean conflict was nearing its end. Was the Korean War the true reason behind the Jetliner termination, especially with orders pending for its purchase and manufacture? In 1956, the revolutionary Jetliner would be ordered reduced to scrap. It would later be reported that no one wanted to buy the Jetliner and that it was of poor design. It is unfortunate that this misinformation surfaced in Canada only. It is even more unfortunate that such a diatribe has been believed. The facts prove otherwise.10
The Avro Jetliner, the first commercial jet to fly in North America. Terminated and then destroyed in 1956. (Jim Floyd)
In January 1952, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) realized that the CF-100 would eventually have to be replaced. After 1951, an All-Weather Interceptor Requirements Team was assembled to study Canada’s air defence needs and to recommend performance specifications for a new all-weather interceptor aircraft to counter the perceived enemy bomber threat. The team consisted of representatives from the RCAF, the Defence Research Board (DRB), the National Research Council (NRC), and the National Aeronautical Establishment (NAE). (The NAE had been established in December 1950 by the Canadian government as an aeronautical research and development centre administered originally by the NRC.11 )
The final report from this team was published on March 20, 1952, with a summary forwarded to A.V. Roe. Avro responded in June with two brochures entitled “C-104 Supersonic All-Weather Fighters.” They described a single-engine and a twin-engine aircraft, neither of which fully satisfied the required combat performance. Still, on August 25, 1952, the RCAF requested that the NAE analyze these proposals. The NAE reply stated that the twin-engine design came closest to meeting the specifications, and that although weight was excessive, aircraft performance estimates were realistic. It was recommended that further studies be undertaken.12
In March 1953, the RCAF issued Operational Requirement ORI/1-63, “Supersonic All-Weather Interceptor Aircraft,” followed by RCAF Specification Air-7-3, “Design Studies of Prototype Supersonic All-Weather Interceptor Aircraft.” Both were given to Avro with a requirement for design studies for the most efficient aircraft (in terms of size, weight, and cost) that could be developed for the engines that would be available at the time of some future production.13
Avro responded with report No. P/C-105/1, “Design Study of Supersonic All-Weather Interceptor Aircraft,” dated May 1953. It described a series of delta-wing aircraft of varying weights and sizes. It identified the pros and cons, risks and benefits, for each. The report was studied by the RCAF and the DRB, who together concluded that the C-105/1200 — at a weight of 48,400 pounds and having a 1,200-square-foot wing area — would meet the