Shutting Down the National Dream: A.V. Roe and the Tragedy of the Avro Arrow

In 14 years from 1946-1959, A.V.Roe Canada and its two subsidiaries, Avro Aircraft & Oneida Engines, almost single-handedly set the aviation world on its ear. Their designers and engineers were described by NATO's General Norstad as "just about the best team anywhere." By 1958, Avro had designed, and was about to produce, the most sophisticated piece of aviation design and technology the world had ever the Arrow, decades in advance of world competition. But in 1959, Prime Minister Diefenbaker cancelled the Arrow and, to ensure the annihilation, ordered the scrapping of the six existing planes. Author Greig Stewart tells the story behind the story of A.V. Roe and the fabled Arrow. A story of the right stuff at the wrong time. A tragedy of government errors. A love story of a nation, a plane, and a dream.

Greig Stewart's book Shutting Down The National Dream won the National Business Book Award when it published in 1989 and has now sold over 20,000 copies. Re-issued in paperback in 1996 to tie in with the "The Arrow" mini-series, the book was a Toronto Star best-seller. Greig Stewart lives in Elmvale, Ontario.