Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck

1950

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Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck

In July 1945, Avro Aircraft Ltd was formed in Canada as part of the Hawker Siddeley Group, following acquisition of the Crown-owned Victory Aircraft Ltd at Malton, Ontario. One of the most significant products of this company was a two-seat all-weather long-range fighter, designated Avro Canada CF-100, intended for service with the Royal Canadian Air Force, Design of this aircraft was initiated in October 1946, and the first of two prototype CF-100 Mk Is was flown on 19 January 1950, both of these aircraft being powered by Rolls-Royce Avon RA 3 turbojets, each of 2948kg thrust. Its configuration was that of a low-wing cantilever monoplane of all metal construction, the tail unit incorporating a tailplane and elevators mounted mid-way up the fin. The retractable tricycle landing gear had twin wheels on each unit, and accommodation for two, in tandem, was provided in a pressurised cockpit. Successful testing of the prototypes led to an order for 10 unarmed pre-production CF-100 Mk 2s, these being the first examples to be powered by 2722kg thrust Orenda 2 turbojets, built by the engine division of Avro Canada. When the first of these CF-100 Mk 2s made its maiden flight, on 20 June 1951, it was the first aircraft that had been completely designed and built in Canada. One of this pre-production batch was equipped as a dual-control trainer, becoming designated CF-100 Mk 2T, and another example from this batch was the first to enter service with the RCAF, on 17 October 1951. Orders followed for production aircraft designated CF-100 Mk 3, named Canuck by the RCAF, and the first of these entered service soon after a first flight in early September 1952. They differed by having Orenda 8 turbojets (of similar output to the Orenda 2s), carried eight 12.7mm Colt-Browning machine-guns in a ventral pack, and were equipped with nose-mounted APG-33 radar. A total of 70 of this version was built, and of these 50 were converted subsequently to serve as CF-100 Mks 3CT and 3DT trainers.

Production of the above version was followed by the CF-100 Mk 4, of which a prototype had been flown on 11 October 1952. This differed by embodying structural redesign, the installation of 2948kg thrust Orenda 9 engines, a radar update introducing the APG-40, and a major weapon change. This involved the addition of wing-tip pods, each of which contained 29.70cm unguided rockets, plus 48 similar weapons in a ventral pack that could be interchanged with one containing eight machine-guns. This version was redesignated CF-100 Mk 4A after the introduction of a generally similar CF-100 Mk 4B that differed primarily by having more powerful Orenda 11 turbojets, each of 3300kg thrust. Production of CF-100 Mks 4A and 4B totalled 134 and 144 respectively, being followed by introduction of the major production version, the CF-100 Mk 5. This was powered by Orenda 11 engines, or Orenda 14s of equivalent output, and to improve high-altitude performance wing span was increased by 1.83m and a larger tailplane was provided. The Mk 5 prototype was flown in September 1954, followed by the first production example on 12 October 1955. In this version, of which 329 were built, weapons were carried only in the wing-tip missile pods. Of the total, 53 were supplied to the Belgian air force for service with its 1st All-Weather Interceptor Wing, based at Beauvechain. In addition to the true production Mk5s, 50 Mk4Bs were converted subsequently to Mk 5 standard. The last CF-100s were withdrawn from Canadian service only in the second half of 1981.

3-View 
Avro Canada CF-100 CanuckA three-view drawing (1663 x 1060)

Specification 
 MODELCF-100 Mk 5
 CREW2
 ENGINE2 x turbo-jet Orenda 11 or 14, 32.3kN
 WEIGHTS
  Take-off weight16783 kg37000 lb
  Empty weight10478 kg23100 lb
 DIMENSIONS
  Wingspan17.68 m58 ft 0 in
  Length16.48 m54 ft 1 in
  Height4.74 m16 ft 7 in
  Wing area54.9 m2590.94 sq ft
 PERFORMANCE
  Max. speed1046 km/h650 mph
  Ceiling16460 m54000 ft
  Range w/max.fuel3220 km2001 miles
  Range w/max payload2072 km1288 miles
 ARMAMENT29 x 70mm missiles in each of wing containers

Comments1-20 21-40 41-60
lxbfYeaa, e-mail, 14.03.2024 04:42

20

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Joe Fahey, e-mail, 13.10.2022 02:23

Had dear friends that flew this aircraft out of Cold Lake base.

Both friends involved in serious incidents- not their fault!

There’s a CF-100 mounted on a stand here in Kingston. seems to be in good condition....intact l /g.

Would like to stay in touch.

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Tony Salotti, e-mail, 21.07.2017 04:30

There is a Facebook page that started July 15 17 called "Avro CF-100 Resurrection " .We started looking for a CF-100 that we can restore to flying status . This is going to take a lot of time and effort so if anyone can help us on finding a suitable candidate that is in good enough shape to fly again that would be greatly appreciated .

