RC Avro Arrow

Four years ago, when I was 9, I became fascinated with the CF-105 Arrow. What made it special to me was that it was built in Canada and it was one of the best aircraft of its time. I would look up pictures, I would build Lego models, and I would dream.

The Avro CF-105 Arrow was designed by Avro-Canada back in 1953. It had a delta wing design, which means that both sides of the wing are equal length. It was hoped it would reach mach-2 (twice the speed of sound) above 50,000 feet. This aircraft was meant to intercept and destroy high- altitude Russian bombers before they could strike. The very first Arrow was released on the same day that Sputnik I was launched into space.

Only a handful of Arrows were built. Production was stopped after the Canadian government said the program was using too much money: it cost $1.1 billion from start to finish.

When the program was cancelled, 25,000 people were put out of work. The planes were all destroyed, and the parts were sold for scrap for 6.5 cents per pound. Only one copy of the Avro Arrow plans still survives today: it was smuggled out of the plant by a gutsy engineer who couldn’t stand to see all the work go to waste.

I didn’t have those plans, and there were no plans on the Flite Test site. However, I had already built a few RC planes from my own designs So I started by looking at photos. Then I drew up some measurements and began building.

In the meantime, my dad ordered me two jet engines, which are small fans - one for the Avro Arrow, and one for my next jet after that. I looked at the size in the description online and thought, that is going to be too big for my plane. I’ll have to start over and scrap what I’ve already built. Kind of like the real Avro Arrow, I guess. I felt bad about wasting the foam core board.

However, Grampa disagreed with me. (We disagree a lot about the best way to build stuff.) He was certain the fan would fit. So we went on with the build while the fans were en route. We used the measurements from our first jet, the Viggin, to figure out whether the fan really would go into the Arrow.

The package of fans arrived after we were finished building and Grampa had painted the plane. I was still sure the fan was too big. Grampa was still sure it wasn’t. So he fiddled around with the fuselage, modifying the ducting tube and the bulkheads to cut the holes for the fan bigger. It fit perfectly. This was one time I was happy to be wrong.

A big challenge during the build had been figuring out the centre of gravity. We couldn’t find any resources to help us pinpoint it. Finally, Grampa said, “Just fly it. If it lands on its nose, we need to move the CG back. If it lands on its tail, we’ll move it forward.”

Finally, on March 20, we were ready to maiden the Arrow. The wind was blowing about 8 knots, which I thought would be OK - if the plane would fly at all.

I was certain the engine was too small. We’d just finished building the Viggin, which weighed more than the Arrow. However, the Viggin’s engine was the same size as the Arrow’s. I was not looking forward to crashing on takeoff, but I was afraid I might.

Didn’t happen. In fact, the Arrow flew beautifully. She has plenty of power, the CG was right on, and I greased the first landing.

The only issue is that this version of the Arrow does not like much wind. The pilot has to work at keeping the plane right side up in anything other than calm conditions.

But it’s fun to fly - way more than the Viggin - and my favourite build to date.

Until next plane!

Here is the link to the first flight video on my YouTube channel. (Please subscribe if you feel like it!!)