The Avro Arrow

Declassified government records shed additional light on the cancellation and subsequent destruction of the Avro Arrow.


The controversial cancellation of the Avro Arrow — an extraordinary achievement of Canadian military aviation — continues to fire debate today. When the program was scrapped in 1959, all completed aircraft and those awaiting assembly were destroyed, along with tooling and technical information. Was abandoning the program the right decision? Did Canada lose more than it gained?


Brimming with information to fill in gaps in the Arrow’s troubled history, and with an update on the latest search for the scale models launched deliberately into Lake Ontario as part of the test program, The Avro Arrow tackles the outstanding questions head on.