Thanks in advance
Tony Salotti
Innisfil Ontario

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Robert Healey, e-mail, 27.05.2021 Tony Salotti

i HAVE MADE CONTACT WITH THE OWNER OF A CF100Mk2 and he appears to be ok will selling it. I know he wants $ 50,000.00 and i am not to clear on the aircraft. it is on its gear and appears to be all there except for engines I am looking to some people who may be intrested but I am no expert on the aircraft so do not know what the actuall condition is

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Alan Curtis, e-mail, 20.03.2017 17:35

My father was killed flying CF100 no-18117 out from Uplands 15th Oct 1954.He was based at Trenton .Anyone have any details of the crash?

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Don Hollm, e-mail, 08.08.2022 Alan Curtis

Alan, My name is Don Hollm. My father, Ralph Hollm, worked for the department of Transport in Ottawa and we were living in an old white farmhouse at the end of the Uplands Airport runway from 1953 to 1955. They had expropriated the land but due to a recession they let DOT employees rent the houses for $10 /month. My father and my twin brother were outside and I was inside with my mother who was peeling apples. I heard a huge bang and ran outside and vaguely remember parts falling from the sky. My father grabbed us, carried us inside and told my mother to hol us while he goes to try t help. We wanted to go but he wouldnt let us. He came back crying saying there was nothing he could do.I dont remember that date but apples would have been in the fall.

I thought I was three but couldnt find any uplands crashes in 1953, so it is possible it was 1954.

We moved from that house to 140 Beginia Ave in Ottawa by Billings Bridge so we could start school and I remember my father saying the day we moved or the day after a plane crashed across the railway tracks from out house. I started school at five years old which should have been Sept 1955, so we would have moved in late 1954 or early 1955.

I dont know the exact type of info you were looking for but at 72 yrs old my memory just holds pieces so I am telling you everything I can remember and hooe sime of it helps. You may also have facts that can jar more if my memory or I can ask my twin.

My memory is that the weather was nice. I thought it was clear and almost summer like.

This also makes me cry inside how you had to grow up without your dad, only knowing he was a hero.

Don Hollm

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Don Hollm, e-mail, 08.08.2022 Alan Curtis

Alan, My name is Don Hollm. My father, Ralph Hollm, worked for the department of Transport in Ottawa and we were living in an old white farmhouse at the end of the Uplands Airport runway from 1953 to 1955. They had expropriated the land but due to a recession they let DOT employees rent the houses for $10 /month. My father and my twin brother were outside and I was inside with my mother who was peeling apples. I heard a huge bang and ran outside and vaguely remember parts falling from the sky. My father grabbed us, carried us inside and told my mother to hol us while he goes to try t help. We wanted to go but he wouldnt let us. He came back crying saying there was nothing he could do.I dont remember that date but apples would have been in the fall.

I thought I was three but couldnt find any uplands crashes in 1953, so it is possible it was 1954.

We moved from that house to 140 Beginia Ave in Ottawa by Billings Bridge so we could start school and I remember my father saying the day we moved or the day after a plane crashed across the railway tracks from out house. I started school at five years old which should have been Sept 1955, so we would have moved in late 1954 or early 1955.

I dont know the exact type of info you were looking for but at 72 yrs old my memory just holds pieces so I am telling you everything I can remember and hooe sime of it helps. You may also have facts that can jar more if my memory or I can ask my twin.

My memory is that the weather was nice. I thought it was clear and almost summer like.

This also makes me cry inside how you had to grow up without your dad, only knowing he was a hero.

Don Hollm

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Alan Curtis, e-mail, 02.07.2023 Don Hollm

Hello Don, Thank you for your email in reply for any information regarding my father's aircraft crash on 15th October 1954. Sorry for the long delay in replying. Like you I am a senior citizen (76), and time just seems to fly by so quickly. If you can remember anything else about that October day,I would like to hear from you. Take care Don. Best wishes to you and your family. Alan Curtis.

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Ian "Nip " Cumming, e-mail, 22.05.2016 08:24

just found this site ...I flew the Canuck with my nav Gordie Mitchell ( deceased ) at 413 Sqn in Bagotville '58-'60 .We won the Steinhart Trophy those 2 years.Great bunch of guys . Good a /c for the role we had...nice steady instrument platform but cold as hell in the cockpit in winter. Flying the F-86 Sabre with 439 sqn at #1 wing in France was a nice change.

