The CF-100 Canuck: Canada’s Only Mass-Produced Fighter Jet 

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If a Canadian pilot says the cockpit is too cold, you can safely take them at their word.

"But it got the job done, every time" ~ The Canadian Armed Forces described perfectly.

A lot of the AVRO engineering staff would end up at NASA and helping put a man on the moon. They had some brilliant people

Thank you Simon for acknowledging the Canadian contributions to the Jet age. Unfortunately the politics and policies of the time were short sighted when it came to fighter jets.

As a proud Canadian, this is definitely an underappreciated aircraft. We love the Canuck.

My father was on the design team at AVRO through the 50s. Straight of of engineering school he worked on CF-100 weapons systems (primarily the wingtip rocket pack, and belly pack), and then was put on the Arrow aerodynamics test models and other Arrow projects. Once the Arrow flight test program and production began he was moved on to work on what was intended to be the advanced post-Arrow unmanned interceptor. He saw the writing on the wall for the Arrow program in 1958, and left AVRO for Bristol Aerospace to do design work on the Black Brant rocket series, and sub-contracted ICBM guidance systems for Boeing. Thanks for posting this reminder of when Canada could actually accomplish things.

The Canuck was a powerhouse, and I love that you talked about it! It's a shame we lost Avro when the Arrow was cancelled (and the CF-103 was never produced as a result), but there was a time when Canada was a powerful aviation nation.

Such a great time for Canada. We were coming off the high of being major contributors to the victory of the Allies in WW2, and anything seemed possible. We even had an aircraft carrier, the HMCS Bonaventure, for a time.

Those Orenda engines are what I work on at Jet City Turbines. The Canadian Sabres were built in Canada, and used the same engines as the CF-100. We just tested one in July this year. Great footage in this video!

Avro Canada's test pilot, Jan Zurakowski, demonstrated the CF100 at England's Farnborough Air Show, and had a stunning aerobatic maneuver called "The Falling Leaf" where he basically placed the Canuck into a flat spin and then recovered! It was an incredible demonstration to watch. "Zura" was an awesome "hands on" pilot from Poland, who was with the RAF in WW2 before becoming a test pilot for A.V. Roe (UK). He then went to their Canadian subsidiary, AVRO Canada as their Chief Test Pilot. Jan also was the main test pilot with the CF105 Avro Arrow program.

It’s Canuck… not Canook 😂

Canada mentioned 💪

Ahhh... back when Canada actually properly funded its military. Its been awhile 😢

The sad part, is AVRO Canada developed the C102 Jetliner. A commercial jet transport 36 seats, cruising speed of 376 MPH. AVRO wanted the Avon engines for it (The same ones for the Canuck) but were told by Rolls Royce it was a military engine. So they developed a 4 engine variant powered by Rolls Royce Derwent engines. First flight was 2 weeks after the DeHavilland Comet. Which ironically would be eventually powered by the the Avon engines. The Korean War started and C.D. Howe told AVRO to stop developing the Jetliner and focus on the Canuck instead. Killing what would have been an early commercial jet for AVRO. :(

My father was a Squadron Leader during operation “Nimble Bat IV” flying the Canuck from North Bay, Ontario to 4-Wing in Baden Solingen. At the time, the airforce needed instrument rated pilots so they seconded them from the North Star squadrons. During a stint in North Bay on the CF100 they did a NORAD defence simulated nuclear bombing run on New York City in conjunction with the Americans of course! Dad made it to New York, nuked it and returned to North Bay. On the way home he went from the deck to 35,000 feet and had a complete hydraulic control jam. He was told to eject at a safe altitude with his fire control officer. Instead, his response was, “I can control altitude with thrust and turning with asymmetric (twin engine) thrust”. If the landing does not look good I will punch up, fly to unpopulated area north of North Bay and then punch out. He successfully landed at the airport but could not leave the runway as the hydraulics were still seized. He was a strong man (played for the New York Rangers for a year before signing on with the RCAF in the mid 40’s.). The CO tried to move the controls and was unable. BUT around 20 minutes after landing the controls suddenly released. Dad spent two weeks with Jan Zurakowski flying the CF100 around until they could simulate the problem. Never duplicate the fault in the air, but cold weather testing the aircraft revealed that a 25cent relay had flash frozen between the high and low pressure setting for the hydraulic system trapping the hydraulic fluid in a static position between valves. That relay had a fault in its hermetic sealing which allowed moisture to enter and cause it to freeze. Most of that above was from memory from conversations with dad so the minutiae of the facts may be slightly different. He passed away at 94 but I still have his log books which we bound in leather with his RCAF experiences from 1946 to 1973. Geoff Quickfall BSc, MSc, PhD candidate with 28,000hrs; DC10, B737, B757, B767, B777, B787, DHC2, DHC3, B18

