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Updated 17 May 2012

Cabinet Decisions


Over the years it has been stated that a couple of the reasons the then Prime Minister of Canada, the Honourable John Diefinbaker scrapped the Arrow was due to his personal dislike of Gordon Crawford's methods and through pressure from the Americans. 

There may have been some backroom politics going on but the Archives of Canada make for interesting reading over the years of the CF-105 Avro Arrow programme.  I did a search on the Archives using various phrases and the following in chronological order is the development and demise of the Arrow as documented through the Cabinet decisions. Included are decisions on the Arrow, the engines, Bomarc missile, AVRO itself, and others that may have had an impact on the Arrow.

The links will take you to the now declassified image files of the actual minutes of the Cabinet meetings! The images will open in a new browser window.  Close the image window down to return to this page.


Cabinet Item, Date of Meeting (Year/Month/Day), relevant pages from that meeting

1955  1956   1957   1958   1959  1960
1955
Item: Pre-production programme for supersonic fighter aircraft (CF-105) and development of PS-13 engine. 
Meeting Date: 1955/03/08
pg. 13 1955/03/08 page 13, pg. 14 1955/03/08 page 14, pg. 15 1955/03/08 page 15  
(these three pages presently are not found on the National Archives server)
Item: Royal Canadian Air Force; development of CF-105. 
Meeting Date: 1955/03/23 
pg. 19 1955/03/23 page 19, pg. 20 1955/03/23 page 20, pg. 21 1955/03/23 page 21
Item: National Defence; policy on aircraft development; CF-105 programme; improvement of CF-100; procurement of "Sparrow" missile. 
Meeting Date: 1955/12/07 
pg. 11 1955/12/07 page 11, pg. 12 1955/12/07 page 12, pg. 13 1955/12/07 page 13, pg. 14 1955/12/07 page 14, pg. 15 1955/12/07 page 15
1956
No archives reference the Arrow found at the moment
1957
Item: Cabinet Defence Committee; report of Minister of National Defence: a) U.S. Air Force request for tanker base facilities in Canada; b) Improvement to prime radars; CF-105 aircraft programme; d) R.C.N. shipbuilding programme; e) National Aeronautical Establishment; construction of high speed wind tunnel and transfer of National Aeronautical Establishment (Uplands) from National Research Council to Defence Research Board; f) U.K. proposal for the establishment of a "Canada station"; g) Procedure 
Meeting Date: 1957/02/14 
pg. 6 1957/02/14 page 6, pg. 7 1957/02/14 page 7, pg. 8 1957/02/14 page 8, pg. 9 1957/02/14 page 9
Item: A.V. Roe Canada; lay-offs at Avro Aircraft and Orenda Engines. 
Meeting Date: 1957/10/24 
pg. 4 1957/10/24 page 4, pg. 5 1957/10/24 page 5, pg. 6  1957/10/24 page 6
Item: A.V. Roe Canada; lay-offs at Avro and Orenda Engines. 
Meeting Date: 1957/10/25 
pg. 2 1957/10/25 page 2, pg. 3 1957/10/25 page 3, pg. 4 1957/10/25 page 4
Item: Avro-Orenda lay-offs; continuation of the CF-105 programme. 
Meeting Date: 1957/10/29 
pg. 10 1957/10/29 page 10, pg. 11 1957/10/29 page 11, pg. 12 1957/10/29 page 12
1958
Item: Air defence requirements; Astra and Sparrow. 
Meeting Date: 1958/09/22 
pg. 2 1958/09/22 page 2, pg. 3 1958/09/22 page 3
Item: Defence estimates; assumption re decision on Arrow aircraft. 
Meeting Date: 1958/11/25 
pg. 7 1958/11/25 page 7
Item: Statements of Air Marshal Slemon at NORAD headquarters. 
Meeting Date: 1958/11/27 
pg. 8 1958/11/27 page 8, pg. 9 1958/11/27 page 9, pg. 10  1958/11/27 page 10
Item: Statements of Air Marshal Slemon at NORAD Headquarters. 
Meeting Date: 1958/12/02 
pg. 2 1958/12/02 page 2
Item: Air defence requirements; Arrow aircraft. 
Meeting Date: 1958/12/22 
pg. 7 1958/12/22 page 7
Item: CF-105, Arrow, programme - Cancellation 
Meeting Date: 1958/12/31 
pg. 3 1958/12/31 page 3, pg. 4 1958/12/31 page 4
1959
Item: Report on Arrow (CF-105) aircraft programme 
Meeting Date: 1959/01/13 
pg. 8 1959/01/13 page 8, pg. 9 1959/01/13 page 9
Item: Arrow aircraft - Alternative aircraft programme 
Meeting Date: 1959/01/28 
pg. 6 1959/01/28 page 6
Item: Estimates 1959-60 - Possible announcement on the CF-105 Arrow aircraft 
Meeting Date: 1959/02/03 
pg. 4 1959/02/03 page 4, pg. 5 1959/02/03 page 5
Item: CF-105 Arrow programme 
Meeting Date: 1959/02/04 
pg. 3 1959/02/04 page 3, pg. 4 1959/02/04 page 4
Item: CF-105 Arrow programme - Report of Cabinet Defence Committee 
Meeting Date: 1959/02/10 
pg. 2 1959/02/10 page 2, pg. 3 1959/02/10 page 3
Item: Arrow (CF-105) aircraft - Undertaking to pay development costs - Decision to terminate development 
Meeting Date: 1959/02/14 
pg. 3 1959/02/14 page 3, pg. 4 1959/02/14 page 4, pg. 5 1959/02/14 page 5
Item: Arrow (CF-105) aircraft - Report of Cabinet Defence Committee - Decision to terminate Development 
Meeting Date: 1959/02/17 
pg. 4 1959/02/17 page 4, pg. 5 1959/02/17 page 5
Item: Statement on the Arrow 
Meeting Date: 1959/02/19 
pg. 2 1959/02/19 page 2
Item: Arrow (CF-105) - Cancellation of development - Parliamentary tactics 
Meeting Date: 1959/02/23 
pg. 2 1959/02/23 page 2, pg. 3 1959/02/23 page 3, pg. 4 1959/02/23 page 4
Item: Arrow (CF-105) - Statement on continuance of Avro plants in operation - Discussions with company officials 
Meeting Date: 1959/02/27 
pg. 2 1959/02/27 page 2, pg. 3 1959/02/27 page 3, pg. 4 1959/02/27 page 4
Item: Authorization to photograph Arrow aircraft 
Meeting Date: 1959/07/07 
pg. 5 1959/07/07 page 5
Item: Proposal for production by Avro of United States interceptor aircraft 
Meeting Date: 1959/05/14 
pg. 2 1959/05/14 page 2
1960
Item: Replacement aircraft for CF-100 - Press comment 
Meeting Date: 1960/01/29 
pg. 4 1960/01/29 page 4
Item: Improvements in air defence - Replacement aircraft for CF-100 in Canada 
Meeting Date: 1960/02/04 
pg. 2 1960/02/04 page 2, pg. 3 1960/02/04 page 3, pg. 4 1960/02/04 page 4, pg. 5 1960/02/04 page 5
Item: Improvements in air defence - Replacement aircraft for CF-100's in Canada 
Meeting Date: 1960/02/06 
pg. 2 1960/02/06 page 2
 


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