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 unmanueverable compared to the Sabre—earning the CF-100 nicknames such as “Clunk,” “CF-Zero,” “Zilch,” and “Beast” for its lack of maneuverability—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though a small number continued in service as trainers and electronic warfare aircraft until 1981, when it was finally withdrawn. 692 CF-100s were built, and today 26 remain in museums.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, 100779, is a Mk.5, delivered in 1959 to 416 Squadron at CFB Cold Lake, Alberta. It served with 416 Squadron and 425 Squadron at CFB Bagotville, Quebec until 1970, when it was converted to an ECM training aircraft. When it was retired in 1976, it was donated to the Peterson AFB airpark (today the Peterson Air and Space Museum), which honors NORAD interceptors. It retains the knight's-helmet emblem of 414 Squadron, its last squadron assignment, based at North Bay, Ontario, and carries the earlier bilingual "Canadian Armed Forces/Forces Armees Canadiennes" used by the CAF in the late 1960s. The overall ADC gray was not used by CF-100s, but in this case is there to preserve the airframe.
This is the second picture I've taken of 100779; the first was taken in 1983 from the opposite angle. 40 years separate the two pictures. Here's the 1983 version: www.flickr.com/photos/31469080@N07/34567603212/in/photoli...
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 unmanueverable compared to the Sabre—earning the CF-100 nicknames such as “Clunk,” “CF-Zero,” “Zilch,” and “Beast” for its lack of maneuverability—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, 100779, is a Mk.5, delivered in 1959 to 416 Squadron at CFB Cold Lake, Alberta. It served with 416 Squadron and 425 Squadron at CFB Bagotville, Quebec until 1970, when it was converted to an ECM training aircraft. When it was retired in 1976, it was donated to the Peterson AFB airpark (today the Peterson Air and Space Museum), which honors NORAD interceptors. It retains the knight's-helmet emblem of 414 Squadron, its last squadron assignment, based at North Bay, Ontario, and carries the earlier bilingual "Canadian Armed Forces/Forces Armees Canadiennes" used by the CAF in the late 1960s. The overall ADC gray was not used by CF-100s, but in this case is there to preserve the airframe.
This is the second picture I've taken of 100779; the first was taken in 1983 from the opposite angle. 40 years separate the two pictures. Here's the 1983 version: www.flickr.com/photos/31469080@N07/34567603212/in/photoli...