CF-100 Canuck

left to right:
Peter Cope, Chris Pike, Jan Zurakowski (Zura), Mike Cooper Slipper, Don Rogers, Stan Haswell, Glen Lynes (deceased 1955)

The photo above was donated by Stan Haswell, one of the original Avro Canuck pilots. Stan was also involved in flying the Avro Jetliner and Avro's DC-3; in addition Stan was one of the very few people who had an opportunity to be a passenger in the AvroCar.

Out of the four aircraft which were produced by Avro Canada, only the CF-100 Canuck was privileged to go into full production. For thirty years the Clunk as it was known affectionately served the Canadian Air Force, Belguim was the only foreign country to use the Canuck.

Originally designatated at the XC-100, A.V. Roe Canada Ltd. was officially approached towards the end of 1945 to design an all weather fighter. The CF-100 was the 1946 brainchild of Edgar Atkin, then Chieft Engineer, and John Frost, a designer from de Havilland in England who had worked on the Vampire and 108 Flying Wing project (Frost was also the key player in the AvroCar project) Initial armament requirements were for four 20mm Aden cannons but that was replaced by eight .50 Browning machine guns; the nose radar was originally planned to be the British Mk.9A-1 but this was changed to the American AN-APS-19A. Avro was busy after the war servicing Sea Furies, B-25 Mitchells and Lancasters; in addition Avro was designing the Avro C.102 during the same time as they were working the the Canuck, due to these factors it was not until mid 1948 that tooling was ready for the project, it was the end of 1949 when the first prototype was completed. The prototypes were officially designated as Mk.1s although they were never destined for military service.

Bill Waterton, on secondment from Gloster's of U.K., took #18101 (FB-D) up for the first flight on the 19th of January 1950. As the Orenda engines were not yet ready, a pair of Rolls-Royce Avons were used to power early CF-100s. No major problems were noted in the first flight and the recommendations of Waterton were for better nosewheel steering the improvements in the air-break design.

The Second prototype 18102 (FB-K) was finished in July 1950 and introducted the wingtip fuel tanks. This aircraft was delivered to the Central Experimental and Proving Establishment in Rockliffe, Ontario in October of 1950; 18102 crashed around 10:30 am 5 April 1951 into some swampy land just east of Highway 402 in Caradoc Township killing pilot Flight-Lieutenant Bruce Warren, 28, of Toronto and Avro engineer Robert Ostrander of Brampton (the crash happened the same day the aircraft was officially 'delivered' to the RCAF).
The cause of the crash was attributed to the crew losing consciousness at a high altitude, possibly from a oxygen mask failure. The prototype aircraft was not equiped with ejection seats nor did it have controls in the rear seat position.

Five Mk.2 CF-100s were produced (18103-18107) all fitted with the Orenda 2 jet engines. These aircraft were still not "production" models but introduced the natural metal scheme instead of the high polish black of the Mk.1s -- 18103 was used for the development of the underbelly gun pack while the remaining Mk2s were built with dual controls and designated as Mk.2Ts

The Royal Canadian Air Force began CF-100 operations in 1952 at R.C.A.F. Station North Bay and the Canuck saw further modifications including better radar, fire-contol system and upgraded engines. The CF-100 was officially retired in October 1981.


The C-103 / CF-103 was a projected twin engined swept wing fighter, proposed in May 1952 as a replacement for the CF-100, no orders were placed and only a wooden mock-up was ever produced.

Information on the 16 Feb 59 crash of 18429

Information on 18194 restored in Borden

additional photos can also be found on Eric Dumigan's great site page 1 page 2 no longer online (was http://www.airic.ca/html/avro_cf-100.html)

We are currently looking to add information on the CF-100 demostration teams Bald Eagles & Red Ravens, if you have any material you would like to share please contact us.