A warplane that never sees war is a success story in its own right.

Note also Avro Canada produced the C102 jet passenger aircraft second in the world only by 13 days to the de Haviland Comet. Canadair produced probably the best F86 fighter fitted with own more powerful Orenda engines. Canadair also produced a fixed wing vertical takeoff aircraft in the 50s similar to the modern American Osprey. I used to have details(wind tunnel tests etc) of the proposed Avro advanced flying saucer. I showed it a British engineer who had worked on the flying bedstead (Harrier). He said there was nothing close to the saucer technical development in the production of the Harrier.

"Canada’s Only Mass-Produced Fighter Jet" - true in terms of Canadian designs, but Canadair also mass-produced F-86 Sabres under license.

Canadian that grew up on an Airforce Base here. We had one CF-100 on display at our airport and one Vulcan. Those two jets are the ones that moulded my love for aircraft (and the F18 because you know, I'm a little young to have seen the F100 in the air) and I'm so happy to see the story of the Canuck covered respectfully and very thoroughly. I wasn't even alive for the Arrow fiasco but I'm still kinda salty about that one.

Very much a fan of the Canuck, so happy to see it covered here. But it does seem odd not using a picture of a CF-100 on the video thumbnail and instead using an AI produced picture of "generic Canadian military jet".

As a 'Canuck' clunkhead this aero raft is never mentioned by any who is not a Canadian. Thanks so much. He k many Canadians don't know much about our aviation success. Thank you for this.

Excellent video. The last flying “Canuck” was S/N 760 which flew with Pratt & Whitney Canada out of St. Hubert Quebec. This airframe was used in the development of the JT15D turbofan engine. This is the aircraft shown at 16:43, 17:18. The gentleman walking in front of the aircraft is Dan Ketelson, a senior flight test engineer and mentor. Thanks for posting.

Being Canadian, every missile has the word *SORRY* written on it.

A number of Avro Arrow engineers worked on the Concords design after the Arrow was cancelled.

Maybe a video on the Canadair CL-41 (RCAF designation : CT-114 Tutor). It's 60 years old and still used by the Snowbirds.

As a Canadian, i appreciate the spot light! Thanks Simon!!

Thanks for doing ine for canada. Can i suggest the Canadarm on the space shuttle?

This is a soft spot with many Canadians the arrow was so cool and Canadian. Wish oranda and Avro where still in business. The sight just was removed from the building a year ago I drive by it on the way to work every day 😢.

We have 2 here in North Bay. And a Voodoo gate guard at the Base. Thank you Simon.

there was a CF-100 on display in Calgary for decades. It was by the airport and on a pedistal that made it look like it was already in flight. Not sure what happened to it, but i seem to remember someone telling me it was moved inside the building of the 'aerospace museum' or the 'Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame' that is/was close by

Everytime simon says "canoock" i feel pain😫🇨🇦

There is a cf100 about 1.5km from my house on display at a public park. Its getting a bit rough in shape between time, weather, and vandals. They've been speaking of doing a complete restoration on it hopefully next summer. Its kind of neat to look at every time i drive by it.

