Page 13 - Nov2019

The Golden Years (1950-1964) The piloted aircraft was deemed obsolete by some;
the future was seen in unmanned missile defence.
Can you imagine an Air Force that was almost as large The arguments for missiles were so strong that the
as the entire Canadian Armed Forces today? That Canadian government bought and deployed the
was the 1950s. In the Cold War era of Prime Minister
Bomarc Missile on September 23, 1958.
Louis St. Laurent, defence budgets were big and
expansion was rapid. In 1949, following post-war But it wasn’t to fly for the RCAF. In February 1959, the
demobilization, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) government cancelled the Arrow. The decision to
numbered 18,970. By the end of 1952, the RCAF had shut down production of this capable but very
grown to almost 50,000 personnel; it was larger than expensive aircraft has ignited “what if” debates
the Canadian Army and remained larger until amongst Air Force historians and aviation enthusiasts
unification. ever since.

MISSLES OR JETS? Fifty-six missiles, first conventionally armed and later
fitted with nuclear warheads, were situated in North
The great aviation debate in the late 1950s concerned
Bay, Ontario, and La Macaza, Quebec, from 1961 to
the relative merits of guided missiles and jet aircraft 1972. The warheads arrived in 1963.
in protecting the North American continent from
Soviet attack. For most of the 1950s, it seemed like
the Canadian aviation industry always made the right
decisions and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF)
always got the best aircraft. The Canadair version of
the F-86 Sabre was the primary fighter of No. 1 Air
Division until joined by the CF-100 Canuck, which was
produced by A.V. Roe (Avro) Canada. Avro was a
successful aviation firm during the 1950s and had

some of the best and the brightest aerospace
engineers and the sharpest test pilots. After selling The two Bomarc squadrons were disbanded in 1972
the Canuck to the Air Force, Avro came out with its and today the only missiles left are disarmed and on
masterpiece. display in museums and aviation parks.

The CF-105 Arrow, rolled out in 1957, was the RCAF’s Instead, the RCAF acquired used American-made
choice for its next generation fighter and years ahead CF-101 Voodoos and Canadair-produced
of its time. It awed spectators when it first flew in CF-104 Starfighters.
1958.

And it was fast (Mach 2 or twice the speed of sound),
manoeuvrable and looked like nothing else being
Both were around until the CF-18 Hornet came into
flown at the time.
service, beginning in 1982.
Information from RCAF