Avro CF-100

The Avro CF-100, the "Canuck", was a Canadian fighter jet used during the Cold war. The aircraft's first flight was in January 1950 and entered service into the RCAF as a fighter in 1952. The aircraft operated under the U.S./Canadian North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) to protect the airspace from Soviet intruders such as nuclear armed bombers. It featured a short takeoff run and high-climb rate for its day, making it well suited to its role. The Canuck served until 1981 having gone through various upgrades over its career.

Several Canuck squadrons were based in Europe, where they were for some time the only NATO fighters capable of operating in zero visibility and poor weather conditions.

A total of 695 planes of different variants were produced. 53 of which were sold to Belgium for its air force. Its nose radar made it one of the first all-weather jet fighters.

It was the first RCAF jet fighter designed and built in Canada, and also the last since its successor the CF-105 Arrow was judged too costly for Canada and the program terminated before the planes could be produced in series and put in service. After that Canada used foreign airplanes.

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