page_title: Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck / Design and development / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Avro Canada CF-100 "Canuck" interceptor on display at the Alberta Aviation Museum.
context_page_description: The Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck is a Canadian twinjet interceptor/fighter designed and produced by aircraft manufacturer Avro Canada. It has the distinction of being the only Canadian-designed fighter to enter mass production.
  Work commenced during October 1946 in response to a Royal Canadian Air Force specification calling for a new jet-powered interceptor/fighter aircraft suitable for long-distance patrol missions and all-weather operations. On 19 January 1950, the CF-100 Mark 1 prototype, 18101, conducted its maiden flight, powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce Avon RA 3 turbojet engines. Both pre-production and production series aircraft were powered by the indigenously-developed Avro Orenda engine instead. Flight testing proved the CF-100 to possess a relatively short takeoff run and a high climb rate, making it well suited to its role as an interceptor. On 18 December 1952, Squadron Leader Janusz Żurakowski, the Avro company chief development test pilot, took the CF-100 Mk 4 prototype to Mach 1.0 in a dive from 9,100 m, making the type the first straight-winged jet aircraft to achieve controlled supersonic flight.
context_section_description: Amid the final years of the Second World War, officials in Canada had concluded both that the development of a self-sufficient indigenous military aviation industry would be of considerable national value and that the new field of jet propulsion held considerable promise. As early as July 1944, Canada had commenced work on its own turbojet engine programme, producing the experimental Avro Canada Chinook powerplant. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, events such as the Korean War and Soviet atomic bomb project had contributed to the rising international tensions of what would become known as the Cold War; the Canadian Government decided to respond by greatly increasing defense expenditure. The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) was a major recipient of the expanded budget, reaching 46.6% of overall defense expenditure during FY 1951-1952, some of which is attributable to several major procurement programmes that were conducted.
  During this period, the RCAF had a strong interest in acquiring its own fleet of jet-powered combat aircraft. Specifically, the service had identified a need for a new jet-powered interceptor/fighter aircraft that would be able to patrol the vast areas of Canada's north and operate in all weather conditions. Envisaged as a two-seat fighter, to be crewed by a pilot and navigator, it would adopt two powerful engines along with a relatively advanced radar set and fire control system housed in its nose that would enable the aircraft to be operated in all-weather or night conditions. These requirements were formalized by a RCAF specification that was issued during 1946. According to RCAF Air Marshal Wilfred Curtis, there was no existing aircraft that could satisfy the specification, nor was there any suitable aircraft already in development elsewhere, thus it was deemed necessary for Canada to develop such a fighter itself.
  On 3 November 1945, an agreement was struck to develop a prototype jet-powered fighter on behalf of the RCAF; on 13 October 1946, the issuing of government contracts to aircraft manufacturer Avro Canada enabled the company to commence the associated design work. Out of this effort would emerge the XC-100, a prototype all-weather fighter, which was developed to meet the outstanding specification. Work was initially overseen by Edgar Atkin, Avro Canada's Chief Engineer; a key contributor to the programme was ex-de Havilland aircraft designer John Frost, who was appointed chief design engineer for military projects and thus responsible for the CF-100's development. At one stage Frost, along with Avro's Chief Aerodynamacist Jim Chamberlin, extensively reworked the original design of the fuselage. On 17 May 1949, in response to the programme's progress, an additional agreement was reached to produce ten pre-production fighters along with 30 Avro Orendas, an indigenously-developed turbojet engine.
caption: CF-100 Mk 5D (18476) former CFB Namao and No. 414 Electronic Warfare (EW) Squadron #100476 painted as No. 440 Squadron RCAF Mk 4B serving in NATO and on display at the Alberta Aviation Museum.
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