The Avro Arrow - Caving In To Political Pressure

STORY BY: Allison Keogh@
YEAR: 1957
LOCATION: Toronto, ON

Allison has a friend in the "astronautical engineering world" who knows a lot about the late 1950s history of the Avro Arrow. He speaks very passionately about the team that they had back then, how well they worked together, and how forward thinking the whole project was. But during the height of the Cold War, Americans put pressure on Canadian politicians to close the project. When the team dispersed, many went to Nasa to work on the space program, but the glory came to the Americans when they landed on the moon. Other went to work on other projects, including the Concorde, which is very similar to the Arrow. Such a cohesive team had to cave under political pressure, and "they were so close". Thanks for sharing, Allison.