Just thought I would post this.
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of John Diefenbakers misguided decision to cancel the Avro Arrow, the most advanced long range interceptor of its time.
The Arrow was far ahead of any Nato or Warsaw pact interceptor with a top speed estimated to be Mach 2.0 and a top ceiling of 50,000 feet the Arrow featured many innovations that we see in modern day fighters. With a recessed weapons bay to lower intercept returns and a delta wing designed which guaranteed high stability at high speed, the Arrow was a source of envy by the U.S. Air Force a source of fear by Soviet Bomber pilots, and a source of pride by the Canadian Aviation industry and Royal Canadian Airforce.
It's cancellation marked the beginning of the massive decline of the Canadian Military caused by open hostility towards it by the Canadian Government.
Diefenbacker stupidly believed that the future of Canadian aero defense would be based around long range nuclear anti aircraft Bomarc missile system. Unfortunately the Bomarc concept was as big of a failure as Diefenbakers commitment to the defense of this country during the height of the cold war.
Sadly the death of the Arrow lead to a massive brain drain as the best and brightest of the Avro team ended up working for the U.S. military aircraft industry or the U.S. Airforce or Nasa.
http://www.maverick2.com/arrowmain.htm