Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck
At the beginning of the Cold War, the Royal Canadian Air Force relied mostly on Canadair-built F-86 Sabres for defense of Canada. While the F-86 was a very capable aircraft, it was not suited to intercepting Soviet bombers in the extreme weather conditions of northern Canada, nor did it have the range to patrol the second-largest country in the world.
With this in mind, Avro Canada embarked on a crash program to design and build an interceptor with the necessary range, armament, and all-weather capability needed. The resulting CF-100 Canuck was a simple but effective design. While comparatively slow and unmaneuverable compared to the Sabre—earning the CF-100 nicknames such as “Clunk,” “CF-Zero,” “Zilch,” and “Beast”—the Canuck was reliable and well-suited to poor weather. For awhile, the CF-100 was the only NATO fighter capable of operating in all weathers, and the USAF briefly considered adopting it for use over Korea; Belgium was to adopt the design in 1957.
The CF-100 was to go through several variants, though all kept the same basic straight-wing design. Initial versions of the Canuck, the Mk.3 and Mk. 4, entered service in 1953 and were armed with eight Browning M2 .50 caliber machine guns. As these were considered insufficient to bring down a heavy bomber, the Mk.4A added 58 Mighty Mouse rockets in wingtip pods; the Mk.5 deleted the machine guns entirely for rocket-only armament. The Canuck Mk.6 would have deleted the rocket pods in favor of AIM-7 Sparrow missiles, but this was cancelled as the CF-100 was scheduled to be replaced in the mid-1960s with the CF-105 Arrow. When the Arrow itself was cancelled, the Canuck was instead replaced by the CF-101 Voodoo, though a small number continued in service as trainers and electronic warfare aircraft until 1981, when it was finally withdrawn. 692 CF-100s were built, and today 26 remain in museums.
This CF-100 is the oldest of its type left in the world, manufactured as Mk.3 RCAF 18126. It served most of its career as a trainer, before being withdrawn from service in 1963. It was bought by a veterans' organization in Calgary and put on display as a gate guard, but eventually made its way to the Calgary AeroSpace Museum. The museum repainted it as the CF-100 prototype (KF 126), wearing an attractive overall black scheme with a lightning bolt. When I photographed it back in 2006, it had just been repainted.
Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck
At the beginning of the Cold War, the Royal Canadian Air Force relied mostly on Canadair-built F-86 Sabres for defense of Canada. While the F-86 was a very capable aircraft, it was not suited to intercepting Soviet bombers in the extreme weather conditions of northern Canada, nor did it have the range to patrol the second-largest country in the world.
With this in mind, Avro Canada embarked on a crash program to design and build an interceptor with the necessary range, armament, and all-weather capability needed. The resulting CF-100 Canuck was a simple but effective design. While comparatively slow and unmaneuverable compared to the Sabre—earning the CF-100 nicknames such as “Clunk,” “CF-Zero,” “Zilch,” and “Beast”—the Canuck was reliable and well-suited to poor weather. For awhile, the CF-100 was the only NATO fighter capable of operating in all weathers, and the USAF briefly considered adopting it for use over Korea; Belgium was to adopt the design in 1957.
The CF-100 was to go through several variants, though all kept the same basic straight-wing design. Initial versions of the Canuck, the Mk.3 and Mk. 4, entered service in 1953 and were armed with eight Browning M2 .50 caliber machine guns. As these were considered insufficient to bring down a heavy bomber, the Mk.4A added 58 Mighty Mouse rockets in wingtip pods; the Mk.5 deleted the machine guns entirely for rocket-only armament. The Canuck Mk.6 would have deleted the rocket pods in favor of AIM-7 Sparrow missiles, but this was cancelled as the CF-100 was scheduled to be replaced in the mid-1960s with the CF-105 Arrow. When the Arrow itself was cancelled, the Canuck was instead replaced by the CF-101 Voodoo, though a small number continued in service as trainers and electronic warfare aircraft until 1981, when it was finally withdrawn. 692 CF-100s were built, and today 26 remain in museums.
This CF-100 is the oldest of its type left in the world, manufactured as Mk.3 RCAF 18126. It served most of its career as a trainer, before being withdrawn from service in 1963. It was bought by a veterans' organization in Calgary and put on display as a gate guard, but eventually made its way to the Calgary AeroSpace Museum. The museum repainted it as the CF-100 prototype (KF 126), wearing an attractive overall black scheme with a lightning bolt. When I photographed it back in 2006, it had just been repainted.