Two Canadian Legends
Silver Dart
On Feb. 23, 1909, engineer J.A.D. McCurdy piloted the first powered airplane flight by a British subject in the British Empire – and made Canadian history. The plane was called the Silver Dart, designed and built by the Aerial Experiment Association under Alexander Graham Bell, a flight enthusiast since boyhood. The flight took place on the frozen Bras d’Or Lake at Baddeck on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. Before a crowd of astonished onlookers, McCurdy took off and piloted the plane for about half a kilometre along the shoreline before making a smooth landing.
Avro Arrow
“It’s the closest thing Canadian industry has to a love story and a murder mystery. The Avro Arrow, a sleek white jet interceptor developed in Malton, Ontario in the 1950s, could have been many things. It might have become the fastest plane in the world, our best defence against Soviet bombers, the catalyst to propel Canada to the forefront of the aviation industry. Instead, it became a $400-million pile of scrap metal, and the stuff of legends.”
-cbc.ca/archives
In the 1950s, at the height of the Cold War, the Soviets introduction of new long range bombers became a very serious threat to North America. The continent was fearful of a surprise nuclear attack and Canada needed a replacement for the Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck. The Avro Arrow project was implemented in 1953 to design and develop a supersonic all weather interceptor, the CF-105 Avro Arrow. Less than 4 years later, and with great fanfare, this symbol of Canadian excellence was rolled out in Malton, Ontario on October 4, 1957. It’s maiden flight on March 25, 1958 dazzled the engineers, pilots, and spectators with it’s performance. February 20, 1959, less than 3 weeks before the MK2 Arrow was to take flight, became known as Black Friday. The Arrow Program was cancelled and all related materials were ordered destroyed by the Conservative Diefenbaker government nearly fifty years to the day after Alexander Graham Bell and the Aerial Experiment Association flew the Silver Dart for the very first time.
Learn to fold your Avro Arrow paper airplane at the Kids World Area at the Air Show
