THE ARROW

Credits

Synopsis

Wav Files and Photos

Anecdotes

Links

Credits

Directed by Don McBrearty

Produced by Paul Stephens, Mary Young Leckie, Aaron Kim Johnston and Eric Jordan

Crawford Gordon Dan Aykroyd
Kate O'Hara Sara Botsford
Jack Woodman Ron White
Jim Chamberlin Aidan Devine
James Floyd Nigel Bennett
CIA Director Michael Ironside
Dwight D. Eisenhower Michael Moriarty
George Hees Christopher Plummer
Fred Smye Jonathan Whittaker
C.D. Howe Robin Gammell
Col. Fairchild Art Hindle
John G. Diefenbaker Robert Haley

Synopsis

PART 1
It is the height of the Cold War in the 1950s. Canada urgently needs a radically advanced jet fighter-interceptor to defend the Arctic against powerful new Soviet nuclear bombers capable of flying over the North Pole. Liberal cabinet minister C.D. Howe pressures the RCAF and its skeptical test pilot, the daring Jack Woodman (Ron White), to award the contract to the brash young Canadian design team at Avro Aircraft and their charismatic new president, Crawford Gordon (Dan Aykroyd). The brilliant but volatile chief designer Jim Chamberlain (Aidan Devine), the driven senior engineer Kate O'Hara (Sara Botsford) and determined chief engineer James Floyd (Nigel Bennett) face unprecedented challenges in attempting feats never before achieved in aviation.

PART 2
The newly-elected Conservative government of John Diefenbaker (Robert Haley) casts a skeptical eye on the Arrow program of its Liberal predecessors. The Avro team, beset by technical problems and cost overruns, races to prove the Arrow by breaking the world speed and altitude records with the prototype. Meanwhile, George Hees (Christopher Plummer) and other cabinet ministers in the Diefenbaker government publicly express doubts about the Arrow; U.S. President Eisenhower (Michael Moriarty) pressures Canada to get out of the high-tech aircraft business, and the behavior of Avro president Crawford Gordon (Dan Aykroyd) becomes increasingly erratic.

Copyright Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Used with permission.

Wav Files and Photos

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 arrow1.wav
"One-Oh-One, this is Avro Tower. Reduce throttle immediately, over."

arrow2.wav
"Well, I'm sure it would be a very intriguing project, Mr. Gordon, but the fact of the matter is that the speeds they're asking for would either melt or tear the wings and tail off any existing airframe design."

 

arrow3.wav
"But you should be aware, Crawford, that this is going to be big."

arrow4.wav
"He's quite a lad, isnt he? Our new president."

 

arrow5.wav
"Would somebody get that please? It's classified.

arrow6.wav
"Marrying an untried engine to an untried aircraft - - it's just not done."

 

arrow7.wav
"All right, let's go over it all again: supersonic air is compressed, compressed air is unstable. Unstable air over flat surfaces and straight lines hitting the wing groups causes a shockwave effect and extreme turbulence. So . . .what we have to do is to find a way to guide the air over the fuselage away from the wing groups so as to reduce the shockwave effect. How do we modify? Where do we begin?"

arrow8.wav
"Delicious, refreshing and aerodynamic."

 

arrow9.wav
"You're not going to get more speed out of it now, are you? It's useless!"

arrow10.wav
"There isn't a wind tunnel in the country that'll do Mach 2!"

 
arrow11.wav
"All right. We know it works on paper, now we step into the unknown. Arrow Two-Oh-One, this is Tower, do you read?"

arrow12.wav
"Arrow Two-Oh-One, you're cleared for takeoff."

 
arrow13.wav
"Having the Arrow means that Canada is being recognized as a power among the nations of the world!"

arrow14.wav
"No! You just cool down, Jack. Let's find out exactly what this means before we do anything crazy."

Anecdotes

"When we were making The Arrow a Canadian celebrity called Elwy Yost came to visit the set. He is very well known up here. He does a show called Saturday Night at The Movies...it's very good. Anyway, in his youth he had actually worked on the Arrow, and remembered the day that we were depicting (the first roll out of the plane) very well. He was actually crying during the shooting of the scene, he was so moved. It was a wonderful moment."

Links

Visit the Arrow web site on CBC

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This page last updated January 1, 1998