Avro Arrow

Avro arrow T-shirts

So, in 2006 I realized the 50th anniversary of the Avro Arrow was fast approaching and that it might be a great idea to celebrate this and raise some hangar funds for my RV-4 at the same time. I drafted a design and had a graphic artist do the layout for me and then ordered 500 T-shirts from a professional sportswear company using the best quality T-shirts they sold. I decided that to get a headstart on the competition, I'd recognize the official rollout of the Arrow in 1957 as the anniversary rather than the 1st flight and so far, no one ever really called me out on it (although I did get one enthusiast who clearly needs a girlfriend tell me that RL-202 pictured on my shirt did not have the paint scheme I show). At any rate, the first bunch of shirts went quite quickly on ebay but then it slowed down. I think by 2008 I recouped my investment as the anniversary everyone else was marking approached, but I still had more shirts than I was confident I'd ever sell so in December of 2008 I decided I'd still make good use of the shirts by sending 100 of them to the ultra-secret Canadian airbase "Mirage" supporting the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. Of course, donating T-shirts and shipping them to a secret location is not an easy task but with the help of the CF public relations office, I got them there before Christmas. Unfortunately, the Base Commander lost the photo with everyone wearing their Canadian Arrow T-shirt, but he did send me a photo of the entire support team in lieu of afterwards which I proudly display at home.
I still have a handful of these very collectible t-shirts for sale and if you'd like your own, send me your address and for $15 I'll set you up, postage included. My lovely wife models the shirt in photo at left.

Canadian Forces Forward Operating Base "Mirage" in Afghanistan

This is the photo I received from the Canadian forward operating base in Afghanistan. I'm told the T-shirts were a big hit, but due to secrecy concerns, the recipients were not allowed to send me anything but "official" photos from the base.

Original Arrow photo

This is an original photo of the Avro Arrow I bought a number of years ago. It was produced by the promotional department of Avro (stamped on the back as such) and was likely taken somewhere over southwestern Ontario. If you'd like a copy of this photo (even the National Museum in Ottawa doesn't have this particular photo) see my order page.

Failed Signing Bonus

In 2002, my brother and I decided to sell our family machine shop. Fortuitously, another, larger machine shop in the area was more than willing to purchase at our price, and my brother and I began to make plans for what we would each do afterwards. The downside of the deal was that the new owner was run by a rather unsavory character (who would ultimately meet an untimely death by pet tiger) that my dad had always warned me not to do business with. Besides our business, Mr.Big also wanted to hire both my brother and I to help expand his company- I'd never actually been professionally courted before and was flattered and impressed when he suggested that he had plans to purchase a company plane which I would of course be a logical candidate to fly. A few meetings ensued to discuss the benefits of coming to work for him, and during a tour of his plant, he presented me with a commemorative model (and VERY collectible) Avro Arrow (only 5,000 made) He'd actually given it to his right-hand man a year earlier as a gift and didn't blink an eye when he retracted the gift from said associate's desk (much to his surprise, as it was prominently displayed on it) and gave it to me as a gift. It was a very awkward moment at the time and I would probably have discreetly returned it to him at a later date were it not for the fact that the associate also turned out to be a creep too. So i have it today as a nice reminder of a plane that was always my dad's favourite, and of my good fortune that followed when I listened to my dad's advice and politely declined the job.
. I took a job shortly after my visit with Mr.Big with another company called ODG where I'm still happily employed today. The model sells on Ebay for $800US last time I checked.

Hangar 13

No, it's not a secret government hangar (but wouldn't it be cool?)-just a replica done very nicely and housed at the Canadian Air and Space museum in Downsview.

Another Not As Famous Avro

You can find some really cheap, collectible stuff on Ebay-I picked up this original photo of the prototype F-100 Mark 1 fighter by Avro , a Canadian fighter that was, unlike the Arrow, quite successful with almost 700 planes built. The paint scheme on the prototype was all-black, with white lightning stripes down the sides- although it wasn't that fast. One did go supersonic once in a dive but that was probably about as good an idea as aerobatics in my RV-4.

Where is it Now?

This is an F-100 that used to sit outside of a Canadian Legion close to my old home by Strathroy somewhere but I don't recall if it was out by Mt.Brydges or Melbourne. Anyhow, it was removed several years ago for a retrofit to restore it to it's former glory for museum display but I don't know whatever happened to it-maybe someone can let me know. This photo was taken in the late nineties before it was moved.

Another F-100

I stumbled across this F-100 at the Hamilton Warplane museum recently but am not sure if it's the same one that sat at the legion above-anyone know for sure?

Orenda

This jet engine has been perhaps overshadowed by the development of the Arrow however, the Orenda engine was in it's time one of the finest jet engines produced, most significantly for the F-86 Sabre. It was so good, the American military briefly considered producing a version of it themselves. Orenda engines also powered the F-100.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orenda_Engines