…Re the appearance of service Arrows, the Mk.2 would’ve been the initial service variant, and would have looked very much like the Mk.1s, the main difference being slightly wider jet pipes for the Iroquois engines. Ultimately, no doubt, there would have been changes, probably including external stores (likely under the belly rather than on the wings) replacing the F-106-style pop-open weapons bay…the bay section possibly being remade for photo-recon or ELINT/ECM use. On the drawing board was a Mach 3 version which would probably have appeared in pre-production form around 1965 or so; as designed it featured “petal” intakes closely reminiscent of those on the Republic F-105 Thunderchief but quite a bit larger, and iirc an even bigger vertical fin. It gets called “Arrow 3”, but I’d guess there’d have been a mark or two in between, since such a big machine seems to invite modification for assorted roles beyond the long range interceptor job it was initially designed to do. It would have made a good tactical bomber (a la F-111 or TSR2) or spy plane (RA-5C or SR-71). All that is academic of course. Canadian though I am, even I recognize that we had bitten off more than we could chew with the Arrow program. The concurrent abandonment of the Iroquois engine, though, was an inexcusable gaffe at least equal to the abandonment of the C102 airliner several years earlier.

S.

That “docudrama” was far more drama than docu…but still, it raised interest in the by-then-somewhat-forgotten achievement the Arrow represented. Interestingly the DVD release of “The Arrow” included among its extra features the 1979 CBC documentary “There Never Was An Arrow”, which genuinely was a historical piece; I bought the DVD for that alone, have never watched the drama itself other than when it was first broadcast on TV. There’s some nifty mockup and model work (instead of the CGI that would be exclusively used now), but the story is pretty bent out of shape, and the ending, with Jack Woodman soaring off to parts unknown with the Mk.2 (which never flew in real life), is quite the howler. Truth told the real story is much more dramatic and wrenching. The approximately 80%-scale Arrow mockup completed for the drama is now in a museum in Alberta; a 100% scale mockup is stored in Toronto awaiting the planned revival of the former Downsview museum in a new location. Like TSR2, the CF-105 was absolutely huge…ten feet longer than the Lancasters built in the same plant not that many years before.

The British broadcast date of “The Arrow” concedes with the 55th anniversary of the cancellation of the Arrow program; surely that isn’t a coincidence…someone doing scheduling for this UK network has been doing his or her homework!

Many bits from Arrows survive in sometimes surprising locations, the biggest being with CA&SM (nee CAvM) in Ottawa, being a Mk.2 nose, one each nose and main gear, an Iroquois engine, two Mk.1 outer wing panels, et cetera. The biggest mistake made in cancelling the Arrow program was probably the concurrent abandonment of the Iroquois engine…which could have been a real moneyspinner (think: Iroquois-powered Phantoms…)

S.

Mike–

Quite so…

This is the same Connie a few years earlier than the previous shot, in front of the very aptly-named hotel!

S.

Here’s M2H Hawk Major C-FAUV during one of its very few public showings–during an indoor car show at the 1990 Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. Refurbished to very nice static display condition at the old International Vintage Aircraft shop at Mt.Hope (Hamilton), Ontario, in the late 80s, it belonged–and likely still does–to the private Thomson/Rubin collection at Markham, north of Toronto. They also have the remains of the ex-Hudson’s Bay Company Percival Proctor 6 stored.

S.

BlueNoser–

Yes, Cliff Robertson most certainly did own a Spitfire–ex-COGEA Mk.IX MK923, registered N521R, and beautifully displayed on the northeast-US/eastern Canada circuit by ex-RAF Canadian Spitfire pilot Jerry Billing from the early 70s through the mid 90s. Billing flew out of Windsor, Ontario. Ultimately MK923 was sold to the McCaw brothers in Washington state. It is now displayed statically at the Seattle Museum of Flight. There are some online videos by Dave Cheeseman showing Billing flying MK923 back in the day…

S.

Yes, that’s why I cited that price as “mentioned”. I have no idea whether that’s the real figure..or even anything close. Of course Mr Russell does not need to sell the Hurricane or 109. This same thing happens constantly with vintage cars: for example, one of my two Studebakers was previously owned by a gent who had two of them himself, both of which were constantly, tacitly, for sale, at prices a bit above actual market value. The owner did not need to part with the cars, but if someone offered his price or something near enough, he would. He did eventually sell both–the second one to me at a “firesale” price after it developed a mechanical fault.

In the meantime, the Hurricane and 109 are safe and sound at Niagara South, and both will doubtless reappear on the circuit–sometime, somewhere!

S.

…Oh, and as to the centre section issues with the Hurricane…CWH would not likely operate the aircraft aggressively, so the restrictions would be less important to the museum than to many potential private operators.

If I ever find myself sole winner of one of the bigger LottoMax pots…somebody’ll have to be ferrying a certain Hurricane the few miles northwest from Niagara South to Mt.Hope. I wouldn’t even care I’d overpaid a smidge…

S.