November 21, 2019

Another Avro Arrow Project Getting Off the Ground

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A full-size replica of the famed Avro CF-105 Arrow will again grace the skies above Malton, Ontario, albeit at an altitude of only a few feet and as a static display. The City of Mississauga, together with the Malton Business Improvement Association (BIA), will solicit donations from businesses and the public, as well as federal grants, to add to its own contributions in order to fund the $3.6 million project.

Paul Coffey Park, already host to the static display of an Avro CF-100 Canuck in its developing Flight Garden, will be the site of what the City is referring to as a sculpture. The Malton BIA will take on the responsibility of organizing the fabrication and installation of the replica, which will be built in situ in the park.

The Arrow was a Canadian-designed supersonic interceptor that never saw production. The project was cancelled by the federal government, led by John Diefenbaker, on February 20, 1959, a move that continues to be controversial to this day. All prototypes and demonstrators, along with tooling and blueprints, were subsequently destroyed.

Meantime, the construction of a 2/3-scale flying model of the Arrow, dubbed the Arrow II, continues at Springbank airport (CYBW) near Calgary, Alberta. That project is led by Calgary’s Avro Museum.