About the collection

Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow

Considered by many to be an important part of Canada's history and an example of Canadian ingenuity, the Avro Arrow (CF-105) has been a controversial subject since its demise in 1959 and remains a topic of discussion to this day. The CF-105, was to be a delta-winged supersonic interceptor capable of stopping high speed, high altitude bombing runs by the Soviet Union into the Canadian Arctic. The announcement that the project had been cancelled came on February 20th, 1959.

The National Research Council – specifically NRC's National Aeronautical Establishment – acted as the scientific/engineering liaison between the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the plane's builders – A.V. Roe Canada, during the project's lifespan (from 1954 to 1959). As engineering/scientific liaisons to the RCAF, the NRC received all technical reports and related documents which it both reviewed and used in the testing of the aircraft.

Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow collection

Dates:

1949-1987

Scope and content:

Original print copies of documents by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) National Aeronautical Establishment (NAE), Avro Canada, subcontractors and others.

Custodial history:

NRC Archives Avro Arrow Fonds

Consisting of technical reports, specifications, working files, correspondence and more from both Avro Canada and the NRC. The archival collection was amassed and declassified by Steve Zan of NAE. Arranged by the NRC Archives in 2019.

The NRC Rare Book Room Collection

The Avro Arrow rare book collection consists of documents produced by Avro Canada and the various companies contracted to develop the CF-105 Arrow. This collection originally belonged to the NAE as they worked as the scientific liaison between Avro Canada and the Royal Canadian Air Force, and has since been transferred to the NRC Rare Book Room.

Digitization:

All materials were scanned from the original documents. The majority of the documents are available for public viewing and downloading. Due to copyright restrictions, a small percentage of the collection (3%) is only available for onsite consultation.

