# CF-105 Arrow...



## Lucky13 (Oct 14, 2013)

By 1958 the construction of the AVRO Arrow led to many innovations in the aircraft industry including the following: 
1. First fly-by-wire aircraft, electronic signals fed from the stick and pedals. i.e., . 
2. First aircraft designed with digital computers being used for both aerodynamic analysis and designing the structural matrix (and a whole lot more). 
3. First aircraft design to have major components machined by CNC (computer numeric control); i.e., from electronic data which controlled the machine. 
4. First aircraft to be developed using an early form of "computational fluid dynamics" with an integrated "lifting body" type of theory rather than the typical (and obsolete) "blade element" theory. 
5. First aircraft to have marginal stability designed into the pitch axis for better maneuverability, speed and altitude performance. 
6. First aircraft to have negative stability designed into the yaw axis to save weight and cut drag, also boosting performance. 
7. First aircraft to fly with fly by wire AND artificial feedback (feel). Not even the first F-16's had this. 
8. First aircraft designed to be data-link flyable from the ground. 
9. First aircraft designed with integrated navigation, weapons release, automatic search and track radar, datalink inputs, home-on-jamming, infrared detection, electronic countermeasures and counter-countermeasures operating through a DIGITAL brain. 
10. First high wing jet fighter that made the entire upper surface a lifting body. The F-15, F-22, Su-27 etc., MiG-29, MiG 25 and others certainly used that idea. 
11. First sophisticated bleed-bypass system for both intake AND engine/exhaust. Everybody uses that now. 
12. First by-pass engine design. (all current fighters have by-pass engines). 
13. First combination of the last two points with an "ejector" nozzle that used the bypass air to create thrust at the exhaust nozzle while also improving intake flow. The F-106 didn't even have a nozzle, just a pipe. 
14. First use of Titanium for significant portions of the aircraft structure and engine. 
15. Use of composites (not the first, but they made thoughtful use of them and were researching and engineering new ones). 
16. Use of a drooped leading edge and aerodynamic "twist" on the wing. 
17. Use of engines at the rear to allow both a lighter structure and significant payload at the centre of gravity. Everybody copied that. 
18. First use of a LONG internal weapons bay to allow carriage of specialized, long-range standoff and cruise missiles. (not copied yet really) 
19. Integration of ground-mapping radar and the radar altimeter plus flight control system to allow a seriousstrike/reconnaissance role. The first to propose an aircraft be equally adept at those roles while being THE air-superiority fighter at the same time. (Few have even tried to copy that, although the F-15E is an interesting exception.) 
20. First missile armed aircraft to have a combat weight thrust to weight ratio approaching 1 to 1. Few have been able to copy that. 
21. First flying 4,000 psi hydraulic system to allow lighter and smaller components. 
22. First oxygen-injection re-light system. 
23. First engine to have only two main bearing assemblies on a two-shaft design. 
24. First to use a variable stator on a two-shaft engine. 
25. First use of a trans-sonic first compressor stage on a turbojet engine. 
26. First "hot-streak" type of afterburner ignition. 
27. First engine to use only 10 compressor sections in a two-shaft design. (The competition were using 17!!) 
28. Canada's first supersonic aircraft. 
29. World's first delta winged fighter??

(29)....SAAB 35 first flight was in '55, 20th of October, the CF-105 Arrow was only rolled out on 4 October 1957....almost two years later.






Wonder where Avro Canada would have been today, had they been successful...


----------



## michaelmaltby (Oct 14, 2013)

"Wonder where Avro Canada would have been today, had they been successful...?"

If still existent, heavily, heavily subsidized by the taxpayers ... and competing for "crumbs" no matter how fine the product (Saab). Sad but true IMHO.


----------



## Capt. Vick (Oct 14, 2013)

A beautiful airplane either way...


----------



## FLYBOYJ (Oct 14, 2013)

In it's day the Arrow was groundbreaking but there were other aircraft being developed right behind it that were just as advanced and innovative, (NA F-108, TRS-2). It would have served the interceptor role well but I doubt its worth in an air-to-air role. 

Canada would have definitely held a greater world position in military aircraft manufacturing capability had this aircraft not been cancelled but its economic and social landscape would have been quite different than today.


----------



## R Pope (Oct 14, 2013)

The biggest "Missed Opportunity" was the fact that I was going to join the RCAF and fly the Arrow. I gave up that idea when it was cancelled. Hell, I woulda been running the whole show by now! Think of what Canada lost there.......


----------



## Lucky13 (Oct 14, 2013)

"At the time we laid down the design of the CF-105, there was a somewhat emotional controversy going on in the United States on the relative merits of the delta plan form versus the straight wing for supersonic aircraft... our choice of a tailless delta was based mainly on the compromise of attempting to achieve structural and aero elastic efficiency, with a very thin wing, and yet, at the same time, achieving the large internal fuel capacity required for the specified range."

Designer James C. Floyd.

"The aircraft, at supersonic speeds, was pleasant and easy to fly. During approach and landing, the handling characteristics were considered good ... On my second flight ... the general handling characteristics of the Arrow Mark 1 were much improved ... On my sixth and last flight ... the erratic control in the rolling plane, encountered on the last flight, [was] no longer there ... Excellent progress was being made in the development ... from where I sat the Arrow was performing as predicted and was meeting all guarantees."

Jack Woodman, the only RCAF pilot to fly the Arrow.

I try to find, where I read, that it cost Canada more to get F-101 Voodoo, than had kept going with Arrow....


----------



## michaelmaltby (Oct 14, 2013)

"...Canada would have definitely held a greater world position in military aircraft manufacturing capability had this aircraft not been cancelled but its economic and social landscape would have been quite different than today...."

100%. Spoken by one who has worked in the Canadian military aviation.

The decision cost .... no doubt about it ... it cost pride, ego, hi tech jobs, manufacturing capability etc. but .... it was the _right_ decision from the standpoint of Canada's long-term best interests.

I have written on this forum before that the only way the Arrow could have got into production was if AV Roe had been a _Montreal-based_ company.

The Diefenbaker Government had strong support in Quebec and could not have cancelled a Quebec project ... despite the bad economics of it.

_That_ is the reality of Canada.


----------



## Crimea_River (Oct 14, 2013)

...and therefore we have Bombardier. Amen bro.


----------



## michaelmaltby (Oct 14, 2013)

".....it cost Canada more to get F-101 Voodoo, than had kept going with Arrow...."

I very much sincerely doubt that  ... _that _is the kind of observation that gets made after-the-fact ..... the RCAF acquired the Voodoo's _used_ .... and acquired an operating costs baseline over years. Comparable data for operating the Arrow in the field simply do _not_ exist. Period.


----------



## Snowman (Oct 14, 2013)

Add here the HUD and so on (avionics mainly) and you receive quite a modern fighter. By 90s standards at least.


----------



## vikingBerserker (Oct 14, 2013)

But dam it was a gorgeous plane!


----------



## Lucky13 (Oct 14, 2013)

Just like the.....TSR.2! 8)


----------



## michaelmaltby (Oct 14, 2013)

"...But dam it was a gorgeous plane!"

We're a _gorgeous_ country ...


----------



## Lucky13 (Oct 14, 2013)

Can't argue with you there mate!


----------



## Matt308 (Oct 14, 2013)

Oh Canada!! She is beautiful alright.


----------

