A large replica of Canada's ultimate fantasy airplane, known as the CF-105 Avro Arrow, looking like it is blasting off in pursuit of bad guys is located at a park in Barry's Bay, Ontario. The town is just under 4 hours northeast from Toronto so plan your trip if you want to see the replica yourself.
The story has always been that this jet fighter would have conquered the air fleets of the whole world because it was so good, but Canada's desire to have nuclear weapons meant that the budget had to be trimmed and the plane was cancelled. Not only cancelled but destroyed. They did find one model launched into Lake Ontario and brought to the surface rather recently, so obviously they couldn't destroy it at the time, otherwise that one would have been destroyed as well. So we weep for the loss of the super supreme plane.
Barry's Bay connection to the Avro Arrow was the Canadian Polish pilot Janusz Zurakowski, whom the park is named after, who lived in the area after WWII. He fought in the war as a Spitfire pilot and immigrated to Canada in the 1950's. After the war he became a test pilot and worked on and flew the Avro Arrow. The park was opened in 2003 and includes posters, a spitfire weathervane, a gazebo and the model of the famous supersonic jet interceptor.
This Avro replica is 22 feet long and over 12 feet wide and was built by Gerard and Peter Trader along with Ron Coulas and Morris Towns.
A Spitfire weathervane
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