FIRST ROLL-OUT: OCTOBER 4, 1957 (SAME DAY AS RUSSIAN SPUTNIK)
FIRST FLIGHT: MARCH 25, 1958 AT 09:51PLACE: MALTON AIRPORT TORONTO ONTARIO CANADA
FIRST PILOT: JAN ZURAKOWSKI
SOUND OF FIRST ARROW TAKING OFF
AIRCRAFT PERFORMANCE
Cruising Speed: 701 mph (1,128 km/h)
Max Speed: 1,524 mph / 2,453 km/h
(MACH 1.98 POTENTIAL MACH 2.5)
Wing Span: 50 ft / 15.2 m Length: 85 ft 6 in (26.1 m)
Height: 21 ft 3 in / 6.5 m
Weight, Empty: 43,960 lb (19,935 kg)
Weight; Gross: 62,431 lb (28,319 kg)
Rate of Climb: 50,000 ft (15,240 m)/4 min 24 sec
Service Ceiling: 58,500 ft (17,830 m)
Range: 528 mi (850 km) Crew: Two;
Power Plant: two Orenda Iroquois axial flow turbojet engines
26,000 lb (11,791 kg) static thrust with afterburnerNUMBER: ELEVEN ARROWS WERE BUILT, FIVE AIRCRAFT WERE COMPLETED — ALL WERE CUT INTO SCRAP
FOUR AERODYNAMIC TEST MODELS ARE STILL BELIEVED TO LIE INTACT AT THE BOTTOM OF LAKE ONTARIO — UNDER ABOUT 60 METERS OF WATER. THESE WERE MOUNTED AND LAUNCHED ON US MADE NIKE ROCKETS (named after the Greek Goddess of victory, not the shoe — that came much later) FROM POINT PETRE, 140 KM FROM KINGSTON ONTARIO
CANCELLATION: FEBRUARY 20, 1959
aka "Black Friday"
SINCE THAT DAY, HISTORIANS AND OTHERS HAVE ARGUED ENDLESSLY OVER WHO WAS REALLY RESPONSIBLE - JOHN DIEFENBAKER, CRAWFORD GORDON, THE US MILITARY, US PRESIDENT DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER...
Cabinet documents show that program cancellation led to the deployment of 56 Bomarc nuclear surface-to-air missiles in North Bay Ontario and at La Macaza Quebec, however this was kept "TOP SECRET" at the time.Subsequently, nuclear-tipped Falcon and Genie air-to-air missiles, as well as Bomarc surface-to-air missiles and naval depth bombs were scattered from Ontario to Newfoundland's Argentia Bay naval facility. The nuclear weapons were controlled by U.S. troops, but Canadian soldiers, pilots and sailors were trained and ready to use them if needed.
Prior to the ARROW the U.S. Strategic Air Command secretly asked Canada for permission to station the non-nuclear components for the Mark IV missile at CFB Goose Bay along with three bombers and two refuelling squadrons. The United States was prepared to quickly provide nuclear
warheads for the missile in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union. Goose Bay was chosen because it was closer to Soviet targets. Fifteen missile assemblies were stored in the woods about four miles from the airfield where 43 bombers were deployed.
History also shows many of the Canadians left unemployed by the trashing of the ARROW program joined NASA and the JPL to help put a man on the moon via the APOLLO Program. In fact it has been argued based on an analysis of the roster of engineers working on the moon-landing mission that the Americans might have lost the "Space Race" to the Russians had it not been for the flood of world-class aerospace engineers from Canada!
(Apollo: The Race to the Moon Charles Murray and Catherine Cox)
