m charters wrote:
Very interesting.
Just a couple of weeks back I was in Barry's Bay, Ontario (if you're ever camping in Algonquin park as we were, its only a short drive from there) and stopped by the park that the town erected in honour of Arrow test Pilot Jan Zurakowski who moved there after retirement.
We spent some time taking in the splendid replica of the Arrow that the locals created as a tribute to Zura and reading a bit about his exceptional career as a pilot. As I was a snapping a pick of my two boys in front of the Arrow a man approached me and asked me their ages.
He introduced himself to me as Walt and was quite passionate that I make
certain that my kids knew the story of the Arrow so that this tragic chapter in Canadian history would not repeat itself. As it turns out, Walt grew up in Malton when the Arrow program was going full tilt, he was a paper boy and most of his customers were A.V Roe employees.
Routinely he saw the Arrow in flight and noted that his most memorable image of the Arrow was when he happened to look up as it kicked in its afterburner, I can only imagine the scene. He recalled Black Friday and the effect that it had on the town and him personally. The town itself was ruined and in the end even he lost his job delivering papers which was used by his family to help make ends meet.
After a great discussion on the subject, Walt indicated that the most important lesson that we can learn from the Arrow fiasco is to educate our future generations of Canadians that there is no reason that we cannot accomplish great feats here at home. We just have to see through the political prophets of doom who want to throw in the towel on manufacturing, R&D etc and keep us a nation of drawers of water and hewers of wood.
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