Wings of the Free World: What If The Avro Arrow entered service?

[Ming777]

1960
With the 60's arriving, Avro Canada was taking in good business. With the first operational Arrow squadron entering service in the RCAF, they were now looking for more business. By now, the original aircraft were all finished. The RL prototypes were with the company, being used for further evaluation and test flights for potential clients. RC-213 to RC-224 were now with 425 Squadron. These were modified with the rear seat becoming the instructor's position, with further modifications including duplicated flight controls and a periscope for forward vision. RC-225 to RC-236 were standard Mark IIs and were delivered to 410 Squadron. The last four of the RC aircraft were also delivered to 425 squadron, serving as training aircraft for WSOs. Later, RL-209 to RL-212 will be also be delivered to 410 Squadron bringing the squadron to a full 16 plane level.

This was followed by the AQ series. These Arrows were modified with two cavities on the sides of the nose. These were built to accomodate M39 Cannons. AQ-241 to AQ-256 were being delivered to 409 Squadron, the first Western Canadain Arrow squadron, based in RCAF Comox, BC. AQ-257 to AQ-272 were being delivered to 414 Squadron in RCAF North Bay, Ontario.

In January, JASDF representatives arrived at the Malton facility to evaluate the aircraft. A few of the officers flew on the Training aircraft assigned to 425 Squadron. They were stunned by the speed and control response of the plane. The representatives were also informed about the potential of transforming the aircraft into a multirole plane, with plans underway to modify the ground-track radar for offensive purposes. In early February, RSAF officers and, secretly, a number of pilots from the Israelis were around the area, conversing with Avro Canada officials regarding the Arrow and its capabilities. The Israelis were split on buying the Arrow or the smaller, more nimble Mirage IIIs from France.

 

[Andras]

If you look at its history, it was in fact designed as a carrier-based interceptor. It was only after it's introduction into service that the multirole potential of the aircraft was developed. Hence why it has the maneuverability of a flying bathtub.

I'm sorry but this is not correct. The original McDonnell proposal in 1953 was a single seat long-range attack aircraft. The original Navy designation was AH-1 reflecting its attack role in its letter of intent in 1954 for 2 prototypes and one test a/c.

By 1955 however, the Navy and McDonnell agreed to a two seat a/c that had a bigger radar and missile A2A armament, however the now F4H-1 never lost it's a/g capability. While the Navy was impressed with the ability to haul 4-6 Sparrows to radius of 700 miles, the Marines were impressed with the Phantom's ability to haul iron. VMF(AW)-314 & -531 were re-designated from the (All-Weather) to VMFA for Attack (1 Aug 63) after they transitioned to the Phantom.

Early Navy flyers also found the big fighter had the ability to consistently outfight the F106, which lead up to an official fly-off which the Navy fighter won, leading to the adaptation of the F4 by the USAF.

 

[RCAF Brat]

I went to the trouble of looking up the unit insignia of all of the squadrons in your list. Here they are:

No. 409- 16 Arrows, RCAF Comox

No. 410- 16 Arrows, RCAF Uplands, later transferred to RCAF Cold Lake

No. 414- 16 Arrows, RCAF North Bay

No. 416- 16 Arrows, RCAF Chatham

No. 425- 16 Arrows, Operational Training Squadron, RCAF Malton; will later become an operational unit at RCAF Bagotville

No. 428- 16 Arrows, RCAF Uplands

No. 3- 16 Arrows OTU, RCAF Cold Lake/Bagotville, will be standard Training Unit

I couldn't find a squadron insignia for No 3 Sqn. OTL they formed in 1935 and disbanded in 1939 (at the beginning of WWII) Instead, that the OTS is a 400 series squadron, No. 441.

No. 419- 16 Arrows, RCAF Baden-Soellingen

No. 433- 16 Arrows, RCAF Zweibrücken

I got all of the images from RCAF.com. they also got concise histories of all of the units of the Canadian airforce, form post WWI to the present.

