Notes:

NOTE 1./ 1891 Hamilton City, Ontario census

Name: Grace E Melmer
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single
Age: 16
Birth Year: abt 1875
Birthplace: Ontario
Relation to Head of House: Daughter
Religion: Free Church
French Canadian: No
Father's Birth Place: Ontario
Mother's Birth Place: Ontario
Province: Ontario
District Number: 72
District: Hamilton City
Subdistrict: Ward 7
Archive Roll #: T-6342

Household Members: Name Age
William Melmer 50
Louisa Melmer 50
Alfred Henry 24
Alice Melmer 18
Grace E Melmer 16
George Melmer 5
John Melmer 12
Louisa Melmer 10

NOTE 2./ Historical Perspective: The Year Was 1873

The year was 1873 and much of the world was entering into a long period of economic depression. The beginning of the Long Depression is typically marked by the crash of the Vienna stock market, which sent ripples across Europe and eventually the United States with the fall of Jay Cooke & Company. The Cooke investment bank was heavily invested in the overbuilt railroad system which was beginning to fail. With the fall of this prominent company, a financial panic ensued and the New York Stock Exchange had to close for ten days. Railroads, factories, banks, and businesses had to close their doors resulting in skyrocketing unemployment rates. The Long Depression would last into the 1890s.

There were other smaller scale disasters in 1873. The British SS Atlantic out of Liverpool (with a stop at Queenstown) hit a submerged rock en route to New York and was wrecked in heavy seas off Nova Scotia. It is estimated that 545 of the 952 passengers perished.

In Baltimore, Maryland, a fire began in the factory of Joseph Thomas and Sons and spread over ten acres of the city. Photos of the fire and aftermath can be found online at the Maryland Historical Society.

A cholera epidemic swept through Birmingham, Alabama. Below is an interesting excerpt from a report from Mortimer H. Jordan, who was secretary of the Jefferson County Medical Society of Birmingham, Alabama, at the time of the epidemic (found on the website of the Reynolds Historical Library at the University of Alabama at Birmingham).

The treatment adopted was the opium and mercurial. When the stomach seemed so inactive that nothing made any impression upon it, an emetic of mustard, salt, ginger, and pepper, suspended in hot water, in many cases produced a warm glow over the surface of the body in a few moments. . . . Diuretics produced no good results. No condition in life, sex, or age escaped. The sucking babe and those of extreme age suffered alike from its ravages.

Before closing this paper, justice demands that we should briefly allude to the heroic and self sacrificing conduct, during this epidemic, of that unfortunate class who are known as 'women of the town.' These poor creatures, though outcasts from society, anathematized by the church, despised by women and maltreated by men, when the pestilence swept over the city, came forth from their homes to nurse the sick and close the eyes of the dead. It was passing strange that they would receive no pay, expected no thanks; they only went where their presence was needed, and never remained longer than they could do good. While we abhor the degradation of these unfortunates, their magnanimous behavior during these fearful days has drawn forth our sympathy and gratitude.

Further north and west, Jesse James and the James- Younger gang robbed a Rock Island train near Adair, Iowa. This first train robbery netted the gang more than $2,300, but was most likely a disappointment for the gang. They were expecting a $100,000 gold shipment, but that shipment had been switched to another train at the last moment.

North of the border in Canada, the Dominion Parliament had more lawful goals in mind when it established the North-West Mounted Police, the predecessor of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Canada was growing and in 1873 Prince Edward Island joined the federation as Canada's smallest province.

In music, the song Home on the Range was born (Daniel Kelly & Brewster M. Higley). The tune went on to become the state song of Kansas and is known around the world.

NOTE 2./ The Fourth National Census, 1901

The first census of the young nation of Canada was taken in 1871, four years after four colonies became Canada. Manitoba and British Columbia joined Canada in 1870 and 1871 and therefore missed being included in the census. By 1901, the year of the fourth census, there were seven provinces, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia, and the Territories, a vast area that included what became Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Yukon, and Northwest Territories.

Government officials planning censuses increased the number of questions every time; for example, there were twelve columns to be completed on the form in 1891 and thirty-one in 1901. All the additional information is a benefit to genealogists, although I wish two columns from 1891 had been retained--the ones asking for the birthplaces of the individual's father and mother. Their absence is partially compensated for by the addition of questions about origin, nationality, and date of immigration. Also useful for genealogy is the addition of columns for date and place of birth, as well as another for the exact date of birth. The 1901 census also seeks information about the work or employment of each person and how much they earned.

