By Charmion Chaplin-Thomas

January 19, 1950

Just in time for lunch, Air Marshal Wilf Curtis, the Chief of the Air Staff, arrives at the Avro Aircraft factory in Malton, Ontario, with Defence Minister Brooke Claxton and a large entourage to see the company’s new prototype make its maiden flight. Squadron Leader Bill Waterton, the test pilot, is an old hand at these festive but tense occasions, so he spent the morning being unavailable—he went flying in one of the company’s old Anson trainers—and is lunching as inconspicuously as possible in the airport coffee shop. Everyone is both excited and apprehensive, for this prototype could be the beginning of great things not only for A.V. Roe Canada but also for the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Officially designated the CF-100, the new aircraft is a big, two-seat, twin-engine all-weather jet fighter designed by Edgar Atkin and John Frost, two of greatest stars of British aviation, to replace the De Havilland Vampire and, eventually, the F-86 Sabre. Painted black with a white lightning bolt along each side of the fuselage, the prototype is coded FB-D and bears the tail number 18101. It is the first jet fighter designed and built in Canada, and it is intended for both cold, sparsely populated Canada and wet, cloudy Europe. To ensure that the initial trials go well, Avro Canada sent to England to borrow S/L Waterton (a native of Camrose, Alberta) from the Gloster Aircraft Company, where he was involved in developing the first non-German jet fighter, the Meteor. He arrived in Malton before Christmas, and began taxi trials with the CF-100 on January 17.

The weather is ideal for flying: cold and sunny, with the wind blowing almost straight down the runway. As take-off time approaches, everyone on the airport somehow finds a reason to be outside with a good view, and so many cars are parked outside the perimeter fence that the highway is blocked. The aircraft looks quite unlike anything the Malton crowd has ever seen, perched on its tall, stalky undercarriage and poking its nose out between huge air intakes, but S/L Waterton likes it—the shape tells him the design is based on thorough wind-tunnel research. The straight wings are set low, with large fairings between the fuselage and the engine nacelles. The engine on the production model will be the Avro Orenda 8, but 18101 has Rolls-Royce Avons. It is designed to achieve a maximum speed of 650 miles per hour with a ceiling of 54 000 feet and an impressive range of 2 000 miles.

After a double cockpit check, S/L Waterton runs the engines up, taxis to the end of the runway and releases the brakes. The CF-100 leaps forward with tremendous acceleration, lifting off the runway within 550 yards. S/L Waterton throttles it back to 130 knots and takes it up to 500 feet. Forty minutes of delightfully uneventful flying uses up two thirds of his small fuel load, and he brings it in gently, touching down at 100 miles per hour and stopping easily with only a 450-yard landing run.

S/L Waterton takes 18101 up again on January 25 to test low-speed and stalling characteristics. The third flight a few days later includes a fly-by at 430 knots with rolls and tight turns that literally bends the aircraft. Redesigning the central section of the main spar keeps 18101 at low speeds for a month, but in March it is ready to fly for Governor General Viscount Alexander of Tunis.

The CF-100 Canuck goes into service at RCAF Station North Bay in 1952, and Avro Canada builds 692 of them between 1952 and 1958. They eventually fly with 13 RCAF all-weather fighter squadrons-nine in Canada and four in Europe—and 53 Canucks are exported to Belgium. Its short-field performance, long range, outstanding all-weather capabilities make it a valuable addition to the NATO and NORAD arsenals, and its sturdy air-frame keeps it serviceable for a very long time—the last Canuck retires in 1981.

Alas, the Canuck never achieves glamour. Everyone calls it the Clunk.

Sources

• Bob Baglow, Canucks Unlimited (Ottawa: Canuck Publications, 1985)
• Ron D. Page, Canuck: CF-100 All-Weather Night Fighter (Erin, Ont.: Boston Mills Press, ca 1982)
• Larry Milberry, The Avro CF-100 (Toronto: CANAV Books, 1981)
• http://www.avroland.ca/al-cf100.shtml
• http://www.constable.ca/canuck.htm