‘Secret’ Avro Arrow test model found in Lake Ontario

Booster rocket debris narrowed search area

TORON TO • A somewhat beaten-up test model used in the development of Canada’s much vaunted but secretive Avro Arrow fighter jet has been found upside down and covered in zebra mussels on the bottom of Lake Ontario, search expedition leaders announced Friday.

The tantalizing discovery of the model, between 30 and 60 metres under water, is the first such find since the federal government killed the Arrow program in 1959, sparking a bitter debate about the demise of what was once considered one of the most advanced combat jets in the world.

“It wasn’t just about finding something lost: For generations, the Arrow story has fascinated many of us and has become something dear to many Canadians,” said John Burzynski, CEO of Osisko Mining and expedition leader. “It lingers in the Canadian psyche as to what this could have been.”

The find is especially significant because the aircraft themselves, along with almost everything associated with them, were ordered destroyed when the program was scrapped.

“This was all a secret program that nobody knew was going on when it was going on,” Burzynski said. “Unfortunately, a lot of the records are partial and spotty.”

Explorers with the OEX Recovery Group spent two weeks spread out over the last several months searching for the free- flight models, used in final design testing of the Arrow off Point Petre, south of Belleville, Ont., between 1955 and 1957.

Using a remote operated vehicle and sonar, OEX found booster rockets used to launch the models, enabling them to narrow the search area. Explorers believe the found Arrow freeflight model — one of nine believed to be in the lake — is one of the later versions.

Photographs and video indicate the nose was bent or damaged on impact, said David Shea, with Kraken Sonar Systems. However, one of the characteristic delta wings of the one-eighth scale model — about three metres long by two metres wide — is fully intact, and some of the paint appears to have survived, he said.

The plan now, besides searching for the other eight submerged models, is to get divers down to remove some of the mussels and inspect the find as part of plans to bring it to the surface.

Expedition archeologist, Scarlett Janusas, said recovery will be delicate. The plan is to excavate around the model and build a cradle to get it to the surface, where it will be put in a container and kept wet. It will then require cleaning and stabilizing to ready it for display, either in the Canada Aviation Space Museum in Ottawa or National Air Force Museum in Trenton, Ont.

The program to develop and build Canada’s first supersonic interceptor was aimed at countering potential Soviet bomber attacks.

The reason the Conservative government of thenprime minister John Diefenbaker cancelled the Arrow — as attention turned toward defending against the emerging threat of an intercontinental missile strike — has been the subject of years of speculation. Many who worked on the program headed to the U. S., ending Canada’s military jet development ambitions.

Burzynski refused to wade into the debate around the wisdom of a decision. But one thing, he said, is certain:

“The Russians did not sneak into Lake Ontario and pick up the models back in the ’ 50s like a lot of people thought they did.”

FOR GENERATIONS, THE ARROW STORY HAS FASCINATED MANY OF US. — JOHN BURZYNSKI, OEX RECOVERY GROUP