One of the great things said about the CF-100, was that they had some of the most advanced ejection seats in the world, but were installed bolt upright, had two of the most advanced engines which were installed in an obsolete airframe which limited it's top speed. It was a capable aircraft, even exceeding the speed of sound albeit in a dive. It had an advanced Firecontrol System, it was one of the few all weather capable interceptors available to NATO. It was deployed to Europe as part of the Canadian Air Division and was able to hold it's own. This was the Golden Age of the RCAF, we had the Sabre Mk 6 and CF-100s. It was a force second to none. Alas, once the 60s came into full swing, everything faded, and when the RCAF, RCN and Cdn Army were integrated in the early 70s, the writing was on the wall and while we have some excellent aircrew and aircraft, it isn't the same.

OOOHHHH Now I see why the Winnipeg Jets' logo looks like that! Thank you for covering these jets, it brings history and today together :)

These were a fixture in the skies over North Bay, Ontario, where the last ones were ultimately retired. We took class trips up to the base in the 70s, and even got to sit in them, thanks to the 414 Back Knights pilots and crews. Cool time to be a kid in Canada!

The cf-100 at the calgary areospace museum had its wings rust off recently and is undegoing restoration

My father worked at AVRO at the time. not sure if he worked on the 100 or the AVRO airliner or rebuilding damaged Hawker Seafury's. They had several projects going on then. I have his old photo album and there are a lot of snaps of those aircraft included. One interesting one of the Airliner off of the runway stuck in the snow and mud. Not sure what happened there but the concept of that aircraft was just a little mistimed from what I've read, same as the CF-100. The only 100 I've ever seen was in the military museum in Brussels. Still a beautiful bird in my opinion.

Please do a video on the Saab jet fighters - Draken especially!

It would help if your cover picture actually showed the plane you were talking about. Here you are showing some sort of CF-101 instead of the CF-100 and previously you showed at P-70 when talking about the P-61.

I can't believe how many aviation videos he's got now. I still remember the first one

14:17 He was the test pilot for the CF-105 Avro Arrow

I was a child on the base of Cold Lake in the 1950s and I well remember the T-33s and the CF-100s flying daily. The old noisy yellow harvard trainers were there as well. I also remember the hercules and finally the 101 voodoo. It was exciting times for a kid.

For a Canadian to say that something is too cold.... Just know that another person would have turned into a popsicle under the same circumstances. 🥶🥶🥶🥶

Bring the engineer for a ride and stuff gets fixed real fast.

The best weapons don’t see battle. They prevent you from having to.

We have one at our aviation museum a true beauty

I wish Canada would be re emerge in this industry. We have brilliant people with the capabilities of doing so. Something to actually suit our needs

Excellent work really enjoyed listening to all of your research , you made it entertaining to watch . However the greatest take away , very educational . As a fellow Canadian , having the opportunity to learn about our history , accomplishments , and our contributions to be recognized as a nation doing its part , is always encouraging .

The Avro Arrow is the aircraft which we Canadians are most proud of however it was cancelled for politcal reasons. The jet was decades ahead of its time and would not be surpassed until the end of the century.

Thank you from “Canuck” land. That was a very good video about an aircraft were we punched very much above our weight and came from a time where our country thought it could do anything.

16:40 Behind the airplane we see Montreal's Downtown with the CIBC tower on the left, the Place Ville-Marie on the righ, the General Hospital on the top left and in the last few seconds we see the Université De Montréal higher on the mountain.

Remember = In 1959 the Government cancelled the AVRO ARROW - Mach 2 Speeds nothing to catch it at the time !

I looooovee maple syrup shots. Tastes like victory. 😋😋

I've seen one up close at the Comox AF museum. Really cool plane!

The Canuck in the Atlantic Canada Aviation Museum in Halifax is the one that ejected its navigator. When the pilot pushed over (negative G) the rear seat rode up the rail and fired. Ironically the helicopter that picked him up is also on display there...

Can you do an episode on the CF-105 and it's cancellation?