NRC Archives Avro Arrow Fonds: Finding Aid

File list

Folder	File	Description
1	1	“Preliminary Analysis of Flights Nos 1 to 9” A.V. Roe Technical Dept, May 1958
	2	“CF-105 Monthly Performance Report No. 8” A.V. Roe Technical Dept, May 1956
	3	“CF-105 Monthly Performance Report No. 2” A.V. Roe Technical Dept, Nov. 1955
2	4	“Periodic Performance Report no. 15b- Performance of the Arrow 2 with Iroquois Series Production Engines 124” Avro Aircraft Limited Technical Dept, November 1958
	5	“Periodic Performance Report no. 15- Performance of the Arrow 2” Avro Aircraft Limited Technical Dept, November 1958
	6	“Brief Summary of Progress of First Arrow Aircraft 25201” Avro Aircraft Limited, May 1958
	7	“Report on the State of the CF-105 Project in June 1955” A.D. Wood, August 1955
3	8	“Arrow 2 Electrical System” Report No. 72/Systems 11/27” Avro Aircraft Limited Engineering Division, June 1957
	9	“Documents Tabled at the Meeting on 8th May 1958 on the Subject of Structural Integrity of the Arrow” Avro Aircraft Limited, May 1958
4	10	“Arrow Maintenance Instructions, The Use of Pre-Load Indicating (P.L.I.) Washers, Report No. 70/Maint 00/3” June 1958
	11	“Arrow 1- Compliance with Requirements of USAF Military Specification F8785 Handling Qualities of Piloted Airplanes” Avro Aircraft Limited , February 1958
	12	“Structural Tests” A.V. Roe Canada Limited Technical Dept, May 1956
5	13	“Arrow 1 Service Data” Avro Aircraft Limited
6	14	“Some Notes on the Question of Supersonic Fighter Size” R.J. Templin, NAE LM-46
	15	“Assessment of the Performance Characteristics of the Proposed A.V. ROE C-105/1200 All-Weather Supersonic Fighter Aircraft” O.E. Michaelsen, NAE AE-46A, 1953 + “Note on Supersonic Bombers Powered by Turbo-Jets” R.J. Templin, NAE AE-62, 1955
	16	“Assessment of the Performance Characteristics of the Proposed A.V. ROE C-105/1200 All-Weather Supersonic Fighter Aircraft” O.E. Michaelsen, NAE AE-46A, 1953
	17	“Minimum Drag Tests on the C-105 1/80 Scale Model” J.G. Laberge, NAE AE-46b,1955
	18	“Data Obtained During Low-Speed Wind Tunnel Tests of 0.07 Scale C-105 Model (Wing No. 1)” P.J. Pocock, NAE AE-46c, 1955
7	19	“Supersonic Wind Tunnel Tests of the 1/40 Scale Intake Model of the C-105 Aircraft” J.G. Laberge, D.W. Boyer, NAE AE-46d, 1955
	20	“Supersonic Wind Tunnel Tests on the Effects of Engine-Off Operation on Lateral Characteristics of the C-105 Aircraft” J.G. Laberge, D.W. Boyer, NAE AE-46e, 1955
	21	“High-Altitude Performance Data for the C-105 Aircraft” O.E. Michaelsen, NAE AE-46g, 1956
8	22	“Six-Component Super-Sonic Wind Tunnel Tests of a 1/80 Scale Model of the C-105 Aircraft” J.G. Laberge, NAE AE-46h, 1956
9	23	“A Summary of High Speed Wind Tunnel Test Results for the Avro CF-105, And their Effects on Estimated Performance” R.J. Templeton and O.E. Michaelsen, NAE AE-46i, 1957
	24	“AVRO CF-105 Preliminary Vertical Fin Tests” R.L. Warlaw, P.J. Cook, NAE AE-46j, 1957
	25	“Wind Tunnel Investigation of Possible Rudder Flutter on a 1:25 Scale Fin Model of CF-105 at Mach Number of 1.22” K. Orlik-Ruckemann, NAE AE-46K, 1957
	26	“Some Zero-lift Characteristics of a 1/80 Scale Model of the CF-105 Aircraft at Test Mach Number of 1.57.” J.G. Laberge, NAE AE-46l, 1957
	27	“Wind Tunnel Tests of a 0.04 Scale Model of Avro C-105 Vertical Tail at Supersonic Speeds” L.T. Conlin, NAE AE-46N, 1957
	28	“Tests on .04 Scale Fin Model with I.R. Seeker Pod at SuperSonic Speeds” L.T. Conlin, NAE AE-46p, 1958
10	29	“Report of a Visit to the United States to Discuss High-Speed Wind Tunnel Design, March 3 to March 7, 1952” R.J. Templin, J.E. Smith, NAE AE-20c, 1952
	30	“Note on Supersonic Bombers Powered by Turbo Jets” R.J. Templin, NAE AE-62, 1955
	31	“Some Simple Considerations of Wing Camber at High Speeds” R.J. Templin, NAE AE-62a, 1955
11	32	“Note on the Effect of Interceptor Performance on Kill Potential” R.J. Templin, NAE AE-81a, 1956
	33	“Directional Stability Tests at M=1.57 on a 1/80 Scale Model of the Avro C-105 Aircraft with Certain Modifications.” J. Lukasiewicz, J.A. Van Der Bliek, NAE AE-81b, 1957
	34	“Information Supplement to Revised Arrow Program Statement of Work Brochure AD-53 Issue 2”
12	35	“Report on a visit to Pasadena and MoffettField, May 13-21, 1952” J. Lukasiewicz, NAE HSAL-M-1, 1952
	36	“Feasibility of Combustion Processes in Super Sonic Streams” J.C. Vrana, NAE GD-29, 1956
13	37	“The Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Tail- First Delta Wing Configuration at M=1.57” J.A. Van Der Bliek, J.D. Stewart, NAE LR-116, 1954
	38	“The Induced Drag Factor of Highly Swept Delta Wing at Subsonic Speeds” P.J. Pocock, J.R. Westell, NAE LR-105, 1954
14*	39	“C-105 Areas of Interest” 3 pages
	40	“Notes on a meeting to Discuss C-105 Problems at National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics , 1512 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. December 20 and 21, 1954”
	41	“Notes on a Visit to N.A.C.A./Laboratories to Discuss Aerodynamic Problems of CF-105 Aircraft.” (Draft)
	42	“Notes on a Visit to N.A.C.A./Laboratories to Discuss Aerodynamic Problems of CF-105 Aircraft.”
	43	“Notes on the Discussion in Washington of some Aerodynamic Problems of the C-105 Aircraft Project”
	44	“Various graphed drawings” by O.E. Michaelsen, 1956
	45	“NAE Summary of Estimated Supersonic Performance of CF-105”
	46	“Fighter Configuration Study” August/Sept 1955
	47	“RE: Supersonic Fighter Configuration Study” R.J. Templin, 1955
	48	“Supersonic Fighter Configurations” D.C. MacPhail, 1955
	49	“Fighter Project Studys C-105 Data” J. Lukasiewicz, 1955
	50	“Joint Report on RCAF-DRB-NAE Visit to N.A.C.A. Langley Laboratories to Discuss Aerodynamic Problems of Avro Cf-105 Aircraft – 19 November 1954”
	51	“Report on a Visit to Ames Aeronautical Laboratory Moffett Field California to Discuss Aerodynamic Problems of the CF105 Aircraft on the 9 and 10 Dec 1954”
	52	“NAE Summary of Estimated Supersonic Performance of CF-105”
	53	“Preliminary Notes on Specifying a Report by Avro Aircraft Limited on the C-105 Stability Problem”
	54	“Excerpts from AVRO Report #7-0400-05 Issue 18 C-105 With J75 Production Engines. Weight Summary and C.G. Position. Sept 1, 1955”
	55	“Meeting Summary” R.J. Templin
	56	“Various Graphs and Drawings” R.J. Templin, O.E. Michaelson

* This folder contains various correspondence, loose papers, some of which cannot be verified with the current information