Mounted Police (RCMP) were involved in the hunt for Soviet agents, at least one of whom was actively involved in trying to obtain information on the classified supersonic jet interceptor being built by Avro Canada. Would these people and events play a role in the termination?3
During the Second World War, Britain saw the need to have its Lancaster bomber production augmented by companies in Canada. The National Steel Car plant in Malton, Ontario, was chosen since it was already building aircraft parts for the war effort. In November 1942, this company became a Crown corporation and was renamed Victory Aircraft Limited.
News of superior Lancasters being built by Victory reached Britain. In 1943, Sir Roy Dobson, managing director of A.V. Roe, Manchester, decided to pay a visit, along with Sir Frank Spriggs, managing director of Hawker Siddeley. They were met by a young Canadian, Fred T. Smye, director of aircraft production at Victory, and his superior, Ralph P. Bell, director general, and were escorted on a tour of the existing aircraft companies in Ontario. Scott Young, in his 10-year history of the Canadian A.V. Roe company, recorded the following: “A few days later as the tour of Canadian plants progressed, Fred Smye heard the first hint in conversation that Sir Roy thought Canadians should have their own self-sufficient aircraft industry. From that moment on, Fred Smye never let go of the idea that it could be done.”4
Two years later, Sir Roy reached an agreement with the Honourable Clarence Decatur Howe, an American engineer who had become minister of munitions and supply under the Liberal government of Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent. It was decided that Victory Aircraft would be taken over by Hawker Siddeley on a rental purchase plan, providing the management at Hawker Siddeley agreed. Fred Smye, who had moved on to become assistant general manager of Federal Aircraft, resigned in order to become the first employee of the new company. Unfortunately, before Hawker Siddeley could sign the agreement, the war in Europe ended and all contracts for more aircraft were cancelled. Weeks passed, and Fred Smye finally travelled to England to learn of any developments. On his return, Sir Roy followed. After a series of meetings with Minister C.D. Howe and Victory officials, A.V. Roe Canada was formed. The date was December 1, 1945. Fred Smye was appointed assistant general manager and would become the administrative force behind many of A.V. Roe’s projects.5
In 1946, Turbo-Research Limited, a Crown company engaged in research work in the jet engine field, was acquired by A.V. Roe Canada. On December 2, 1954, it was decided to split A.V. Roe into separate airframe and engine companies. Fred Smye became vice-president and general manager of the aircraft division, renamed Avro Aircraft, and Walter McLachlan was appointed head of Orenda Engines. However, A.V. Roe Canada remained as the overall parent company. Another major company, Canadian Steel Improvements, was soon added to the group, and in September 1955, Canadian Car and Foundry was purchased. In the midst of these acquisitions, the company designed and produced the Orenda, a first-class jet engine; the C-102 Jetliner, which introduced North America to jet transport; and the CF-100, a world-class fighter. Frank Spriggs of Hawker Siddeley would eventually say to the A.V. Roe company, “You have demonstrated beyond question that you can talk with any aircraft or engine design teams in the world,” words that would be echoed by Fred Smye himself over A.V. Roe’s most ambitious project, the CF-105 Avro Arrow.6
Edgar Atkin was transferred from A.V. Roe in the United Kingdom to become Avro Canada’s chief engineer. He and Canadian engineer Jim Chamberlin, Avro’s chief aerodynamicist, began thinking about a replacement for the highly successful CF-100 subsonic fighter. In January 1952, with the departure of Atkin, James C. Floyd, also from the A.V. Roe Company in the United Kingdom, was appointed chief engineer. It was now his task to work with Chamberlin on the concept for the new aircraft, the Arrow. Floyd would eventually describe Chamberlin as “without a doubt the best technical man I have ever had the privilege to be associated with.”7
Floyd had originally come to Canada in February 1946 to work on the C-102 Jetliner. This was a medium-range intercity jet transport, the first of its kind in North America. The story of the Jetliner is well documented in Jim Floyd’s own book on the subject, but a few points are worthy of note here.
The Avro CF-100 over the white cliffs of Dover, England. (Jim Floyd)
Commercial jet transport had not yet made its mark on the world scene and was considered a new technology. Then, on July 27, 1949, the British-designed DH Comet rose a few feet off a runway in England to become the first commercial jet to fly. Only two weeks later, on August 10, 1949, Canada’s Jetliner flew for the first time. Unlike the Comet, the Jetliner flew for more than an hour on its maiden flight, and up to altitudes of 13,000 feet. Floyd would later be awarded the Wright Brothers Medal for this effort, the first time this medal was awarded to an individual from outside the United States.
The Jetliner design was based on simplicity, safety, high speed, comfort, and economy and was able to operate from conventional airports with no special facilities. On April 18, 1950, the Jetliner delivered the first airmail in the world on a run from Toronto to New York in half the time it normally took. In The Avro Story, Jim Floyd wrote:
On arrival in New York we were whisked downtown, flanked by a siren-blasting escort of New York City police, straight through the city to meet the mayor.
The next day the New York press had pictures of the Jetliner flying over the city, with the following caption: “This should give our nation a good healthful kick in its placidity. The fact that our massive but underpopulated good neighbour to the north has a mechanical product that licks anything of ours is just what the doctor ordered for our overdeveloped ego. The Canadian plane’s feat accelerates a process already begun in this nation — a realization that Uncle Sam has no monopoly on genius.”8
The Jetliner broke records with every flight and garnered the interest and admiration of the U.S. military, several airline companies, and Howard Hughes, who owned Trans World Airlines (TWA). Hughes used the Jetliner as his personal plane for several months while he evaluated its characteristics and flight-handling qualities. In Howard Hughes and TWA, Robert Rummel, TWA’s chief engineer, states:
The Jetliner, the first jet transport produced in North America, was an advanced, medium-range, 450-mph plane that first flew an amazing eight years before Boeing’s 707. This extraordinary achievement is all the more remarkable considering that it was the first product of a new company in a country not dominant in the development or construction of aircraft. The design, developed by A.V. Roe Canada (AVRO), was conspicuously ahead of any competitive transport. The programme represented a giant bite for any company to chew in 1946, when the project was undertaken, no matter how extensive its resources or how well qualified the individual participants.9
The president of National Airlines, George T. Baker, was also interested in the Jetliner. According to Rummel, Baker was ready to purchase four aircraft at $1 million each with options for six more. The United States Air Force was prepared to order 20 for military training, and preparations were underway to have an American engine sent to Avro for testing. Howard Hughes also entered into serious negotiations for the manufacture of the Jetliner. However, because of the war in Korea, Minister of Munitions and Supply C.D. Howe had ordered all work to cease in favour of accelerated production of the CF-100 fighter. The Jetliner would not be put into production. Ironically, the CF-100 would go into squadron service in 1953 as the Korean conflict was nearing its end. Was the Korean War the true reason behind the Jetliner termination, especially with orders pending for its purchase and manufacture? In 1956, the revolutionary Jetliner would be ordered reduced to scrap. It would later be reported that no one wanted to buy the Jetliner and that it was of poor design. It is unfortunate that this misinformation surfaced in Canada only. It is even more unfortunate that such a diatribe has been believed. The facts prove otherwise.10
