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Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck

History of Avro Canada's CF-100 Canuck

The Avro Canada CF-100 "Canuck" was the first military fighter jet designed, developed and mass produced in Canada. It appeared at the dawn of the jet age in military aviation and added a formidable interception capability to the West.

The new jet enhances Canada's interception response to a Soviet bomber incursion and provides support to NORAD (North American Air Defense Command) for U.S. and NATO forces in Europe. One of the most important success stories of Canadian aviation during the Cold War, the CF-100 was produced in numbers of no less than 692 and served intermittently with Belgian forces abroad until the 1960s.

CF-100 Development

The Canuck stems from the 1946 post-World War II Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) request for an all-weather interceptor to help patrol the cold, unforgiving northern regions. As part of a massive post-war military retreat, Canadians turned to local capabilities in addition to the insurance provided during the war through a partnership with Britain's large Royal Air Force (RAF).

Canada's local aerospace industry has had few successful designs at home, but none have been pushed into acceptance or production -- all of which will change with the XC-100 proposal.

Adopted a two-seater fuselage that combined pilot and navigator in a twin-engine jet layout to provide the necessary powerthe latter a design feature common to all early turbojets. The engine of choice became the British Rolls-Royce Avon RA. Three turbojets with 6,500 lbf of thrust, John "Jack" Frost's XC-100 completed the CF-100 we know today.

Other participants in the scheme are from prominent UK aviation groups such as de Havilland, Hawke Sidley and Gloucester, which helps the scheme continue. The final product became the CF-100 Mk 1, two of which were used for prototype testing missions. The first flight was on January 19, 1950.

CF-100 Tour

Engineers developed a standard aircraft configuration through their CF-100 program. The two-person cockpit sits behind a short nose cone assembly to accommodate a radar kit. The fuselage is long and tubular to accommodate the necessary fuel storage, avionics and internal structures. The wings are midship-mounted straight attachments, each with their own tubular engine nacelles extending forward from the leading edge past the trailing edge of the wing.

This provides good clearance from almost all angles and a good distance from the fuselage and tail. The fin consists of a vertical fin with a central horizontal plane. The tricycle landing gear is fully retractable and provides high ground clearance during ground travel, takeoff and landing.

Keep working

Work on the program continued until the arrival of 10 CF-100 Mk 2 pre-production machines, including two dual-control versions designated Mk 2T as trainers. For the Mk 2, the Avro Orenda turbojet replaced the original British Avons series.

The engine first entered service in 1949 and later powered Canadair CL-13 "Sabre" fighter jets (the Canadian variant of the famous American F-86 family), and total production of these engines eventually reached 4,000 units - giving an abundance of Experience designing, developing and manufacturing turbojet technology for Canadian industry.

Final service variant

The original production-grade all-weather interceptor form became the CF-100 Mk 3, the design now features a set of 8 x .50 caliber heavy machine guns in the belly pack and an APG-33 series interceptor radar in the nose cone . From 1953, 70 examples of the brand were officially put into service. The Mk 3A was powered by Orenda 2 series turbojets and 21 aircraft were produced. The Mk 3B is equipped with Orenda 8 series turbojets, in this form on 45 aircraft.

The single Mk 3 airframe was converted into a dual-control trainer and served as the Mk 3CT until later renamed the Mk 3D.

Back in 1952, a pre-production prototype of the Mk 3 stock was flown for the first time as a variant of the Mk 4. The Mk 4 brings the inherent ability to launch missiles through wingtip pods, and the more powerful APG-40 radar system will be used for this type. The wingtip pods can fire up to 29 "Mighty Mouse" air-to-air missiles (58 total missiles), while retaining these forms of original machine gun armament as a backup. Such is the expansion capability of the Mk 4, the pending order for the original Mk 3 interceptor has been modified to accommodate at least 54 standard Mk 4 models. The Mk 4A was equipped with the Orenda 9 turbojet, with 137 prototypes to follow.

The Mk 4B was equipped with the Orenda 11 engine and 141 aircraft were produced.

To increase the durability of the CF-100 series as high-altitude, long-range interceptors, 332 more examples of the Mk 5 were born. These were powered by Orenda 11 or Orenda 14 turbojets, increased wing area and lost the abdominal machine gun armament to save weight.

The CF-100 Mk 1P was intended to be forged from an earlier Mk 1 design, intended to be a photo-reconnaissance variant of the Mk 1, but was not developed further.

Abandoned Canucks

The final proposed form of the CF-100 became the eventually scrapped Mk-6 variant, designed to support air-to-air missiles. The Mk 6 is designed to fill the gap between the existing CF-100 interceptor and the upcoming Avro CF-105 Arrow high-speed interceptor. The impressive domestic arrow program was eventually shut down by the new government, causing severe damage to Canada's aviation industry in the decades that followed. Today, the Canadian Air Force is again buying from foreign designs and inventoriesmostly from the neighboring United States.

Numerous well-preserved examples of CF-100 aircraft can be seen in Canada, Belgium, and the United States.

Operational Services

The CF-100 served a total of 13 RCAF squadrons in service. At the time, this line provided an excellent rate of climb for intercept missions and had a short takeoff capability that allowed it to use very small sites and operate over more remote, smaller runway areas. The CF-100 was an early pilot and aircraft responsible for protecting North American airspace along with the American F-86, F-89 and F-94.

At one point, the United States Air Force (USAF) briefly considered using the CF-100 to meet the growing need for all-weather reconnaissance during the Korean War (1950-1953), and eventually passed the call to British Power "Canberra" which fell. Appeared in U.S. inventories as the Martin B-57 Canberra.

From 1957 to 1964, at least 53 Mk 5 interceptors were sold to the Belgian Air Force and in the 11th, 349th and 350th All Weather Interceptor Squadrons In service. The Canadian CF-100 was replaced by the American MacDonald CF-101. Voodoo" high performance interceptor, adopted as the "CF-101".