Beginning with the name of each person enumerated, this is the list of columns:

Name of each person in household 31 March 1901
Sex
Colour
Relationship to head of household
Single, married, widowed, or divorced
Month and date of birth
Year of birth
Age at last birthday
Country or place of birth (If Canada, include province and add "r" or "u" for rural or urban.)
Year of immigration
Year of naturalization
Racial or tribal origin
Racial or tribal origin
Nationality
Religion
Profession, occupation, or trade
Living on own means
Employer, Employee, or Working on Own Account
Working at a trade in factory or in home
Months employed at trade in factory
Months employed at trade in home
Months employed in other occupation than trade in factory or home
Earnings from occupation or trade
Months at school in the year
Can read
Can write
Can speak English
Can speak French
Mother tongue
Infirmities

It is of significant interest to read the point on the 1901 form about using "r" and "u" to indicate whether the Canadian birthplace was rural or urban.

Grace married Sargeant Henry Thomas Beale MILLIE on 04 Jul 1892 in London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada. Henry (son of Robert Rumgay MILLIE and Elizabeth Margaret BEALE) was born on 14 Sep 1857 in Kilkenny, Ireland; died on 11 Jun 1918 in London, Ontario, Canada; was buried on 11 Jun 1918 in Mount Pleasant Cemetary, Section X, London, Ontario, Canada. ( Veterans Section). [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

NOTE 1./ 1901 Census District: ON MIDDLESEX (East) (#87) Subdistrict: London (City) Wards No. 3 and 4 D-5 Page 21

Family Name Sex Relationship M/S DOB Age
235 Millie Henery M Head M Sep 11 1857 43
235 Millie Grace F Wife M Jun 3 1875 25
235 Millie Harry M Son S May 27 1893 7
235 Millie Ethel F Daughter S Oct 8 1894 6
235 Millie Hilda F Daughter S Jun 13 1899 2

NOTE 2./ 1911 Middlesex East, London Township, Bronghdale Village census

Name Home Birth Birthplace Relation
Henry Millie Ontario, Middlesex East, London Township, Bronghdale Village 1858 Ireland Head
Grace Millie Ontario, Middlesex East, London Township, Bronghdale Village 1874 Ontario Wife
Henry W Millie Ontario, Middlesex East, London Township, Bronghdale Village 1891 Ontario Son
Ethel Millie Ontario, Middlesex East, London Township, Bronghdale Village 1894 Ontario Daughter
Hilda Millie Ontario, Middlesex East, London Township, Bronghdale Village 1898 Ontario Daughter
Louise Millie Ontario, Middlesex East, London Township, Bronghdale Village 1902 Ontario Daughter
Ruth Millie Ontario, Middlesex East, London Township, Bronghdale Village 1908 Ontario Daughter

NOTE 3./ HISTORICAL REFERENCE 1901

"The Atlanta Constitution" (Atlanta, Georgia), 15 December 1901, page 3:
MARCONI SPEEDS MESSAGES ACROSS ATLANTIC OCEAN

From Newfoundland to Cornwall Italian Inventor Sends Message Without Wires.

St. Johns, N.F., December 14. Signor Marconi announced the most wonderful scientific discovery of modern times tonight in stating that he had received electric signals across the Atlantic ocean from his station in Cornwall, England. He explains that before leaving England he made plans for accomplishing this result, for while his primary object was to communicate with ocean liners in mid-ocean he hoped also to succeed in attaining the wonderful scientific achievement of wireless telegraphy across the Atlantic.

Signor Marconi's station in Cornwall is most powerful. He has an electric force, generated there, a hundred times greater than at his ordinary stations. Before he left England he arranged that the electrician in charge of the station which is located at Poldhu, should begin sending signals daily after a certain date, which Signor Marconi would cable him after having perfected his arrangements here.

Signor Marconi arrive here a week ago Friday, selected Signal Hill, at the entrance to the harbor, as an experimenting station and moved his equipment there. Last Monday he cabled to the Poldhu station to begin sending signals at 3 p.m. daily and to continue until 6 p.m. these hours being respectively 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., St. Johns time. During these hours Wednesday Signor Marconi elevated the kite with an aerial wire by means of which signals are sent or received. He remained at the recorder attached to the receiving apparatus and to his profound satisfaction signals were received by him at intervals, according to the programme arranged previously with the operator at Poldhu.

These signals consisted of repeating at intervals the letter "s" which, in Marconi's code is made by three dots, or quick strokes. This signal was repeated so frequently and so in accordance with the plan, arranged to provide safeguards against the possibility of a mistake, that Signor Marconi was satisfied that it was a genuine transmission from England. . .

