At the bottom of Lake Ontario was once a lost piece of Canada’s aviation history
100 Mile Free Press
September 12, 2017
A search for underwater treasure has panned out for a Salmon Arm Secondary graduate.
At the bottom of Lake Ontario was a lost piece of Canada’s aviation history – a piece which has now been found.
Nine prototype test-plane models of the infamous Avro Arrow jet were created and launched into Lake Ontario between 1954 and 1957. It was confirmed Sept. 8 that one of the models has been found on the floor of Lake Ontario.
Former Salmon Arm resident David Shea is vice-president of engineering for Kraken Sonar Systems. The Newfoundland-based company has developed a programmable submarine, known as the ThunderFish, an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with an advanced sonar system to allow for searching with far clearer results than traditional sonar.
Shea was previously part of the successful Arctic search for the ships lost in the 1845 Franklin Expedition.
On Friday, July 28, the team from Kraken began work on the Raise the Arrowproject, a collaboration between several private companies, including Osisko Mining, working with the Canadian Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Military Institute to find these scale models. The nine prototypes are roughly one-eighth the size of the full-sized aircraft.