I get the definite feeling that the GTAA is trying their "level" best to keep the destruction away from the public eye on Airport Road for as long as they can. What better way to destroy a part of our heritage that can not be easily seen from the public areas of the airport. I can well imagine that we will drive by some Monday morning and see that our Aviation Heritage has been forever totally eradicated from the planet. Are Diefenbaker's relatives in the demolition business too?

Thank heavens that we have men like John Hildebrandt and the people of Barry's Bay who as we speak, are erecting a building, installing a 1/4 scale Arrow Replica pointed skyward as well as a monument to A.V. Roe and that great test pilot Jan Zurakowski, Barry's Bay's most famous resident. This man and the men and women of Avro Canada put Canada on the forefront of aviation in March 1958 by giving us a fabulous military jet aircraft whose real capabilities will never be known. All of this was achieved whilst other countries "were still in the doodling stage". In so doing, Avro gave Canada an icon, a dream, a memory and a Legend!

"They can destroy the buildings but they will never destroy the dreams and memories of opportunity lost."

29 July 2--3 - 1545 hrs (CDT)

Well, once again I had the misfortune of getting my hands on that
damned camera joy stick this morning and of course once again I pointed
the indicator to the north-east and hit the zoom button.

Today, the "Jaws of Death" were working at a never ending pace
carefully chopping up the west end of the "details building" and
spitting out the bits. No wonder my car is covered in a fine layer of
dust every day.

I firmly believe that I was correct in my previous assumption when I
assumed that Murray Demolition will leave nothing but the east facade
of this former historic aviation plant until the last minute and one
day, probably on a Monday morning people will drive by this historic
site on Airport Road and say, "now what used to be here"????? It makes
me happy that Casa Loma isn't on GTAA property!

I have also noticed that the fantastic silhouette of the CF-105 Avro
Arrow that the guys at Boeing Toronto so carefully and painstakingly
painted on the asphalt in front of Bay 1 for the Avro Arrow 45th
Anniversary rollout on October 4, 2002 is being driven over constantly
by steel treaded destruction vehicles...is nothing sacred??? Most of
this one dimensional but great looking aircraft painting on the asphalt
has almost been obliterated between the cockpit and the wing root by
vehicles.

For those of you who did not have the pleasure of being invited to the
45th Anniversary Rollout at Boeing Toronto, you can view this marvelous
rendition of the Avro Arrow in front of Bay 1 at the following web site
www.avroarrow.org/Boeing where you can view the Arrow painting lined
with many of the former Avro employees. Jim Floyd (the aircraft's
designer) if memory serves me correctly is near the nose.

If you do view this web site, I am sure that the many pictures taken of
this event on October 4, 2002 will make you as angry as many other
aviation enthusiasts are. We had it all and the government took it
away!!! Sounds sort of like taxes, doesn't it?

Well, that's my opinion...thanks for listening!