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Paul Scott, e-mail, 18.12.2015 22:31

I'd rate this, as ungainly and with ordinary performance as the Gloster Meteor and Javelin

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Chris Thompson, e-mail, 17.04.2015 22:23

In 1956 while staring out the classroom window which faced what is now called the 148 hwy at Aylmer Que I spotted an airplane with black smoke billowing from behind. I yelled something like hey that planes going to crash and ran to the window with several other boys. The jet that I later found out was a CF 100 went by the scool with the black debris and roar asplit second after followed by a pop as our stern teacher forced us back to our desks and left the room. We wanted to run out and see what had happened but were kept'd the long half hour until the end of class. By this time hundreds of people were running up the highway to cut across Shaw's pasture up to the Feriss family farm where the aircraft went down. At 6 years old I knew there would be big trouble if I followed. So at 12 or 13 years of age while hunting for partridge and rabbits I came across a cutout in a cedar grove with a crater and nothing growing inside. an eerie numb feeling hit me as I stood realizing it was the crash site of the CF 100. I've recently found out that the name of the hero who stayed with his plane to save the lives of countless children, faculty and other citizens that day is Morley Charles Anderson. I will be looking to find his resting place to pay my respects and give my thanks. My thanks to the administrator of this site to allow me to share this experience from my life. Chris

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Phil MacKenzie, e-mail, 01.03.2015 22:30

Spent the last week-end in Winnipeg - hangar flying with my uncle. Richard Keith flew CF-100's for 3OTU and 445 Squadron. Heard the story of the "Black Witch", and many others. He has published a book on his adventures - a copy of which is in one of the legions in Winnipeg. Also heard - from a different source, that years ago, a civilian started buying parts and pieces of decommissioned CF-100's. Ultimately, he pieced a CF-100 together, got it flying, and started taking it to airshows. I don't know if it was certified or not, but apparently it crashed at an airshow in the states. At the conclusion of the resulting enquiry - the Canadian military went round to as many CF-100's as they could find, and took a cutting torch to the wing spars - thereby ensuring that they wouldn't fly again.

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Jerry, e-mail, 29.01.2015 04:11

For Peggy Walsh.The tail # 100788. It happened Oct.17 /1973.I was 15 yrs. old and was staying overnight with my band mates at one of the band members house when we were awaken by a loud noise in the middle of the night.The house wa less than a 1 /2 mile from 4 mile lake where the plane crashed.We went out early in the morning to see what had happened and when we walked up the road towards the lake we seen the military people along the shore with bags collecting debris.What I remember the most is seeing all the streams of tinfoil which I found out later was to fool radar.I remember the names of the crew Hunt&Campbell.I had friends with those surnames at the time.Hope this helps.

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Don Wall, e-mail, 04.11.2014 20:01

I am with a publication called FYI, doing a story on the 60th anniversary of the first successful flight of the CF 100 and I am looking to connect with veterans who have flown it, including some of the gents who have written here. Anyone caring to talk, contact me at dwall@metroland.com.

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Jim Ayres, e-mail, 14.09.2014 05:40

Spent 33 years as an AET 511 and totally enjoyed working on the CF100. The Orenda was a very good engine but we lost a few due to supercooling.Enjoyed the ground runs @ 97.5.Got to sand blast the squadron co's car during a ground run at Bagotville as the tarmac was sanded during winter.

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Pamela Walsh, e-mail, 14.09.2014 03:54

My father, Jim Ayres (WO Ret'd), worked many years with the CF 100 as an Aero Engine Tech stationed at CFB North Bay. Unfortunately he was part of the recovery crew for the CF 100 crash at 4 Mile Lake in the 70's. He is having flash backs now at the age of 76 and having a difficult time remembering the first name of the pilot (Lt Hunt), navigator (Capt Campbell), the tail number and the exact date of the crash. If anyone can help my father put these pieces together it would be greatly appreciated. His email address is sampamken@fibreop.ca. Thank you Pam Walsh

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Chad, e-mail, 12.11.2023 Pamela Walsh

Hi Pam,

Not sure when this was posted I’m just new to this site. My Uncle Thomas Merino Campbell was the navigator on that fateful flight. The crash was October 17, 1973 into 4 mile lake. I was born November 15, 1974 and was named (middle) after Uncle Tom. I believe the tail number was 688

Thank you to your dad for his efforts in recovering our loved ones

Chad

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Mike Lambert, e-mail, 17.05.2014 04:16

