Distributed for University of British Columbia Press
Cold War Fighters
Canadian Aircraft Procurement, 1945-54
The cancellation of the CF-105 Arrow in 1959 holds such a grip on the Canadian imagination that earlier developments in defence procurement remain obscure. Randall Wakelam corrects this oversight – and offers fresh insight on the AVRO saga and contemporary procurement issues – by revealing how cabinet ministers, chiefs of staff, and air marshals negotiated competing pressures to arm the air force, please allies, and save money during a decade when Canada’s air force was growing by leaps and bounds. The result was the CF-100 Canuck and the F-86 Sabre, Canada’s front-line defensive aircraft in the coldest years of the Cold War.
Table of Contents
1 An Air-Minded Middle Power
2 Planning for Peace
3 International and Industrial Alliances
4 Caught Flat-Footed
5 Facing the Threat in Earnest
6 And So to War
7 Juggling Numbers
8 Putting Rubber on the Ramp
9 Growing Needs, Growing Concerns
10 Fact and Fancy
Appendix A: Royal Canadian Air Force Headquarters Organization Chart, c. 1947
Appendix B: Department of Defence Production Aircraft Delivery Statistics, 1951-54
Notes
Bibliography
Index