Our featured aviation tattoo on Tattoos In Flight today honors a revolutionary aircraft that never truly had the opportunity to take shape — the Avro CF-105 Arrow high-altitude jet interceptor aircraft designed for the Royal Canadian Air Force by Avro Aircraft Limited in Ontario, Canada in the late 1950′s. This tattoo by Canadian tattoo artist Derek Dufresne of Fleshworks Tattoo Studio in Victoria, British Columbia pays tribute to the aircraft that many aviation historians felt could have been the pride of the Canadian aerospace industry.
The 1950′s were a very important decade in the development of modern aviation technology – especially in the development of turbojet aircraft for the military and commercial aviation market. One of the reasons for advancing development of military jet aircraft was the pressure on both sides of the Cold War to develop long range, high-speed bomber aircraft capable of carrying nuclear weapons and all-weather, high altitude interceptor aircraft to protect against the bomber threat. With the Soviet Union threatening Western nations with bomber routing over the Arctic Circle, Canada and the United States were keenly interested in developing interceptors to protect against possible aggression by Soviet bombers. One of the most promising designs that emerged was the powerful, delta-winged Avro CF-105 Arrow project that began in 1953 with initial design and concept testing. The Arrow incorporated many advanced technologies such as a Mach 2.0 capable delta wing, internal weapons stores, and a completely-new powerplant developed specifically for the Arrow… the Orenda PS.13 Iroquois, capable of 30,000 pounds of thrust in afterburner.
The prototype Arrow, RL-201, was rolled out on October 4th, 1957 and the first flight of the aircraft (powered by the J75 engine while the Orenda PS.13 Iroquois was being developed), took place on March 25th, 1958. Less than a year later in February 1959, the Arrow had completed the majority of its flight testing program with five aircraft. Though the test program went surprisingly well and the aircraft was found to only need fine-tuning over the duration, the future for the Arrow was far from bright. On March 31, 1959, the Canadian Cabinet Defence Committee (CDC) abruptly and controversially cancelled the Arrow program due to political pressures — politics considered by many Canadians to this day to be irrational and short-sighted.
As a result, the Avro Arrow, an interceptor that could have been a “game-changer” and an aerospace engineering benchmark for Canada, was ordered to be dismantled. All aircraft were destroyed (save for the nose of one aircraft) and all engines, production tooling and technical data were ordered scrapped as well — due to a perceived threat of a “mole” at Avro. And if the loss of the Arrow program wasn’t enough of a disappointment, nearly 15,000 Avro employees lost their jobs as well as an additional 15,000+ workers from other companies that were part of the supply chain for the anticipated production of the Arrow. The massive downsizing at Avro Aircraft as a result of the cancellation of the Arrow has been considered a major cause of the demise of the company, which eventually ceased operations in 1962 after assets being transferred to Hawker Siddeley Canada.
This excellent tribute tattoo to the legend that could have been the Avro CF-105 Arrow was expertly created by Canadian tattoo artist Derek Dufresne of Fleshworks Tattoo Studio in Victoria, British Columbia.
Please click on the image below for a larger image.
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