 

[Ming777]

Thanks RCAF Brat!!!

IIRC 3 OTU was the transition squadron for the F-101s. The 3 OTU could be the alternate designation for 441 Squadron.

 

[Ming777]

June 12, 1960

For Avro Canada, June 12 marked the day that the CF-105 Arrow became an international success. Impressed by the performance of the test flights, and combined with the fact that in a war, the communists would send bombers to Japan rather than use ICBMs (which would almost certainly be reserved for Western Europe and North America), the need for good interceptors was great. The Americans had just covertly sent hard currency to the Japanese military, to help fund improvements and purchases of American hardware. They were buying 300 F-86F liscence build aircraft and 92 F-86D fighters. however, they also announced a gamble by 48 Avro Arrows (4 from Avro, the rest to be kit-builds by Mitsubishi), to compliment the Korean War-era Sabres. Soon there was an uproar as Avro Canada faced a smear campaign by American Manufacturers, that is until a few Canadian military officials threatened to reveal dirty secrets including possible bribery allegations and other underhand tactics. (this will eventually lead to the discovery of the Lockheed Bribery Scandal)

Despite the controversy, or because of it, Avro Canada was now seen as the David against the mighty American Goliaths, and many came to see Avro Canada as the less politically charged alternative to buying American. Ironically, there were now rumors that both the Saudis and Israelis were seriously considering the purchase of the Arrow, complementing or competing with similar aircraft.

For the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Arrow has been a blessing, but one with a nasty side effect. The amount of money poured out to buy the Arrow left the Air Force strapped for cash. Some of the replacement programs for transports were slowed down, with only a few purchases every year. They also had to put off replacing the venerable Canadair Sabre and even then there may be little money to buy a good performance dog fighter. The only silver lining was that with rumored purchases of the arrows by foreign investors, the final 100 Arrows may have their fly away cost significantly reduced, due to economy of scale. Further, the economy was quite stable, with the economy going rather well.

On August 9, the Avro Arrow set a landmark as a formation of four Arrow Mark IIs (CF-105As) from No. 409 Squadron RCAF, temporarily based in RCAF Cold Lake, intercepted a formation of four Tu-95 Bear bombers around the Arctic Circle. The successful interception of the Soviets by the new Arrows showed that even in the era of the ICBM, bombers were still a threat and the Arrow was more than enough to match it.

By the end of the year, 409 and 414 Squadron have received their Arrows and newly trained pilots. 416 and 428 were to be the next to transition to the Arrow, while several other squadrons were being prepared to transition as well.

By December 31, 1960, 12 RL-series preproduction aircraft, 28 RC-series production Arrows, and 35 AQ-series were completed, with a further 29 AQ-series Planes under construction. There were also 40 BQ-series aircraft under construction, destined for service in Britain. These planes were modified so that the arrow could accept an alternate engine, which was likely as Rolls-Royce was developing the new Spey Turbofan engine. The trubofan was still new technology, but Orenda was looking to see if the Iroquois engines can be built into turbofans.

With a much increased demand, Avro Canada was now planning to expand the Malton facility to handle the orders.

 

[Archibald]

Ah, fine, a testbed Arrow. Very good.

What about speed and height records circa 1958-1961 ?

The height record fell many times between August 1957 - a Canberra reached 21 000 m - and 1961 - a Phantom reached 30 000 m.

As for speed - there was a F-104 that reached Mach 2.15, later F-106 pushed that to mach 2.3 before the Phantom come in, to Mach 2.5 (operation SKYBURNER, circa 1961).

for the sake of comparison, in November 1958 a J-75, ballasted Arrow reached mach 1.96, still accelerating.
About height - less clear, but the thing certainly could flew high. It had massive power and huge win area !