I have a lot of memories of the CF-100. I grew up an RCAF- "brat". In the late 50's my mother's best friend's husband, Kevin McNulty, was lost when the CF-100 he was ferrying from Canada to Europe went down over Quebec. They never found him. In high school at St Pat's in Ottawa in 1959 we were treated to a recruiting presentation by an RCAF CF-100 pilot who showed us films of the aircraft and the cockpit. I have never wanted something as much in my life as to be CF-100 aircrew, but my eyesight let me down. I spent my last two years of high school in 1961-63 at the RCAF school in Zweibrucken, Germany. I was treated to a daily feast of aircraft (the grade 13 classroom was about 200 yards from the 3(F) Wing flight line)but alas it would never be for me. I still remember seeing the CF-100's in their camouflage livery departing in pairs, wondering where they were going and if they'd ever come back (it was the height of the Cold War and tensions were high). My love of flying has never waned - I have been a private pilot since college. I have been a flight simulator enthusiast since the days of the Tandy computer, and over the last couple of years have learned how to construct "virtual" aircraft for the flight simulator. Guess what my first major project was? Yes, I have finally had the joy of flying a CF-100 (of my own making), scrambling from the Zulu hanger at the south end of runway 32 at RCAF Stn Uplands and making a long nighttime intercept to keep the "true North strong and free".

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lxbfYeaa, e-mail, 14.03.2024 Mike Lambert

20

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Don Hobbs, 04.03.2014 05:16

Attended the Air show in London Ontario as a kid in 1958. Watched the crew members prepare for taxing and takeoff and then left the passenger terminal to view the fly past . As the 3 or 4 ,CF-100's flew over the airport , one began to disintegrate and crashed .One of the crew members ejected but the seat came down on the chute .Both the pilot and navigator perished.One of the crew members was a Mr. Sparrow but I don't recall the name of the second crew member . It was a horrific s experience especially for an 11 year old kid.
I don't know if any surviving CF-100s are airworthy or could be restored to operational status but it would be great to see one flying again.

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rogerlux, e-mail, 04.01.2013 08:51

Indeed the "Canuck" was a very interesting a /c.- I would like to know if it ever used the Orenda 17 with PC, any comments on that?

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John Coleman, e-mail, 24.09.2012 17:14

There's a Clunk /Lead Sled /Kerosene Canso in the hangar at Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton [a black Mark 5] and if you're nice we'll let you sit in it. It's on loan to us from the National Aerospace Museum in Ottawa, one of our major sponsors.

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Darel Jackman, e-mail, 11.06.2012 00:22

I worked as an Armament systems tech from 1957 to 1965 our famous clunks at. Comox 57 to 59 and 4 Wing 59 to 63 when. 419 was disbanded.
Retun to Bagotville where I converted to CF101 until my 10 year ended in Dec 65. I worked for CN Tel. For 5 years and finished my Tel time as a Microwave tech. And then moved to BC Tel for 30 years. I am retired in Kamloops B C. Since 2003. I really enjoyed my RCAF ten years.

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Stewart Pollock, e-mail, 26.03.2012 22:11

I was on class 13 at North Bay OTU. Our welcome to North Bay was the night the crew landed short, broke off the main landing gear and plowed into the line of parked aircraft then burst into flames. Transferred to Bagotville 432 Sqdrn at end of training. Transferred to Cold Lake in 1957 as flight instructor. Flew with a fomation there called Bald Eagles. We had a lot of fun. Ended up with over 1000 Hrs on the CF. I hate the word "CLUNK". I am disappointed that the CF did not get as much recognition or publicity as the F-86 or Voodoo. We flew in some amazingly bad weather, day or night. We had a "blue instrument rating" so set our own limits. Ended my career on 767 to Europe. Still have a small Grumman and building an RV-10. Any of my old comrads still alive and kicken' it would be great to hear from you

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Pete DeSmedt, e-mail, 29.01.2022 Stewart Pollock

Stew. Bald Eagles named in respect of Big Ed Smith our CO. !!

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Pete DeSmedt, e-mail, 29.01.2022 Stewart Pollock

Hi stu. We served together at 3 otu. As a nav I also flew with bald eagles Paul diamond was pilot my early years were at st Hubert with 423 and 416 from 1956 to 59. After conversion to pilot I flew cf 104 at Baden and cold lake. I remember you very well! A nice surprise to hear from you take care. Pete

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Al Kucinskas, e-mail, 04.02.2012 01:07

I flew the CF-100 out of Ottawa in 1056-58 and was lucky enough to get on 2 Ferry trips to Europe. Once we ferried the Clunks to the Wings in Europe, the other one was to Belgium after they had bought some of our Airplanes. It was not a fighter a /c but the best a /c in the world for the role it was designed for....Loved the old girl...

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Frank Russell, e-mail, 12.01.2012 08:42

Did a tour on Mk5s with my Nav, Roy Wolf on 428 Sqn at Uplands with many of the finest people.Also with the EWU at St huberts with the "BONEYARDS" -----

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Darryl Pajot, e-mail, 15.10.2021 Frank Russell

Hi Frank. I am in the process of writing a book on RCAF flight gear for historians and collectors alike. At this time, I do not have much information about the EWU. Do you happen to have any photos of yourself wearing your flight gear with this unit that I might be able to use?...with your permission, of course. Cheers, Darryl

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