NOTE 4./ HISTORICAL REFERENCE The Year Was 1913
The year was 1913 and there was turbulence in the Balkans. Following a coup in the Ottoman Empire, the first Balkan War continued with allied Balkan states defeating the Ottoman Empire. The peace treaty, signed in London on May 30, redrew the map lines of southeastern Europe. In June, Bulgaria, unhappy with the new boundaries, attacked Greece and Serbia in a short-lived effort to gain control over Macedonia. The Treaty of Bucharest ended the second Balkan War giving control of Macedonia to the Greek and Serbian allies.

Tragedy struck on October 14 in Senghenydd, Wales, when an explosion ripped through a coal mine killing 439 men and boys in the worst coal mining disaster in Welsh history. The explosion left 205 widows and 542 children without a father. Postcards commemorating the disaster can be found online through the National Library of Wales. Wikipedia also lists the names of those killed in the disaster. The Coal Mining History Resource Center maintains a national database of mining deaths and injuries in the UK.

The following month, across the Atlantic a powerful storm dubbed the "Great Lakes White Hurricane" took 235 lives and caused up to forty shipwrecks. Most of the casualties came from large freighters wrecked on Lake Huron. The NOAA website includes accounts describing thirty-five foot waves in succession, of the grisly sight of sailors washing up on Canadian shores following the storm, and in one interesting story where one of the "victims" walked in on his own funeral.

Earlier that year in March, a catastrophic flood had brought disaster to Dayton and other cities in the Miami River valley. The flood took more than 300 lives and caused more than 100 million dollars in damage. Photographs accompany the story of the flood and aftermath in Dayton in this article from the Dayton Metro Library.

In 1913, Thomas Woodrow Wilson succeeded William Howard Taft in the presidency of the United States. During that first year in office, one of the most significant pieces of legislation passed was the Sixteenth Amendment, which provided for the creation of an income tax.

Crossword puzzles first came to fame in 1913 with the first publication of a puzzle by Arthur Wynne in the New York World on 21 December. They grew in popularity in the 1920s as they began appearing in other U.S. newspapers, eventually spreading across the ocean where they first appeared in the British Pearson's Magazinein February 1922.

Another innovation that year was the zipper, patented by Swedish immigrant, Gideon Sundback. Originally patented for use on galoshes, it later spread to clothing items.

Harry married Marguerite JACOBS on 26 Jan 1914 in Church of the Redeemer, London, Middlesex, Ontario. Marguerite (daughter of John David JACOBS and Arminta GARDINER) was born on 14 Jul 1893 in London, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada; died on 11 Nov 1946 in Toronto General Hospital; was buried on 14 Nov 1946 in London , Ontario, Canada, Woodland M, 82 - NE. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Grace married Leonard Douglas EADE on 01 Jun 1915 in London, Middlesex, Ontario. Leonard (son of Henry Charles EADE and Robina Denby MARSHALL) was born on 14 May 1896 in London, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Grace married Donald CAIN after 1915. Donald (son of John CAIN and Mariah J UNKNOWN) was born on 06 May 1894 in Caradoc, Middlesex South, Ontario; died in in Montrose, Michigan?. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Never MARRIED. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Louise married Arthur Lawrence PIGGOT in 1925 in Middlesex, Ontario. Arthur (son of Charles Esau PIGGOTT and Annie Amelia FULJAMES) was born on 20 Feb 1887 in Croydon, Surrey, England; died on 26 Aug 1974 in Flint, Genesse County, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Ruth married Willard Winefred WIGARD on 22 May 1926 in Flint, Michigan. Willard (son of Oscar Nelson WIGARD and Elsie Winnifred SCHELL) was born on 11 Apr 1904 in Superior City, Ward 1, Douglas County, Wisconsin; died on 08 Nov 1989 in Flint, Genesee, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

NOTE 1./ In a Class of its Own : The AVRO Arrow

(Chapter 12 of The Fight for Canada: Four Centuries of
Resistance to American Expansionism, by David Orchard.)

Canada's ongoing struggle for its own economy was graphically demonstrated by
an episode in the aerospace industry. It involved an airplane, a jet interceptor, that could fly twice the speed of sound and was called the Arrow.

Until 1940, Canada had looked to Britain for its military supplies. With the declaration of war in 1939, Britain urgently needed a source of supply herself. C.D. Howe, an American­born engineer and businessman, was made minister of munitions and supply in the King government and given the job of organizing Canada's war industry. He recruited one thousand businessmen ­ "Howe's boys" ­ from across the country, set up twenty­eight Crown corporations and achieved dramatic results. Canada's gross national product ­ the total value of goods and services produced by the nation ­ jumped astoundingly, from $5 billion in 1939 to $12 billion in 1943, and Canada climbed to fourth among the Allies in industrial production. By the end of 1944, Canadian shipyards had turned out almost 600 ships; some 45 aircraft companies, running 24 hours a day and employing 80,000 workers, had produced 16,000 aircraft. Declared Howe: " Never again will there be any doubt that Canada can manufacture anything that can be manufactured elsewhere." 1

