Requiem for a Giant: AV Roe Canada and the Avro Arrow

Gordon C. Shaw is professor emeritus in the Faculty of Administrative
Studies at York University.

This book relates the history of the aircraft builder A.V. Roe Canada,
from its founding in December 1945 to its demise in July 1962. The
company, part of the British Hawker-Siddeley Group, purchased the
Crown-owned aircraft plant near Toronto, in which Hawker-Siddeley had
built Lancaster bombers during World War II. Based on this experience,
A.V. Roe Canada hoped to create a peacetime aircraft industry in Canada.


The company attracted many leading aircraft builders and designers of
the time. It built the successful CF-100 fighters for the RCAF and
started design work on the “Jetliner,” the world’s first
jet-propelled aircraft, and the “Arrow,” a supersonic fighter plane.
The Jetliner made its first official flight in 1949, about 10 years
before any comparable aircraft in the United States. While it was well
received by the industry, the lack of interest on the part of the
Canadian government and Trans Canada Airlines resulted in a dearth of
orders and the termination of the Jetliner project in 1956.

The Arrow, which was intended to intercept Soviet bombers attacking
North America over Canada, proved successful in numerous test flights.
However, as the 1950s progressed, both Canadian and U.S. defence
officials lost interest in aircraft interceptors, having concluded that
Soviet missiles posed a greater threat than bombers. In February 1959,
the Canadian government cancelled the Arrow program. A.V. Roe Canada
responded by discharging 25,000 technical employees, many of whom left
Canada for defence-related jobs in the United States. The company tried
to develop new products, but gave up in 1962.

The author, who argues that the cancellations of the Jetliner and the
Arrow projects were major Canadian government blunders, provides a
detailed account of this history, replete with excellent notes,
bibliography, and index.