TORONTO — Sonar imagery and underwater video footage confirms a free-flight Avro Arrow model has been discovered on the floor of Lake Ontario.
“We are very pleased and tremendously proud to announce we have discovered the first example of one of the free-flight Arrow models,” says John Burzynski, Raise the Arrow expedition leader and CEO of Osisko Mining. “We hope to have other discoveries as we continue the program, and are now working on planning a recovery of this first Arrow model.”
“The Arrow is an important – and passionate – part of Canada’s aviation and technological history as a reminder of what Canadians are capable of achieving,” he continued.
The aircraft was part of the free-flight Avro Arrow test program conducted at Point Petre between 1955-1957. The models were tested as one of the final steps in finalizing the flight design of the ultimate flying Arrow jet.
“We are so proud of our engineers who helped locate an Arrow free-flight model. Our advanced Canadian ocean technology plays a big part in this story, where our world-class underwater sensors and robotics helped find a piece of Canada’s aviation history,” says Karl Kenny, Kraken’s President and CEO.
“Proper archaeological examination, recording and preservation work is the next order of events with the model,” noted archaeologist Scarlett Janusas. “The model will stay submerged until the biomass, including organic material and zebra mussels, can be removed.”
Any of the free-flight test models that are eventually recovered will be housed at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa and the National Air Force Museum of Canada in Trenton, Ontario.
“The public has always shown a keen interest in the story of the Avro Arrow. We are thrilled to play a role in this partnership to bring the model back to life and to re-engage the public with this important chapter in Canadian aviation history,” said Fern Proulx, Interim President and CEO of Ingenium – Canada’s Museums of Science and Innovation.
OEX Recovery Group, which is leading the Raise the Arrow project, has pledged more than $600,000 to both museums to cover the costs of exhibiting any artifacts the team discovers and recovers.
The museums, in collaboration with the Canadian Conservation Institute, will provide historical information to support the conservation, treatment, and collection of any recovered models or materials.
I have no interest in the technology surrounding the method of location that was dwelled on so much in this story. That’s the stuff of tech geeks. I would like to know how this flying machine/model ended up at the bottom of the lake – when was that? back in the 50s? What’s the back story?
To quote Wikipedia …. (models not full scale planes)
Between 1954 and 1957, nine Avro Arrow models, scaled at one-eighth size or about 3 m (9.8 ft) long, are believed to have been launched, using rockets, over Lake Ontario from Point Petre in Prince Edward County, Ontario as part of the process for testing the hull design. (Two others were launched in Virginia.) They travelled at supersonic speeds as onboard sensors sent data back to shore.
After many attempts to find the models, a new search was started in late July 2017. The Raise the Arrow project was a joint venture by several companies, the Canadian Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Military Institute. A Thunderfish autonomous submarine, equipped with an AquaPix interferometric synthetic aperture sonar, was being used to survey the relevant area of the lake bottom. Any scale models found will be restored and displayed at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa and the National Air Force Museum of Canada in Trenton, Ontario.
In September 2017, the Raise the Arrow project confirmed the discovery of one of the models at the bottom of Lake Ontario.Photos of the aircraft on the lake-bed have been published on the group’s website.
Why was the plane in Lake Ontario? The story is woefully lacking in details like this. Was it intentionally ditched? Did it crash into the sea? What’s the story here?
These are obvious questions that should have been addressed in the story.