Sir Roy Dobson of Hawker­Siddeley Aircraft, developer of 180 aircraft projects in England, came to Canada and was impressed by what he found. "It opened my eyes, I'll tell you," he said. "If these so­and­so's can do this during a war, what can't they do after. One thing this country would need is an aircraft industry of its own: design and development, not just assembling somebody else's stuff." Later he explained:

"I saw a great country full of natural resources, all kinds of metals, all kinds of minerals and oil, all kinds of capacity for growing wheat and other kinds of food, and yet it seemed to me... lacking in the finer engineering developments... in things like aircraft, aircraft engines and so on. And I couldn't imagine... a nation with this sort of potential carrying on without demanding ­ not just asking, or thinking about it, but demanding ­ its own aircraft, its own aircraft industry, its own engine industry and indeed a lot of other industries too... So I said, 'All right. That's my field. I'm going to have a go at it." 2

By 1945, the Royal Canadian Air force was the third largest in the world in terms of men and equipment. Robert Leckie, chief of air staff, had for years had fought for an independent Canadian air force, with aircraft designed in Canada and built to suit Canadian needs. At the close of the war, Roy Dobson and C.D. Howe struck a deal, and A.V. Roe (AVRO) Canada was set up in the Victory Aircraft plant outside of Toronto "to give Canada," as Dobson told the press, "a basic industry which, in our opinion, she badly needs. Canada will become the aircraft production center of the British Empire within ten years."3 Hamilton native Fred Smye, aircraft production director at Victory, became the first employee and a driving force behind AVRO future success.

March 17, 1949, saw the test run of the first Canadian jet engine, the AVRO Chinook. In August, the AVRO Jetliner, the first North American commercial jet aircraft and second in the world, made its maiden flight, fourteen days after the British Comet had lifted briefly a few feet off the ground in England. In April 1950, eight years before the first American commercial jet airplane took flight, the AVRO Jetliner carried the world's first jet airmail, from Toronto to New York, where its crew was welcomed with a ticker tape parade through the streets of Manhattan. The trip was made in half the flight time of a conventional airplane.

AVRO then designed and produced the Orenda jet engine, named after the god of the Iroquois. Developed by a small group of about forty young Canadian engineers, the Orenda was one of the most successful turbojet engines ever built. By 1954, more than one thousand had been delivered to the Canadian air force.

AVRO went on to design and build the highest­rated all­weather, long­range fighter in NATO, the CF (Canadian Fighter) 100. The first of hundreds of Orenda­powered aircraft was delivered to the RCAF in October, 1951. By 1958, the Canadian content in the CF 100 was 90 percent, and in its Orenda engines 95 percent. AVRO, following a buy­Canadian policy, established a network of Canadian suppliers and sub­contractors, which created a beehive of development activity in nearly every other Canadian industry. By now, A.V. Roe was the third­largest company in Canada, employing 50,000 people in all divisions and carrying out 70 percent of all research in Canada.

October 4, 1957, saw the official roll­out of the first AVRO Arrow ­ a supersonic jet fighter designed and built in four short years. With the Arrow, AVRO had created a brilliant aviation industry that drew to Canada international specialists at the top of their fields. After the unveiling, Aviation Week reported: "AVRO CF­105 Arrow has given Canada a serious contender for the top military aircraft of the next several years. The large, decidedly advanced delta­wing fighter was rolled out of the Malton plant a few days ago... The Arrow's power, weight and general design leave little doubt of its performance potential."Flight, another international aviation magazine, called the Arrow "the biggest, most powerful, most expensive and potentially the fastest fighter that the world has yet seen." 4

On March 25, 1958, the AVRO Arrow Mark I ­ a "great, sleek, white bird," to one observer ­ lifted gracefully from the runway and was airborne for the first time.5 The most advanced aircraft in the world, it exceeded all expectations. At three­quarter throttle, the Arrow flew at nearly twice the speed of sound ­ faster than the most advanced plane in the Canadian Air Force three decades later, the American F­18.

The world speed record in 1958 was 1404 mph. The first five Arrows, fitted with temporary, less powerful engines, flew at 1320 mph. Into the sixth Arrow was installed the most advanced and the most powerful engine in the world, the brand new Iroquois, Canadian designed and built from scratch. On February 19, 1959, the AVRO Arrow Mark II, fitted with Iroquois engines, was on the tarmac, being prepared for the test flight expected easily to break the world speed record. Behind it, another thirty­one Mark IIs, Iroquois equipped, were ready to roll down the assembly line.

