AVRO Arrow # RL 201 during the first, 35 min flight over Toronto - pilot Janusz Zurakowski (March 25/1958) (...) Tremendous power is required to fly an aircraft at supersonic speed and the Arrow used as much power as that taken to drive two ocean liners, the size of the Queen Mary. At supersonic speed, airloads on the control surfaces are extremely high and pilot physical strength must be supported by control mechanisms. Those installed on Arrow were strong enough to lift the equivalent of six elephants. The electronic systems in Arrow required eleven miles of wiring and enough vacuum tubes to equip two hundred television sets
The Arrow was a project to provide the R.C.A.F. with a supersonic interceptor to supplement the existing CF-100 long range fighters. It fell foul of the inflexible policies of politicians who were convinced that advanced missile technology had made the manned interceptor redundant. The project was cancelled on 20 February 1959 after the buiding of just five Arrow Mk.1, one unflown Arrow Mk.2 and four almost competed production Mk.2 aircraft.