A really great video about the CF-100, but with a few points to be made. One, the RCAF operated the licensed-produced Canadair-built version of the F-86 known as the CL-13 Sabre. Some dozen squadrons were based in France and West Germany, providing air defence. Also, another five squadrons were based in Canada, assisting the CF-100. Second, just to point out the missiles seen under the wings of the Canuck were the domestically developed Velvet Glove, which were to arm the Arrow, but the missiles weren't up to snuff and the project was cancelled. In another shot, I do believe a Canuck has Sparrow 2 missiles from a joint-US-Canada development program. The US pulled out and Canada chose not to go it alone, so that missile was cancelled as well. Third, while the CF-105 Arrow never 'got off the ground' with production aircraft, the prototypes did take to the sky before this program was cancelled in 1959.

My father, during his time in service with the RCAF, is possibly the only pilot to have been "officially chastised for flying under the same bridge twice - once in a DeHavilland Mosquito night fighter, and the second time in one of the first CF-100's to enter squadron service. As he tells it, he and his navigator/radar op were asked to appear (unfortunately) in front of the same senior officer on both occasions. My dad flew night fighters as an RCAF officer serving (mostly) in RAF squadrons for most of WWII, and he was due to retire in any event. He was an exceptional pilot, with an astonishing "feel" for the aircraft, as well as day and night vision considerably better than most, and quick reflexes. As to the degree of "judgement" involved in flying under bridges - that's another matter. He did not get any "black marks" on his service record after these impromptu airshows, but I'm sure the verbal dressing-down would have been memorable, all the more so for coming from the same senior RCAF officer. He remarked more than once on the excellent rate of climb of the CF-100 and its handling. Since his first squadron service had been flying Bristol Beaufighter night fighters equipped with very early radar, he saw great changes in aircraft capabilities.

And then the entire Canadian manufacturing sector was destroyed on Black Friday. :"Quite controversially" is a nice way to say I'm still pissed off about it.

2:30 - Mid roll ads 3:40 - Back to the video 6:10 - Chapter 1 - Prototypes & iterations 10:05 - Chapter 2 - Specs & capabilities 12:05 - Chapter 3 - Service life & records

No mention that both Avro Canada and Orenda Engines were wholly-owned subsidiaries of Britain’s Hawker-Siddeley. It’s a Canadian fighter for certain, but corporate oversight came from Britain.

Quirky, clunky, not very flashy, but charming in its own right & gets the job done.... yep, sounds Canadian.

The aircraft you're portraying in your thumbnail for this video looks similar to the CF-101 Voodoo, sort of. However it is not the CF-100 "Clunk".

Strange graphic looks like a mash up of the cf-100, the concept for the cf-103 and an f-101 voodoo.

Fantastic, thank you for doing this video!

it was a really good plane when you consider at the time of its introduction there were not many all weather fighter aircraft were operational

There is an example of the CF-100 on display at the US Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio in the Cold War Hall.

I have seen the Belgian one in a museum they often have made some strange buys. Like the Italian A-109 but that one was later on explained by a trial. These were a nice looking aircraft for a straight wing design. Still strange that later models didn't have a gun. But i guess the same mindset as the Phantom II.

I saw them flying in Cold Lake just prior to being retired.

I remember the CF 100s at the airshows at CFB Trenton in the 1960s. They were impressive; though not as impressive as the F86 Golden Hawks acrobatic team.

a wonderful show on an amazing aircraft...thank you for such a great opinion of this craft

At 7:52, would love to listen to that call as the order jumped from 10 to 100.

Another great airplane built De Havilland Canada is the BEAVER. It was designed by a Polish engineer working for De Havilland Canada. That plane is still flying today and every where around the world.