 

[Ming777]

Whoops....Here's a flashback

July 20, 1958

RCAF Station Cold Lake

With flights test continuing for the Orenda Iroquois equipped Arrow RL-206, Avro Canada decided to test the plane to its limits. S/L Janusz Żurakowski was the pilot for this particular test flight with another RCAF pilot as the navigator. This test flight being planned as an attempt to break the world speed record and as such a few representatives from the NACA (which was later dissolved and reformed as NASA by the end of the year) observing the flight.

At 09:27:00 AM MST, RL-206, carrying fuel tanks and recording instruments in the internal weapons bays, took off. The plane responded quickly to S/L Żurakowski's control and the aircraft screamed off the runway. The aircraft started to climb up rapidly; the greater than 1:1 thrust-weight ratio meant that the plane could accelerate in a vertical climb. Since the aircraft was climbing at 40 degrees, the plane was already past the standard cruising speed of the CF-100 Canuck. Two of the older aircraft were trying to track the aircraft, but were soon falling behind.

At around 10,000 meters, Żurakowski started to pitch slightly down, the Arrow climbing at 38 degrees and still accelerating. By this point, the plane was still over the Northwest Territories. the aircraft had climbed up from Cold Lake and over the Yukon-Northwest Territory boundary before slowly yawing for a record attempt across the Northwest Territories. At 9:42:09 AM, the Arrow was more or less level at an angle of 10 degree. At this point the record attempt started.

At 9:45:09 AM, the aircraft was at 13,000 metres, and already racing at 1,253km/h. 3 seconds later, the plane was racing at over 2000 km/h at over 14,300 metres. The aircraft continued to accelerate, with the aircraft still going on without afterburners. At 17,400 meters the airplane was still accelerating. At this point the aircraft went to afterburners.

The aircraft continued to accelerate, all the way until the plane reached 19,900 at a speed of 2,490 km/h. The aircraft was still slowly climbing up, the high altitude meaning that air was thin, perfect for speed record breaking. At 9:57:09, they were at the limit. Both pilots were wearing fully enclosed flight suits and breathing bottled oxygen. The aircraft was at 21,000 meters, at maximum thrust. The plane was racing over Hudson Bay, with the fuel at only 1/4 left.

The aircraft soon started to descend, with the two on board cheering like maniacs, screaming into the intercom. On the ground, the Avro Engineers had been listening and were cheering in jubilation. The NACA people were stunned. The Canucks not only annihilated the old speed record, but also smashed the altitude record.

They were in denial until RL-206, flying on bingo fuel, glided into the airport. For most of the return flight, they had set the engines to idle, with gravity taking them down. Even while diving, the aircraft had enough altitude to glide most of the way to the airport. At 10:12:42 AM, they finally reached RCAF Cold Lake and treated to the granddaddy of all welcomes. Technicians raced out with equipment, hurrying to retrieve the flight data recorders and other instruments for verification, while the two pilots were showered with champagne and water.

At lunch time, the people who were involved in the flight were given a special announcement. The Chief NACA engineer announced that the flight had been verified and the results of the record attempt accurate. RL-206 had reached a true airspeed of Mach 2.55 or around 2708 km/h, at an altitude of an astounding 21,000 meters.

The plane was being moved now to the nearest hangar, allowing engineers to see how the plane coped at such high speed and altitude.

 

[Archibald]

Whoops....Here's a flashback

July 20, 1958

RCAF Station Cold Lake

With flights test continuing for the Orenda Iroquois equipped Arrow RL-206, Avro Canada decided to test the plane to its limits. S/L Janusz Żurakowski was the pilot for this particular test flight with another RCAF pilot as the navigator. This test flight being planned as an attempt to break the world speed record and as such a few representatives from the NACA (which was later dissolved and reformed as NASA by the end of the year) observing the flight.

At 09:27:00 AM MST, RL-206, carrying fuel tanks and recording instruments in the internal weapons bays, took off. The plane responded quickly to S/L Żurakowski's control and the aircraft screamed off the runway. The aircraft started to climb up rapidly; the greater than 1:1 thrust-weight ratio meant that the plane could accelerate in a vertical climb. Since the aircraft was climbing at 40 degrees, the plane was already past the standard cruising speed of the CF-100 Canuck. Two of the older aircraft were trying to track the aircraft, but were soon falling behind.

