Wednesday, 28 December 2016

Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow - Possible foreign users

The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was tried to be sold to various foreign countries, among them United Kingdom and the United States of America, however, their national aviation industry was considered as a national interest and they rarely purchased foreign designs.
Anyway, from 1955 onwards, the UK showed some interest on the Arrow for their F.155 program which was expected to enter into service in 1962, however as time passed and it was obvious that the Arrow wouldn't be completed for that year, they focused their attention on interceptor fighters that would be ready for the end of the 1950s. Initially a thin-wing version of the Gloster Javelin was considered together with the short-range interceptor Saunders-Roe SR.177.
During April 1956 the UK's air council recommended the purchase of 144 arrows as an interim for the thin-winged Javelin which would be powered by two Bristol Olympus 7R, two Rolls-Royce Conway Stage 4 or two De Havilland Gyron. The interest became so real that even it was studied the set-up of a production line for the Arrow in the UK, however the 1957 Defence white paper cancelled almost all British manned fighter aircrafts in development back then. In January 1959 UK definitely declined the offer and they offer to sale Canada the English Electric Lightning. We have taken some liberties to imagine an improved Mk.3 version.

Regarding France, they showed interest in the Iroquis engine, in order to fit them in their Dassault Mirage IV bomber, together with another types of engines like the Bristol Olympus. However due to media speculations about the jeopardy of the Arrow being cancelled, the French government cancelled the negotiations in October 1958 and chose their native Snecma Altar. They only showed interest in the Arrow's engine, not in the interceptor as a whole, however we chosen to consider to show the Arrow in French colours for the sake of seeing it under more international colours, because... why not?

The USA, during 1954 had already a supersonic interceptor programme underway, which would eventually lead to the Convair F-106 Delta Dart (which had some similarities with the Arrow). Some of their designs were already better than the Arrow, like the Republic XF-103 or the North American XF-108 however, both of those aircrafts were cancelled as it was obvious that the Soviets were concentrating their efforts on the ICBMs and not in their strategic bombers. This assumption was taken as one of the justifications for the cancellation of the Arrow. In 1958 Avro Canada president promised the USAF a free supply of fire control system and missiles if they allowed the usage of Edwards AFB for free.











Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_CF-105_Arrow#Foreign_interest

3 comments:

  1. Ooooh, any chance of some RAAF versions?

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    Replies
    1. As far as we know, and according to wikipedia, Australia didn't show any interest on this interceptor and Avro Canada didn't try to sell it in the land Down Under.

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