At the sprawling 400­acre AVRO plant just outside Toronto, almost everybody felt good about their work. They saw themselves as contributing to Canada. Absenteeism was low and lateness was rare. The atmosphere was described by one aviation writer as touched by magic: "They were so proud of that airplane, and of the inescapable fact that they were producing something that was the best in the whole bloody world. You could sense it the minute you walked in the place." Joe Morley, the sales and service manager, explained: "We were all possessed with one ideal ­ the Arrow. No one, even in junior management, ever punched a time clock; it would have been as much overtime as straight time." 6 The design and development people were top notch, as were the engineers. The Arrow "was in a class of its own and at least twenty, if not thirty, years ahead of its time in terms of design philosophy, materials, and manufacturing technique!" 7

Yet all was not as well as it seemed. A peculiar thing had happened back in 1950: C.D. Howe had ordered production of the AVRO Jetliner stopped after the first aircraft was completed. One of the outstanding aeronautical achievements of its day, the one and only Jetliner broke records with every flight. Robert Rummell, chief engineer for Trans World Airlines in the United States, described the pioneer plane: "The Jetliner, the first jet transport produced in North America, was an advanced, medium­range, 450 ­mph plane that first flew an amazing eight years before Boeing's 707. This extraordinary achievement is all the more remarkable considering that it was the first product of a new company in a country not dominant in the development or construction of aircraft. The design, developed by A.V. Roe Canada (AVRO), was conspicuously ahead of any competitive transport." 8

Then, one Saturday, early in February 1957, after eight years of flying, the Jetliner came in for a routine check. The following Monday morning, the staff found the craft cut in two. It was sold for scrap. In 1959, Fred Smye, at the time the president and general manager of AVRO Aircraft, said:"It had exceeded every specification and if it had gone ahead would be selling around the world today." 9 A few days after the Jetliner was destroyed, the Saturday Evening Post of February 16, 1957, carried a two­page centerfold advertisement of the new Boeing "Jetliner," the 707, proudly describing it as "America's first Jetliner, the only American jet airliner flying today." 10

Now, on the morning of February 20, 1959, at 9.30, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker was in the House of Commons to deliver a statement on "one facet of the national defence" of Canada. "The government of Canada," he went on, "has carefully examined and re­examined the probable need for the Arrow aircraft and Iroquois engine known as the CF­105... The conclusion arrived at is that the development of the [Arrow] aircraft and Iroquois engine should be terminated now." 11

The shocked employees heard the news first from a reporter. A telegram from Ottawa ordered AVRO to "cease and desist as of receipt of this telex on all government contracts and acknowledge that you are so proceeding." And over the public address system, 14,528 employees were told their services would no longer be needed. They were laid off immediately. Ordered by Raymond O'Hurley, minister of defence production, to "cut up the Arrow and destroy... all material associated with it," Smye refused. O'Hurley replied: "If you don't do it, we'll send the army in to do it." 12 Teams of men with cutting torches came into the factories and cut the completed Arrows into scrap. The blow torches didn't stop until the "obscene destruction of millions of dollars worth of finished and almost­finished planes, of tools, jigs, fixtures and masses of expensive production and test equipment" was complete.13 Some of the employees who had built the aircraft were seen to "stand and cry as grown men seldom cry" as they watched the torches "melt down and cut to pieces the magnificent airplanes which they had spent seven years of their lives designing, creating and building."14 Operating manuals, blue­prints, records, drawings and thick volumes of specifications data were collected and destroyed.

The mutilated scraps of the most advanced engine and airplane in the world were delivered under tight security to a Toronto scrap yard, along with the tools that produced them. Afterwards, a government official said tersely, referring to the Arrow: " Forget it! It never existed. Get that into your heads."15

Some 650 major sub­contracts were cancelled. The Arrow's demise affected the livelihood of nearly 100,000 Canadians and the fate of dozens of industries. Some historians, commentators and government members, using wildly distorted figures, have cited high production costs as one reason for the Arrow's cancellation. The total spent on the Iroquois engine and development of the Arrow, including the finished aircraft, was approximately $300 million. Another $200 million would have been required to complete them after which each Arrow would have cost the government $3.7 million, roughly the price of a contemporary, less sophisticated U.S. plane. And the money, technology, jobs and talent would have remained in Canada. (The Financial Post estimated that at least 65 percent of the total cost of the Arrow programme came back directly to the government in taxes.) The Arrow, in the words of Edith Kay Shaw, an aviation­engineering technologist who worked on the AVRO Jetliner, the CF­100 and the Arrow, "represented one of the greatest bargains in aircraft ever offered," to say nothing of the tens of thousands of jobs created and dozens of domestic spin­off industries in everything from plastic to design.16

