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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1559.PDF
FLIGHT, 25 October 1957 647 ARROW A World-leading Intercepter by Avro Aircraft By THE TECHNICAL EDITOR EARLIER this month Avro Aircraft, Ltd., one ofthe chief member-companies of the HawkerSiddeley Group, conducted a significant cere- mony at their factory at Malton, near Toronto. At tenminutes past three on the afternoon of October 4 the Hon. George R. Pearkes, V.C., Canadian Minister ofNational Defence, pulled a cord which opened wide the large curtain seen in the background to the picture onthe right. Through the opening came a lowly tractor; and behind it appeared the biggest, most powerful,most expensive and potentially the fastest fighter that the world has yet seen—the CF-105 Arrow. We in Britain have nothing like it. Two years ago we cur-tailed the development of a machine which would have begun to approach it—the so-called "thin-wing Javelin"—and havesince relied implicitly on a superb electronic defence environ- ment and relatively small weapons such as the English ElectricP.1B and Thunderbird and the Bristol Bloodhound. Even the U.S.A. has nothing like me Arrow; yet in that country thedevelopment of manned intercepters is by no means dead. North American Aviation hold a development contract from the U.S.Air Force in respect of Weapon System 202A, which enjoys a developmeat priority equalled by only one other U.S.A.F. aero-plane. The vehicle for this weapon system will be the F-108, a chemical-fuel aircraft intended to reach at least Mach 5 (ascarcely credible figure). In the face of such sophisticated defence systems as those ofthe U.S.A. and the NATO countries it may seem surprising that Canada should pour out literally hundreds of millions of dollarsupon the development of an indigenous intercepter for the R.C.A.F. On a recent visit to the Dominion the writer found noshortage of Canadians who are only too eager to point out ways in which this money could be better spent—and not all of themhad a commercial axe to grind. Yet when one really studies the Arrow programme it makes sound sense and gradually materializesas something which may well prove to be a very wise investment. Not only is it the only weapon which can meet the future defencerequirements of the R.C.A.F. but it is also the only aeroplane of any type in the British Commonwealth which can fly at morethan twice the speed of sound; moreover, it can hold its maximum speed indefinitely. Such aeroplanes are going to be of inestimablevalue, and one this year is worth several next year. Considered solely as a weapon system, the chief raison d'etre ofthe Arrow is to be found in the enormous extent of the area which it is designed to defend. Including her numerous waterareas Canada covers no less than 3,737,923 square miles, and is thus much larger than Europe or the U.S.A. During the pastfive years the electronic defence systems of North America have improved out of all recognition, and there exists today a formid-able barrier of long-range radars and fighter bases all controlled from a unified H.Q. in the State of Colorado, U.S.A. Yet this"infrastructure" is of no value unless the means exist to intercept and destroy any raiding bomber which might be encountered.Nothing at present available can do this, unless one is prepared to finance the cost of not merely dozens but hundreds of basesfor such devices as Bloodhound, Bomarc and Nike Hercules. It is a job which calls for a big, long-range, piloted aeroplane, with aflashing performance and all tht tools of the intercepter's trade. It is fitting that the mighty task of producing such a weaponshould fall to Avro Aircraft, since that youthful company was responsible for Canada's first home-defence intercepter (it wasalso the first all-Canadian aeroplane and the Dominion's first jet aeroplane). The prototype of this machine, the CF-100, flewin January 1950. Under the impetus of Avro's dynamic presi- dent, Crawford Gordon Jr., appointed in October 1951, largescale production of the CF-100 started. Only now is this taper- ing off, with more than 600 of the big machines delivered to theR.C.A.F. and a substantial number still on order both for that service and for the Royal Belgian Air Force. There are somewho would denigrate it; yet the success of this all-Canadian aircraft represents a tremendous achievement which has donemuch to instil into Canadians a long-overdue appreciation of their ability to design and build advanced aircraft fully comparablewith those of America, Britain or any other country. This self- confidence must be regarded as a pre-requisite to the successfuldevelopment of the CF-100's successor. Avro began to evaluate project studies for such a successor in1951. It was in September of that year that the company worked three possible studies into a brochure which, to start the ballrolling, was then submitted to the R.C.A.F. in Ottawa. One of the three projects faintly resembled the Gloster Javelin, with twoSapphire 4 engines. This was used by the Canadian air staff as the basis for an Operational Requirement for an all-weather inter-cepter capable of carrying missiles internally and—this was the real challenge—of catching supersonic bombers at high altitude. This O.R. specification was received by Avro in March 1952.To find the optimum configuration to meet it, the company set to work on further designs. All of these employed delta wings(and, unlike the Javelin, no horizontal tail). Only by adopting the delta shape could wing depth be made sufficient to accommodatethe undercarriage and the requisite quantity of fuel; and at the same time it provided ample area for high-altitude manoeuvr-ability and permitted a fairly light and easily made structure. Finally, the Avro team chose two geometrically similar wings,and planned around them two projects, under the company numbers C104/1 and C104/2 (the C103 was a swept version ofthe CF-100). Although both the C104 studies were intended to carry similararmament and to seat a pilot and navigator in tandem—Canada did not subscribe to the doctrine of the single-seat "automatic"intercepter, of the type then sponsored by the U.S.A.F.—they differed markedly in size and, to an even greater degree, in weight.The 104/1 was a design for a single-engined machine in the class of the F-106B, powered by either the Avro T.R.9 (a projectwhich later was developed into the Orenda Iroquois), the Bristol Olympus 3 (a high-rated project intermediate between theOlympus 100 and 200 series) or the Wright J67 (an American development of the Olympus 100 series). It was to have anarmament of both guided (Velvet Glove) and spin-stabilized missiles fired automatically by an advanced electronic system. The104/2 was considerably larger—much bigger even than the Javelin—and was to have had two of whichever of the abovethree powerplants was selected. Both configurations of the C104 were evaluated by the NationalAeronautical Establishment in Ottawa, whose resulting recom- mendations were submitted in October 1952. While agreeingwith Avro that the C104/2 would have higher performance and reliability than would its single-engined competitor, and waspreferable on a number of other counts, the N.A.E. felt that the design as submitted could be refined to reduce weight andincrease all-round performance. This was made particularly necessary owing to a number of changes in the R.C.A.F. require-ment, the most demanding of which was an increase in the specified operational altitude. Accordingly Avro developed animproved configuration under the company designation C105. Compared with the C104/2 the new proposal was more compactand lighter, and promised to meet all the revised requirements admirably. It was submitted to the R.C.A.F. in June 1953.
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