At around 10,000 meters, Żurakowski started to pitch slightly down, the Arrow climbing at 38 degrees and still accelerating. By this point, the plane was still over the Northwest Territories. the aircraft had climbed up from Cold Lake and over the Yukon-Northwest Territory boundary before slowly yawing for a record attempt across the Northwest Territories. At 9:42:09 AM, the Arrow was more or less level at an angle of 10 degree. At this point the record attempt started.

At 9:45:09 AM, the aircraft was at 13,000 metres, and already racing at Mach 1.28. 3 seconds later, the plane was racing at Mach 1.99 at over 14,300 metres. The aircraft continued to accelerate, with the aircraft still going on without afterburners. At 18,400 metres the airplane was at over Mach 2.52, shattering the previous record. At this point the aircraft went to afterburners.

The aircraft continued to accelerate, all the way until the plane reached 20,900 at a speed of Mach 2.89. The aircraft was still slowly climbing up, the high altitude meaning that air was thin, perfect for speed record breaking. At 9:57:09, they were at the limit. Both pilots were wearing fully enclosed flight suits and breathing bottled oxygen. The aircraft was at 21,298 meters, at the epic speed of Mach 3.04. The plane was racing over Hudson Bay, with the fuel at only 1/4 left.

The aircraft soon started to descend, with the two on board cheering like maniacs, screaming into the intercom. On the ground, the Avro Engineers had been listening and were cheering in jubilation. The NACA people were stunned. The Canucks not only annihilated the old speed record, but also smashed the altitude record.

They were in denial until RL-206, flying on bingo fuel, glided into the airport. For most of the return flight, they had set the engines to idle, with gravity taking them down. Even while diving, the aircraft had enough altitude to glide most of the way to the airport. At 10:12:42 AM, they finally reached RCAF Cold Lake and treated to the granddaddy of all welcomes. Technicians raced out with equipment, hurrying to retrieve the flight data recorders and other instruments for verification, while the two pilots were showered with champagne and water.

At lunch time, the people who were involved in the flight were given a special announcement. The Chief NACA engineer announced that the flight had been verified and the results of the record attempt accurate. RL-206 had reached Mach 3.04 or around 3,724 km/h, at an altitude of an astounding 21,296 meters.

The plane was being moved now to the nearest hangar, allowing engineers to see how the plane coped at such high speed and altitude.

Thumbs up !

 

[Ming777]

Perhaps a bit overkill.

Maybe I should make the record slightly less. 3724 km/h is faster than the current speed record of the SR-71

EDIT:recalculated the airspeed.

 

[Archibald]

Yes, maybe. Mach 2.5 was the targeted speed, and enough to beat the pants of F-104, F-106 and Phantom.

Mach 2.54 sounds good.

For the height record - trajectories are different. Even the X-15 flew different profiles, one for height, one for speed.
For example the historic Mach 6.7 speed record was established at 30 000 m.

Height record ? Perhaps some weeks later, and 90 000 ft should be enough.

 

[Ming777]

Yes, maybe. Mach 2.5 was the targeted speed, and enough to beat the pants of F-104, F-106 and Phantom.

Mach 2.54 sounds good.

For the height record - trajectories are different. Even the X-15 flew different profiles, one for height, one for speed.
For example the historic Mach 6.7 speed record w as established at 30 000 m.

Height record ? Perhaps some weeks later, and 90 000 ft should be enough.

Ill change it to mach 2.55 at 21,296 m. Actually, that is lower than 90,000 ft. so maybe 20,000 m?

 

[Ming777]

Note that the flight need some modifications:

Black paint (similar to the SR-71s)

Modified Iroquois engines, which were almost unserviceable after the flight.