Why was the Arrow cancelled? The official reason given by the government was that the missile age had dawned and manned jet fighter aircraft, including the Arrow, had become obsolete. Accordingly, the new American missile system, called the Bomarc missile system, was to be purchased, and because Canada could not afford both the Arrow and the Bomarc, the Arrow had to go. Behind­the­scenes pressure from the United States for Canada to buy the Bomarc ­ a system that was untried, unproven and would eventually prove useless ­ was direct and effective. In a meeting between the Canadian defence minister, George Pearkes, and the U.S. secretary of state for defence, Neil McElroy, the Canadian government asked what would happen if Canada refused to buy the Bomarc. The Canadians were told that "the consequence would be... the emplacement of at least one more Bomarc Squadron in the U.S., south of the Great Lakes."17 Because the Bomarc had a limited range of 250 miles, this would mean, in the advent of war against incoming Soviet missiles from the north, the certainty of nuclear holocaust above Canada's most densely populated regions. Consequently, the Canadian government decided to purchase the Bomarc, put them further north in Canada, and terminate the Arrow.

Within two months of the Arrow's cancellation, Canadians were told that fighter aircraft to intercept Soviet bombers were still necessary after all. Ten months later, General Lawrence Kuter of the United States, Commander­in­chief of the North American Air Defence agreement (NORAD), requested that Canada equip itself with supersonic fighters such as the American F­101B. In 1961, Canada purchased sixty­six of these dated aircraft ­ in no way comparable to the Arrow ­ from the United States. Two decades later Canada would spend roughly $5 billion ($30 million per plane) purchasing the American F­18A, an aircraft still inferior to the Arrow.

As for the Bomarc missile system, admitted by the Americans themselves to be entirely for the the defence of the American Strategic Air Command and not for Canada, it turned out to be an expensive dud which became obsolete before it was installed.
A significant but little known fact is that the Arrow was the only aircraft in the world capable of downing the new, top secret U­2 spy plane developed by the CIA, which in the late 1950s was overflying countries around the globe. The U­2 flew at an altitude of 70,000 feet, unreachable by any existing interceptor but well within the Arrow's range. In 1960, Defence Minister Pearkes admitted the U­2 was overflying Canada and that without interceptor aircraft, Canada was powerless to police its own skies against such an intruder.

Judith Robinson of the Toronto Telegram, February 10, 1959, wrote that Canada's role from the point of view of U.S. defence planners was to "provide for the defence of the United States three things: a narrow margin of time, distant early warning signals, and rocket bases. Just those three things. Manned supersonic fighters based in Canada have no place in U.S. defence plans."18

The New York Times carried a report, stating "Canada has had the dubious privilege of being first in learning the economic and political implications of U.S. domination in weapons... the result is... no real defence... a disappearing Canadian Air Force and aircraft industry; and a fearfully ill­equipped Army. Why? Because... [Canada has] conformed to U.S. concepts, doctrines and weapons."19

In 1717, the manufacturing of beaver hats was begun in Montreal. Four finished hats were turned out every day. Then came the order directly from the King of France to kill the industry. There was to be no competition from the colony for French hat makers. Colonies "are established solely for the utility of the country that forms them," Louis XIV said.20 Two and a half centuries later, instead of from Versailles, the pressure came from Washington.

The AVRO Jetliner was destroyed to allow the Americans to introduce their Boeing Jetliner, eight years after the Canadian Jetliner had first flown. Just as the Mark II was about to fly, and in all likelihood bring the world's speed record to Canada, thirty­seven supersonic aircraft were scrapped. To make sure no new aircraft would rise from the cuttings of the blow torches, a free­trade agreement in defence supplies, the Canada­U.S. Defence Production Sharing Agreement of 1959, was signed. That agreement integrated the defence industries of the two countries. Canada agreed to rely on the United States for defense technology, and has never again tried to be self­reliant in the aerospace and defense industries. Instead of producing its own aircraft, Canadian industry was reoriented to produce parts for U.S. contractors. In 1958, within three months of the Arrow's cancellation, Canada joined NORAD, which integrated the air defence of the two countries under a "joint" command head quartered in Colorado. In the future, Defence Minister Pearkes said, the United States would supply jet interceptors defence if Canada should require it. The operation of these two agreements ensured that Canada would never again create and produce high­tech aircraft. The very country that has invaded Canada repeatedly, and has been by far its most dangerous and sustained threat over the centuries, now "looks after" Canada's defence.

Canada went on to spend billions of dollars on civilian and military aircraft from American firms, aircraft less suited to its needs and climate. The "Canadian" defence industry today consists mainly of subsidiaries of American corporations. These subsidiary firms are encouraged to station scouts in the United States to catch word of pending U.S. contracts. They can then make a bid to produce U.S. weapons.