back at the end of high school, I worked as a security guard at the Canadian Aeronautical Collection in Rockcliffe in Ottawa. We had the remains of the Avro Arrow in chopped up bits behind one of the hangars and the engine of one, called an Iroquois (?) in a display case. I got to know when a man who had worked on the Arrow was in the museum. You could tell how they walked up in reverence to that engine, and then their shoulders would slump down, their posture would change to one of defeat and deep regret, and it was best to allow them to grieve alone. NASA had HR guys outside of AV Roe when the Arrow was cancelled, and they were holding job applications in their hands. Canadians did much of the Gemini space flights. We are the Free Canadians. Despite the weak and pathetic governments we have had lately, the spirit that drove Canada to war in Europe causing even Winston Churchill to see us as formidable, still glows brightly. Our guys will happily put the bad guys in the ground. We still can produce weaponry that ends the enemy. Perhaps it's best that we don't, for the sake of the world. Perhaps it's best that we stay terminally polite, apologetic even, but we are renowned around the world as being some of the best people to have on your side in a fight. And yeah, we love a fight. Wherever we go, we get the home ice advantage. Sorry my ass.

I've only ever seen one, sitting on a pedestal about a mile away from my house in front of an RCAF base. It sits there beside a Sabre, a VooDoo, a T-33 and a Starfighter (my favourite) I'm quite familiar with these other planes, I've seen many Voodoos and Starfighters flying, but when I saw the CF-100 Canuck I thought, "what the hell is that, it's clearly Canadian with a name like 'Canuck' but how come i've never heard of it?" Well.....I've probably never heard of it because it's Canadian....

Well done but where did you get the artwork for the thumbnail that looks nothing like the Canuck?

We made Sabres in Canada too... And what the hell is a Canook? 👍🇨🇦

Love this. I used to live not a km from the crash site mentioned at 15:30. There is a wingless Canuck sitting outside the nearby Aviation and Space Museum too. Persumably not the same airframe.

Thank You Simon for that quip about height because I went to Hamilton Ontario museum and they let me sit in that thing and the first thing I noticed was I didn't fit , my head went over the canopy and I could not touch or see the controls on either side showing you must be very small to fly it !

Thanks for reviewing the "Clunk", the F86 was also built in Canada by Candair.

What a great episode. As a Canadian myself, I want to thank you for presenting this in an interesting way. Great job!

Avro Jetliner, the 2nd commercial jet flown ever flown after the de Havilland Comet by 13 weeks, did not survive from prototype into production. Partly due to the needs of the Canuck production. But unlike the Comet, the Avro Jetliner never crashed. Was capable of speeds of 500 mph. Was even flown by Howard Hughes who desperately wanted to have it built on a large scale.

"It's Canada, after all." Mad respect for Simon, delivering that line while looking at the camera with a straight face. And not absolutely breaking out in hilarious laughter... 😂😁😜

Fun fact.I saw a aluminum canoe in 88 & the owner said that it was made from the Avro 😉

There is a cf100 permanently on display in my hometown of North Bay Ontario in one of our parks on a pedestal. Been there as long as I can remember. Probably because we have a NORAD base here tucked in the side of one of our mountains 😊

One of these aircraft is on a pedestal display in my hometown of North Bay, Ontario, Canada. CFB North Bay was heavily populated with these and other fighter aircraft through the 60s, 70s and 80s. We also had the unique underground radar complex (there is one in the US as well) called SAGE…Semi Automated Ground Environment. Maybe you can do a show on this decommissioned feature some day?

I love the fact that it look like an older version of the SU-25

Id love to see you do a video on the avro arrow

How about a video on the Avro C102 Jetliner? Second jet passenger aircraft to fly, only 13 days behind the DeHavilland Comet.

Great video. Thanks

i really wish we were still developing jets here it, would create a bunch of good jobs and supper fun things to "test out"

I wish the AVRO Arrow was mass produced!

Canook? Canook?? Suck, duck, luck... canook???? Simon..... I can't even.

Panavia Tornado: Hold my Beer.

There was one on display at Castle air force base museum in Atwater, California.

Question.. when a missle hits a target... does the jet say... "sorry, eh"? Just asking for a friend.

CF-86 were made in Canada by Canadair, they were based on US design, not imported. And the CF-100 stayed in service for so long because the airframes were found to be much more resiliant than originally predicted.

John Jack Frost - the most Canadian name ever!

You do know that the tile for this clip on RU-vid shows a CF-101 Voodoo?