Join “The Sea Hunters” as they dive under the cold waters of Lake Ontario, at the Pickering Test Site, and off the coast of Maryland, at the American C.I.A. Headquarters at Wallop’s Island, and search for exact replicas, reduced in size, of a plane that was the fastest fighter of its day. Launched by Nike Missiles, these models were propelled at supersonic speeds for test purposes and never recovered. Working with the National Aeronautics Museum in Canada, and the Chief Historian for the U.S. Coast Guard in the United States “The Sea Hunters” will dive both sites and search for the last remnants of the fastest plane that was never built and in the process tell a story of espionage, subterfuge and assassination that starts under the cold waters of the Atlantic and Great Lakes and moves to Bermuda, South Africa, Holland and Iraq.
In the early 1950s Canada found herself geographically sandwiched between the world’s two great super powers. Relations between the United States and the Soviet Union were growing more bellicose and, unfortunately for Canada the theatre for any potential acts of war would be Canadian air space.
It was under these tense and uncertain conditions that A.V. Roe Ltd. of Canada began the development of the fastest and most sophisticated fighter aircraft ever developed. No one paid much attention until the first five Arrow fighters appeared on the runway after returning from test flights where they flew at nearly twice the speed of sound. Suddenly the world took notice. The sixth Arrow, with a much larger engine was expected to shatter all international speed records and set the world standard for fighter aircraft.
Then just as this plane was to roll out on the tarmac, the doors at A.V. Roe Ltd. were shut and locked. The entire Arrow work force of 14,000 employees was immediately fired. Many who were in a position to know said that Canada had been muscled out of the industry by the United States. The Canadian Prime Minister, said only that the plane was too expensive and that the project was terminated. All existing Arrows were ordered destroyed along with all plans and parts.
The work on an Air to Air Missile “The Velvet Glove” which was to be wing mounted on the fighter was also terminated and Gerald Bull, the Aero-physicist on the project, moved back to his pet project, ballistic launchers for satellites, or “Super Guns”. His work would take him from Canada to Bermuda to the U.S. to South Africa and finally to Brussels and Iraq. Israel’s “Mossad” would warn him several times not to work with Saddam Hussein, he would later be found at the door of his Brussels apartment with several bullets lodged in the back of his head.
Join “The Sea Hunters” as they dive to find the last artifacts of this twisted tale of intrigue.
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