The plane itself was slightly scorched and the nose was almost stripped of all it's paint.
However, That plane will be repaired and put on other tests.
RL-207 is then prepped for a test three weeks later. That flight will see the plane fly at an unprecedented 29,496 meters. The pilots wore specialized airsuits, the predecessor to the space suits of some future space programs.

 

[Archibald]

Eeerhh... you'll need slightly more height to establish a world record. For example the same month (May 1958) The french Trident peaked at 24 000 m, a record that stood a week before an F-104 zoom climbed to 27 000 m.
Hope the metrics are not too confusing !

A feet is 0.304 m.

30 000 ft is 9.5 km, so 90 000 ft is more or less 28.5 km.

 

[Ming777]

1961-
In 1961, More Orders were on the way for Avro Canada. In the first half of the year, the first 32 Arrows bound for the United Kingdom were delivered, piloted by recent RAF graduates of the transition course for the Avro Arrow. More RAF pilots and JASDF Pilots were arriving this year, eager to get on-board the powerful aircraft.

Work on getting planes completed meant that the company was having to hire quite a number of professional welders, electricians and other skilled labour. Engineering programs at various universities even started programs last year to for students interested in working on the ambitious interceptor. Constuction also commenced on creating a second manufacturing facility at Malton, adjacent to the original facility. With better experience in building the aircraft, the assembly time was starting to decrease assembly time per aircraft, with the currently building aircraft all modified to accept the M39 20 mm Revolver Cannon.

News was coming that the United Kingdom was facing the need to cut down on projects, with a special emphasis on the F15.5 interceptor project. The politicians were suggesting that the Arrows were quite capable aircraft themselves and were proving to be worth every pound spent. As well, the United States had already cancelled their answer to the Arrow last year, the F-108 Rapier, despite a momentary desire to catch up to the Canucks and their spectacular Arrows.

Another related news from America proved to be a boon for Avro Canada. Hughes system was currently developing the new weapon and radar suite that was intended for the Rapier, which included the new AIM-47 Falcon missiles. The original plan was for a Republic XF-103 then a Convair B-58 bomber to tests the prototypes, but talks had stalled. Avro Canada was proposing two stripped out Avro Arrows be delivered to Hughes for testing out. Since the cost was much reduced due to the removal of the targeting radar (there was a cheaper navagation radar installed), this was accepted by the end of the year and HL-341 and HL-342 were delivered following an additional 36 aircraft had been delivered to RCAF Squadrons 416 and 428, that of which will get them aircraft staring in december and the rest in the new year. The increase of aircraft production from around 35 to around 50 a year was in no small part to the hardworking assembling crews, the larger Malton facility, and the use of new technology to somewhat shorten the build times.

 

[whatisinaname]

Intresting, subscribed.

Edit: looking forward to the next part.

 

[Ming777]

The second half of the year started with a bombshell. The Royal Saudi Air force suddenly announced on July 7 the purchase of 48 Arrow Mk.2s to complement the RSAF's Hawker Hunters. These were to be delivered starting in 1963 and completed in 1967.

Two weeks later, the fledgling Israeli Air Force announced the ambitious purchase of 60 Avro Arrows, rather than the smaller Mirage IIIs. Although the mirage is smaller and somewhat cheaper, the Arrow was found to be similar to the Mirage in terms of maneuverability and better in all other areas.

At around the same time, the German Luftwaffe was planning to order new planes, and soon, they would make one of the largest orders ever for the Arrow.

With the significant numbers of Avro Arrows produced, the price for the expensive plane fallen from $7 million per plane (would have almost doubled had they not used off-the-shelf radars and missiles) to just $3.5 million per aircraft. Also reducing costs was the prevalence of the Orenda Iroquois engines. Over 300 had been delivered to France for the Mirage IV bomber, and in March, France also ordered twenty additional engines to test on Mirage IIIs.

