AVRO CF-100 "Canuck" All-weather Interceptor

CF-100s over cloud.
The AVRO CF-100 was Canada's one and only operational aircraft designed and built in Canada. As such it was a national success as it was technically advanced. The CF-100 was a big, twin-engined long-range all-weather fighter. It had a low-set, straight wing, and additional lift was supplied by large fairings between the fuselage and the engine nacelles. It could be dived at supersonic speeds. It was NATO's first all-weather fighter that could patrol European skies day or night, under any weather conditions. Fifty-three were exported to Belgium. A total of 699 were built; the last were retired in 1981.

Technical Details
The Canuck initially flew in 1955. It carried a crew of two. The most numerous variant carried 3300 kW Orenda 11 jet engines. Succeeding variants had increasingly powerful engines. Initially produced Mk. IVs were powered by Orenda 8 powerplants and were known as Mk. IVAs. 137 of the 330 Mk. IVs built fit this category, however, the remaining 193 were powered by Orenda 11s and the last 50 of these to be produced were kept at Avro for later conversion to Mk. Vs. Besides the Mk. IVs remarkable squadron service in Canada and Europe, it made headlines in the English newspapers when it became the first military jet aircraft produced outside England to perform at the Farnborough Air show in 1955. The aircraft was one of three Mk. IVBs that had been sent to England for evaluation at Boscombe Down Test Establishment.

Maximum Speed was 650 mph (1046km/h) with a ceiling of 54,000 ft. (16450m) and an impressive range of 2,000 miles (3,220 km).

The armament consisted of eight 12.7mm guns in a vental pack, or 48 rockets in a similar pack, plus two wing pods with 29 non-guided missiles each. The idea of the rockets being that the CF-100s would get close enough to Soviet bombers that rockets and guns could bring them down. They filled the gap until the Americans could get the Sparrow guided missile developed.



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Image From:
Department of National Defence photo archives, with permission.