Canadians watched as history was made right in front of their eyes. The thought of bringing the Avro Arrows to the surface of the lake kept everyone on edge. David Shea was excited for the exploration team using new technology to achieve the mission. He expressed his feelings in an interview.
“I think being able to showcase using cutting-edge Canadian technology — being our sonar systems and underwater vehicles — to actually find and resurrect cutting edge Canadian technology… I think it’s an amazing example of what we can do as Canadians looking back at our history.”
A Confident Start
Based on Hurst’s eyewitness account, the expedition team was able to start the mission with confidence. After the team got the ThunderBird in the water, Burzynski told CBC TV, “We're starting with the high-probability areas. You won’t have to wait for weeks and months. This will be within days.”
Even though Burzynski had told them it wouldn’t take long for something to be discovered, the media was still surprised by how quickly the team produced results. Burzynski knew the team was prepared, and his confidence paid off.
Twelve Days Later
Just twelve days later, Burzynski had good news to share with the public. “Well, we found one,” he eagerly revealed. At this time, it was late July. The “Raise The Arrow” exploration team had proof that the Avro Arrows remained at the bottom of Lake Ontario.
However, it would be months before the prototype they found would see the day of light. As the public patiently waited for the model to be brought to land, it remained in the murky waters. People couldn’t wait to see the artifacts, but they were kept waiting until 2018.
The Missing Piece Of The Puzzle
There was a significant delay before the exploration team could show off their discovery, though. While they had found several Avro Arrow prototypes, they hadn’t found them all.
Of course, one of the prototypes they couldn’t find was the ninth one, and the model considered the Holy Grail. As the most advanced model made, the team felt their collection wouldn’t be complete until they found every last one. For this reason, the search continued.
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.”