With the cancellation of the Arrow thousands of the highly skilled engineers, designers and aerospace workers, some gathered with great difficulty from all over the world, who for ten years had refused repeated offers from U.S. firms to leave Canada, were thrown out of work and now had little choice. Twenty­six of AVRO's top engineers, including Jim Chamberlin from British Columbia, AVRO 's chief of design, were sent by the Canadian government to NASA, where their skills played a crucial role in landing an American on the moon. Chamberlin was later described by NASA management as "probably one of the most brilliant men ever to work with NASA."21 Highly skilled AVRO 's engineers made their contributions in almost all fields of aviation and technology throughout the Western world, not only with NASA but also with Boeing of Seattle, RCA in Massachusetts, Hawker­Siddeley of England, Fokker of Holland, and the European Space Agency.

With an eight­year lead on the United States in civilian jetliner technology and the AVRO 's Arrow, the Canadian aerospace industry could have taken on the best in the world. It would also have been competition for U.S. corporations. Instead, AVRO 's scrambled for whatever business it could find, at one point landing a contract to produce pots and pans. In 1962, AVRO 's sold what remained of its gutted operations to de Havilland, leaving a wealth of concepts, ideas and designs that, over the next three decades, were used by leading British and American firms. And the myth began to be fostered that Canada did not have the skills, capabilities or resources to build world­class industries on its own.

Polish born Janusz Zurakowski, the decorated fighter pilot who test flew the Arrow, wrote: "Canada, by creating its own industry, could have satisfied most defence requirements ­ but not the American industrialists who wanted the market." He added: "Governments and torches can destroy an aircraft, but they cannot destroy hope, and aspiration... In the hearts of the people, the dream lives on."22

If the Jetliner and Arrow had gone ahead, they, like the CF­100, would have been purchased by other countries. American industrialist Howard Hughes was interested in producing the Jetliner in the United States, and several American companies wished to order the aircraft from AVRO 's. An American company had signed a contract with AVRO 's to produce the Iroquois under license ­ the first contract of its kind signed by the United States with a Canadian company. France had approached AVRO about purchasing 300 Iroquois engines for use in its Mirage jet fighter. Both the United States and Britain were interested in the Arrow because they had nothing comparable.

The technology, the research and the talent, as well as the money since spent on foreign aircraft, both military and commercial, would have remained in Canada. A dynamic aerospace industry would have established itself as one of the major engines driving Canada's economy. Equally significant, Canada would have had the capability to patrol and defend its own borders and airspace against incursion by all intruders. If the Arrow had flown with Iroquois engines, it almost certainly would have broken world records for both speed and altitude. Had the Canadian public seen that happen, cancellation of the Arrow would have been impossible. That is why the blowtorches came in before the Mark IIs could lift off the ground.

The Arrow was not cancelled because it was costly or obsolete or defective. It was, in the words of electronics engineer and Arrow researcher, Palmiro Campagna, "erased from existence, because it was too damn good!"23

NOTES:

(1.) Howe, quoted in Greig Stewart. Shutting Down the National Dream. A.V. Rose and the Tragedy of the AVRO Arrow. (Toronto: McGraw­Hill, Ryerson, 1988), p. 13.
(2) Dobson quoted ibid, p. 29; and in E.K. Shaw, There Never Was an Arrow (Ottawa, Steel Rail Educational Publishing, 1981), p. 32.
(3) Dobson, quoted in Stewart, Shutting Down, p.44.
(4) Aviation Week, October 21, 1957, and Flight, October 25, 1957, quoted in Palmiro Campagna, Storms of Controversy: The Secret Arrow Files Revealed (Toronto, Stoddart, 1992), p. 54.
(5) Shaw, There Never Was, pp. 57­58.
(6) Stewart, Shutting Down, p. 2; and Morley quoted in Stewart, p. 267.
(7) Campagna, Storms, p. 69.
(8) Rummel, quoted in ibid., p. 8.
(9) Smye, quoted in Stewart, Shutting Down, p. 270.
(10) Shaw, There Never Was, p. 40
(11) Diefenbaker, quoted in Campagna, Storms, p. 1.
(12) Stewart, Shutting Down, pp. 261, 273, 274.
(13) Shaw, There Never Was, p. 100.
(14) Ibid., p. 89.
(15) Ibid., p. 110.
(16) Ibid., pp. 173, 167.
(17) Campagna, Storms, p. 100.
(18) Judith Robinson, "Rabbits for the Eagle," (Toronto Telegram, February 10, 1959, quoted in Shaw, Never Was, p. 127. (Shaw relates that after this article, the Telegram dropped Robinson's column and did not reinstate it until she dropped all references to the Arrow or to the defence.)
(19) New York Times,quoted in Shaw, Never Was, pp. 174­175.
(20) Stanley B, Ryerson, The Founding of Canada. Beginnings to 1815 (Toronto: Progress Books, 1963), p. 161.
(21) Zurakowski, quoted in Shaw, Never Was and Stewart, Shutting Down, xii.
(22) Campagna, Storms, p. 122.

