Despite this good news, the rest of the Avro Arrow prototypes still hadn’t been found. All those involved in the expedition, including Osisko Mining, Kraken Sonar, OEX Recovery Group Incorporated, and the Canadian public, continue to hold onto hope that they will one day be found.
The ninth prototype, the Holy Grail, may still be just a dream, but no one is giving up. “Raise The Arrow” won’t stop their search until the last airplane model is found in the waters of Lake Ontario.
Part Of Canadian History
Considering how delta wings are still used on most fighter jets today, each stage of development is a massive part of not just aviation history, but Canadian history as well. With all six full-sized aircrafts destroyed by the government to prevent any spies from stealing their work, these prototypes were all that was left.
Erin Gregory of the Canada Aviation & Space Museum explained the importance of finding the final prototype saying, “The delta wing was a relatively new concept at that point, so it required a lot of testing to determine whether it would perform well, particularly at supersonic speeds.”
The First Prototype Is Recovered
It was finally time for the expedition team to celebrate. They had successfully recovered the first Avro Arrow prototype from the bottom of the lake. The news was announced on their Facebook page.
“We are pleased to announce that the first historical relic of the Avro Arrow free-flight program has been recovered." They explained how it had been delivered back at CFB Trenton on August 13, 2018, after 64 years of resting on the bed of Lake Ontario.
Littered With Treasure
Even though only one Avro Arrow model has been discovered, the expedition team continues to search for them regularly. Burzynski has explained in the past that the bottom of Lake Ontario is full of treasures, many of which can be confused for the prototypes.
Often covered in muscles and other gunk, it’s challenging to decipher precisely what most objects are before they’re taken out of the waters. For this reason, the expedition team will often pull out other treasures, however not quite as valuable as what they’re looking for.
An Artillery Range
Starting in the year 1938, Point Petre served as an artillery range. It continued to serve this purpose once the Royal Canadian School of Artillery was formed in the area. Additionally, Point Petre was used for testing missiles like “Sparrow” and “Velvet Glove” through the 1950s.
This was in addition to the testing of the Avro Arrow prototypes, so you can only imagine what the expedition team has found in Lake Ontario. With so many foreign objects in the lake, finding the airplane models has proven to be more complicated than they first thought.