Avro Arrow Engineers Built the Milestones of the 20th Century

STORY BY: Ken Ashley
YEAR: 1957
LOCATION: Toronto, ON

Ken gives us a different spin on the Avro Arrow program, which was controversially cancelled by Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker in 1957. What many Canadians don't realize is how the engineering team building it was the most advanced in the world, way ahead of what the British and the Americans were doing. When that team was forced to split up, 1/3 went to build the supersonic Concorde in the U.K. (which looks like a big Avro Arrow), 1/3 went to Seattle to design the 747 for Boeing, and the other 1/3 went down to the Johnson Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. They worked for the Gemini and Apollo programs that eventually landed humans on the moon. All those major milestones of the 20th Century were made possible thanks to Canadian talent, and Canadians always punch above our weight. Thanks for sharing, Ken.