NOTE 2./ Detroit Border Crossings and Passenger and Crew Lists, 1905-1957
Name: John Henry Millie
Arrival Date: 24 Sep 1938
Age: 23
Birth Date: 1 Mar 1915
Birthplace: London Ont
Gender: Male
Race/Nationality: Irish
Port of Arrival: Detroit, Michigan
Departure Contact: Mother Marguerette Millie
Microfilm Roll Number: M1478_65

NOTE 3./ Detroit Border Crossings and Passenger and Crew Lists, 1905-1957
Name: John Henry Millie
Arrival Date: 25 Sep 1939
Age: 24 years 6 months
Birth Date: abt 1915
Birthplace: London Ont
Gender: Male
Race/Nationality: Irish
Port of Arrival: Detroit, Michigan
Departure Contact: Mother Margurite Millie
Microfilm Roll Number: M1478_65

NOTE 4./ There is a book by Greig Stewart, "Shutting Down the National Dream", that makes 12 references to Jack Millie's involvement with the CF 105. Your Uncle Jack was, in the beginning, a large part of the seed ideas for the then unnamed, Avro Arrow.
This is one excerpt from the aforementioned book.
"There was myself and a couple of Draftsmen. We had one guy looking after stress, another looking after aerodynamics, and I was trying to tie it all together, that is, getting down on paper something the other guys could work with and something we could submit to the Government as a proposal. We were not working on any response to any Operational requirement for the RCAF. We heard somewhere the air force wanted an airplane and we were trying to come up with something." -------- Jack Millie
As the aircraft evolved, my Dad had a diminished role with the additional specialist personnel brought on board at Avro, and in the final version was mainly responsible for the jet engines being mounted on the fuselage vs attached to the wing of the CF105, Avro Arrow. During this time period, Jack would bring home all kinds of presents at Christmas from benefactors, albeit unknown to me, all of course related to aviation.

John married Verna Annie WILKES on 18 Oct 1941 in London, Ontario, Canada at St James (Westminister) Anglican Church.. Verna (daughter of Arthur Bo WILKES and Esther Mary LIZMORE) was born on 26 Sep 1914 in London, Ontario, Canada; died on 26 Oct 1999 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; was buried on 30 Oct 1999 in Sanctuary Park Cemetery, Weston, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Lieutenant WWII James Grant MOLONEY. WWII (son of William Thomas MOLONEY and Mary Jane ROBERTSON) was born on 01 Jun 1908 in London, Ontario, Canada; died on 20 Mar 1941 in England; was buried on 20 Mar 1941 in Guilford, England, Canadian cemetary. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

NOTE 1./ Social Security Death Index about Charles H. Piggott
Name: Charles H. Piggott
SSN: 378-20-6616
Last Residence: 48519 Burton, Genesee, Michigan, United States of America
Born: 14 Jun 1926
Died: 27 Jan 2002
State (Year) SSN issued: Michigan (Before 1951 )

NOTE 2./ U.S. Public Records Index 2007
about Charles H Piggott
Name: Charles H Piggott
Birth Date: Jun 1926
Street address: 2397 Maplelawn Dr
City: Burton
County: Genesee
State: Michigan
Zip Code: 48519
Phone Number: 810
Record Number: 439643564

Household Members:
Name Est. Age Birth Year
Bruce C Piggott 48 1959
Charles H Piggott 81 1926
Louise Piggott
Sally J Piggott 42 1964

Family/Spouse: Louise UNKNOWN?. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living COOPER. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living SWAYTEK. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

NOTE 1./ U.S. Public Records Index about Arthur Lawrence Piggott
Name: Arthur Lawrence Piggott
Birth Date: Feb 1931
Street address: 5508 E Hill Rd
City: Grand Blanc
County: Genesee
State: Michigan
Zip Code: 48439
Phone Number: 810-694-6228
Record Number: 412750439

Household Members:
Name Est. Age Birth Year
Arthur Piggott
Arthur Lawrence Piggott 76 1931
Daisy E Piggott 76 1930
Jr Piggott 76 1931

Family/Spouse: Living UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living VAN WAGONER. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living MINTO. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living POTTER. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living O'BRIEN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living BROWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living MATHIS. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living WHITESIDE. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living BONDY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Dale John POMEROY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]