Boeing Canada Ltd. has applied for a permit to demolish the last remaining vestiges of what is, beyond question, the most historically important aerospace site in Canada: the production facilities of National Steel Car/Victory Aircraft and Avro Aircraft Canada Ltd.

         In 1938, before the declaration of hostilities in the Second World War, some visionary Canadians saw the writing on the wall and began the expansion of Canadian industry to meet the threat of global dictatorship posed by Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany. Part of this response was the establishment of the National Steel Car plant at Malton Ontario (now Pearson Airport under the municipality of Mississauga and the Greater Toronto Airport Authority). Here were produced Westland Lysanders for service in Europe and Canada including with the famous 'O' or "Moon" squadrons flying spies and supplies to the French Resistance. This plant also produced scores of Avro Ansons, one of the backbones of what Sir Winston Churchill called the "Aerodrome of Democracy": Canada training aircrews for war through the British Commonwealth Air Training Program.

         This state-of-the-art facility was expanded and went on to produce the Avro Lancaster bomber, at the time the highest performance long-range heavy bomber on earth and a backbone of the Bomber Command offensive against the industrial might that supported Hitler's air, land and sea forces. As the German General Heinz Guderian said of the effectiveness of Bomber Command operations against the German industrial heartland (the Ruhr Valley), by the end of 1943 this area had "ceased to exist" as a viable economic area.

         In December 1945 Avro U.K.'s managing director, Sir Roy Dobson, wishing to continue the company's successful involvement in Canada and thereby to re-centre the design and production "crown jewel" of the Hawker Siddeley Group into North America, agreed with Canadian Minister C.D. Howe to take over the enormous Victory Aircraft facility on a rent-to-own basis. Through overhaul, maintenance and repair contracts with the RCAF and other production contracts, this national industrial asset was paid for in a surprisingly short time.

         Avro Aircraft and A.V. Roe Canada Ltd. went on to produce, at this site, the world's first medium-range jet passenger plane and second jet passenger plane period: the amazing Avro C-102 Jetliner. This aircraft was received to wide acclaim in the United States but production was halted by C.D. Howe. This decision was taken despite evidence that every major American air carrier was seriously considering purchasing Jetliners, as was the USAF and US Navy.

        After this disappointment the company also on to produce 692 CF-100 long-range, all weather, day or night interceptors. These potent fighters became the backbone of Canada and NATO's air defence at night and in bad weather during the mid to late 1950s. Before the building of the Orenda facility across the road from Avro (now the International Centre) the first TR-5 Canadian-designed jet engines were also produced in this facility. These jet engines were internationally acclaimed as being one of the best engines by any measure, anywhere and equipped not only the CF-100 but also hundreds of Canadair CF-86 Sabres both in Canada and for export. These Sabres were renowned for having superior performance to those powered by American engines.

  In 1953 Avro received a contract to produce a supersonic successor to the Avro CF-100 and this became the CF-105 Arrow programme. This controversial aircraft first flew in March of 1958 and soon surpassed even Avro's performance estimates for it. Randall Whitcomb, a former CF officer in the pilot occupation, in his book Avro Aircraft & Cold War Aviation, makes the case that this interceptor, unmodified, would remain the top-performing interceptor in the West, if not the world, and uses accepted performance curves from both the Arrow and modern fighters to support this claim.

        Nevertheless, the Arrow program was cancelled and large-scale operations of the Hawker Siddeley Group quickly wound down. The site was later taken over by McDonnell-Douglas where components for various jet airliners were built and today is under the ownership of Boeing. Boeing has agreed to demolish the facilities discussed before turning the property over to the Greater Toronto Airport Authority.

        Surely Canada has plenty of land for for-profit expansion of airport activities. Canada has only ONE site with the legacy described above. The Toronto Aerospace Museum (TAM) also needs a new home if recent profit-motivated rumblings by the managers of their current location are an indication. The logical home for the TAM is the Avro site anyway and they would have a much greater chance of being self-sustaining or profitable there.

        Help us preserve this historic landmark and the memory that Canadians can compete in anything we set our hearts and minds to. This awareness should be exemplified in a fitting way to the youth of Canada so they grow up knowing that THEY TOO can do anything they set their minds to.

        Why not join us in trying to convince our leaders to set aside pure profit motive this once and allow the Toronto Aviation Museum to move their full-scale Arrow replica and genuine Lancaster (and the rest of their collection) into the site where they were originally built? This would be a fitting tribute to the tens of thousands of Canadians who put Canada on the aerospace map at this site and to the buildings themselves which were built from the tax dollars of Canadians. It would also be a fitting tribute to the men and women of Victory Aircraft and Bomber Command who built, serviced, served and died in Avro Lancasters for the benefit of future generations. Show them we remember and let freedom ring!

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  Help Save Our Heritage for Our Future Generations.
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