First Avro Arrow model raised August 2018 (Photo: Submitted/Raise the Arrow)
It’s a success – the first of the models of Canada’s CF 105 Avro Arrow aircraft of the 1950s has been pulled from the waters of Lake Ontario and brought to CFB Trenton.
The group, Raise the Arrow, found the models in the lake off Point Petre in Prince Edward County. The lifting of the model out of the lake waters was the culmination of a year-long expedition. There were only a few weeks of weather that allowed the expedition crew to do its work in Lake Ontario.
The models were shot off with rockets to test aerodynamics during development of Canada’s new high-tech aircraft of the time, 64 years ago. The Avro Arrow Interceptor aircraft had its first flight on March 25, 1958, and the project was cancelled February 20, 1959.
Raise the Arrow expedition leader John Burzynski tells Quinte News the Royal Canadian Navy Atlantic Fleet dive team assisted with the recovery during the past week.
First Avro Arrow model raised August 2018 (Photo: Submitted/Raise the Arrow)
Burzynski says the Canadian Conservation Institute also helped.
Eventually, the Avro model will go on display in Ottawa.
Announcement by Raise the Arrow of the expedition success: We are pleased to announce that the first historic relic of the Avro Arrow free-flight program has been recovered. It was delivered back to land at CFB Trenton on August 13, 2018 after resting on the bed of Lake Ontario for over 64 years.
This historic discovery appears to be the grandfather to the delta wing design of the Arrow program. It is one of three original free-flight models from the Arrow design program launched into the lake in 1954 as a part of a series of tests to develop the CF 105 Avro Arrow.
The “Raise the Arrow” team is continuing its search work for the remaining Avro Arrow free-flight models in Lake Ontario.
Avro Arrow model on the bottom of Lake Ontario off Point Petre in Prince Edward County (Photo: Submitted/Raise the Arrow)