For the engineers at Avro Canada, the orders were nice to hear, but they were now focused on improving the aircraft even further. The in-service Arrows had a relatively short range. Even on the Iroquois engines, the range for a standard Arrow was a paltry 400 nm. The previous test aircraft had longer range due to filling half the internal bays with fuel tanks, along with external drop tanks that were jettisoned before the historic record flights. The engineers now wanted to build a lighter, more long-ranged Arrow. Temporarily dubbed the Arrow Mark 2A, this aircraft retained the provisions for cannons, but was slightly lighter due to improved structural design and other refinements. This gave the Arrow Mk.2A a range of 710 nm, much better than the baseline Mark IIs. Work on this improvement project concluded in September, 1961. The first batch of the new variant, the CR-series will be assembled next year for No. 441 Squadron, the new training squadron, and No. 419 Squadron, which was deployed in Germany. As well, all remaining Arrows bound for the RAF were reordered as Mk.2A. The JASDF, Saudis, and Israelis will also receive the Mark 2As starting next year.

Note: Later, Avro Canada may or may not implement Canards to improve maneuverability.

 

[PhilKearny]

Um, interesting insignia. Shouldn't the motto actually be "Boni Pari"? (Latin for "Nice Tits.")

 

[whatisinaname]

This is devolping very well.

Also I love the insignia RCAF Brat

 

[Ming777]

1962

With another year, Canada was watching as the US began to send military advisers into the Vietnam War. No. 425 Squadron was handing over its 16 Trainer Arrows to No. 441 Squadron, which was being planned to replace No. 425 as the training squdron for the Avro Arrow. In return, the first 16 Avro CF-105B Arrows (also known as the Mark 2As) were delivered to No. 425 Squadron, which was being converted into an operational squadron based at RCAF Bagotville.

The Mark 2A, in addition to increasing the combat radius, also features larger windows for the navigator, as well as a sheath to cover a slightly smaller air-conditioning unit (note: the A/C unit that was exposed on all the prototypes IOTL). The shorter legged Arrows currently in use by No. 410 Squadron were to be transferred temporarily to 419 Squadron, based in RCAF Baden-Soellingen. No. 414 Squadron, No. 416 Squadron will retain their Arrow Mark 2s; the other two Squadrons required the upgraded aircraft due the the need to cover the Northern Canadian Airspace.

In Addition, two Arrow Mk.2s that were on the Assembly had basic nav radars installed, and completed with anonymous white paint schemes. These two were being delivered to Hughes Aircraft. They will be fitted by Hughes with a new radome and plumbed for the AIM-47 Falcon missile with the associated radar system.

Authors Note:
Avro Canada uses Mark designations to differentiate between aircraft, much like British Aircraft. The RCAF uses its own nomenclature to differentiate.

So....

 

[TheMann]

This is good work, Ming, though I think you are moving kinda fast on the deliveries.

Mach 2.55 and 75-77,000 feet is probably within the Arrow's realm of possibility - a Lightning went to 88,000 feet (God only knows how ), but anything above about 55-60,000 is pushing it for a fighter. Turbofans, which require more air, aren't gonna help that matter, but Mach 2.5 and 77,000 feet is far beyond what bombers in 1960 are capable of - hell, that's U-2 territory on the height front.

The Israelis I would say are only gonna buy the Arrow if they can use it for air defense duties. The Mirage III is a better aircraft for this because its considerably cheaper, but lowering the unit cost (a given considering the RAF, JASDF and RSAF orders) is gonna help and using the Iroquois engine is further good, though Canada might consider allowing the Israelis to license-build variants of it. They will almost certainly see lots of action in 1967 and 1973, and probably over Lebanon in 1982 as well.

As for where to go with the Arrow, I don't think anybody is going to consider it for multi-role uses in 1962, but after 1967 the Israelis will be, and the idea of the Arrow as a strike plane will be quite common by 1970. Canards, new electronics (perhaps Canadian-manufactured ) and perhaps modifications to the wings or external fuel tanks to improve the range. (Conformal fuel tanks might work too, but I doubt many thought of that in the early 70s.)