:: rawblogXport ::

:: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 ::

Janusz Zurakowski, 89
Globe and Mail Update

Jan Zurakowski, first test pilot of Avro Arrow aircraft, dies at age 89
BARRY'S BAY, Ont. (CP) - Janusz Zurakowski, the first test pilot of the revolutionary Avro Arrow aircraft, has died at age 89 more than four decades after the legendary plane's inaugural flight and its controversial cancellation soon after.
Zurakowski died Monday evening in this eastern Ontario town in Renfrew County's Madawaska Valley after a two-year battle with leukemia, his family said Tuesday.

THE CF-105 AVRO ARROW: 1958-1959
One of the finest achievements in Canadian aviation history, the delta wing Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was never allowed to fulfill its mission. The Arrow weapons platform along with the Iroquois engine was cancelled by the Conservative Diefenbaker government February 20, 1959, less then 3 weeks before the MK2 Arrow was to take flight.

Black Friday
Black Friday, Feb 20th, 1959 was the day of epiphany for the Avro Arrow. At 11:00 a.m., Prime Minister John Diefenbaker announced before the House of Commons the decision, reached behind closed doors, to terminate the Arrow and Iroquois programs.

That day 14,525 workers were to leave the Avro plant unemployed. A small percentage were rehired later, but the vast majority were cast into the job market. The employees at Avro found out pretty quickly that their jobs were on the line when a loudspeaker announced the PM’s decision at 11:20 a.m. They were at first told to keep working until further notice. That came later in the day, after several meetings by the management. All paid employees were to be immediately laid off.

The Avro Arrow: Canada's Broken Dream CBC Archives
Shock. Disbelief. Anger. Despair. These are the reactions of the 14,525 Avro workers who found themselves unemployed en masse on Black Friday. CBC Radio's Bill Beatty is at the plant to witness "a funeral procession" of hundreds of cars, lined up bumper-to-bumper, carrying toolmakers, engineers and office workers from the plant for the last time. Many of them offer Beatty their parting shots.

• Before noon on Feb. 20, 1959, the Department of Defence production told Avro executives that the Arrow and Iroquois programs were cancelled and that all work on the projects must cease that day. At 4:00 p.m. an announcement was made over the plant loudspeaker that all employees were laid off immediately. Later on, a small number of workers were called back to the plant to work on other projects, and a compensation package was offered.

• At the time of the cancellation of the Arrow, Avro was the third-largest corporation in Canada. The Arrow program employed more than 40,000 people at Avro and related suppliers. The Malton and Brampton suburbs of Toronto were hardest hit. About a quarter of Brampton's workers were employed at Avro.

• On Black Friday, chief engineer Robert Lindley asked Avro executives if he could fly the Iroquois-equipped RL-206 just one time, but his request was rejected.

To the horror of Avro employees, an order comes from the Ministry of Defence Production to erase all traces of the Avro Arrow. Complete planes and those in production are chopped into pieces, as are all models, tools and the entire production line. Blueprints, pictures and film are destroyed. The remains of the mighty plane are sold to a Hamilton scrap metal dealer and melted down to make pots and pans.

posted 6:08 PM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

-------------------------------------------