Burlington Post | Thursday, March 15, 2018 | 1949
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THURSDAY MARCH 15, 2018 HOT-N-READY™ $ 5599 MEDIUM 5 PEPPERONI Carry out only 3455 Fairview St. 905.632.2311 1500 Upper Middle Rd. at Brant St. 905.335.4623 $2.00 City seeks review of OMB’s decision to green-light highrise T tower in downtown JOHN BKILA [email protected] The saga of the 26-storey, mixed-use Nautique condo in downtown Burlington is not yet over, as the city has asked the On- ONLINE at tario Municipal Board to review Nikki Wesley/Metroland insidehalton.com its recent decision to green-light the highrise tower. Avro Arrow sheet metal worker was News, events and information on your In a media release issued desktop, laptop or mobile device March 12 and almost a month af- ter the OMB published its deci- sion, the City of Burlington stated there the day the project died in 1959 Contact us it has filed a Section 43 review re- [email protected] quest to the board’s executive facebook.com/InsideHalton chair. “Under Section 43 of the Onta- Michael Colangelo, 90, worked on famous fighter jet BurlingtonPost www.insidehalton.com l See BOARD, page 25 and the 'flying saucer' PAGE 40 PURCHASE FINANCE THE 2018 F-150 XLT CREW CAB terrace ford $ 80 EVERY 229 2 WEEKS lincoln SALES % 0.99 APR 900 WALKERS LINE 84 MONTHS WALKER’S LINE SOUTH @ QEW $ 3,350 DOWN 905.632.6252 OR CASH PURCHASE FOR ONLY $ 38,426 +HST VISIT US AT OFFER INCLUDES FREIGHT, AIR TAX AND BUILT TOUGH CASH ALTERNATIVE IN www.TerraceFordLincoln.com 2018 F-150 XLT Crew Cab BI-WEEKLY AND SALE PRICES. OFFER EXPIRES MARCH 31, 2018. 40 NEWS Burlington senior worked on experimental | Thursday, March 15, 2018 | delta-winged interceptor jet TIM WHITNELL per hour), almost twice the “He came on the (Avro’s [email protected] speed of sound — and was Malton plant) loudspeaker touted as being able to easi- and told all the workers, Michael Colangelo is ly exceed that. Six working ’That &$@#* prick in Otta- Burlington Post likely among a small group prototypes were built. wa (Diefenbaker).’” of people who can boast The Arrow was being de- Years later, in 1973, they once worked on the leg- veloped in earnest in 1957 Colangelo said he was on a endary Avro Arrow fighter and ’58 as a response to the flight from Vancouver to To- jet and a “flying saucer” — possible threat of the Soviet ronto and was introduced to and also received a photo Union attacking North the woman sitting beside and thank-you letter from America over the Canadian him — Olive Diefenbaker, the prime minister, the man Arctic. The Arrow was un- wife of the former PM. who cost him his high-pay- veiled on Oct. 4, 1957 — the He said they exchanged ing job. same day the Russians small talk at first. Then he The just-turned-90-year- launched the Sputnik satel- felt compelled to tell her old, spry and chipper, talked lite into space. The first that he was still very upset, to the Post recently in his flight was on March 25, 1958. all those years later, with lakeshore condo unit about The Arrow program was her husband for cancelling his years working at A.V. infamously cancelled the Arrow project. Roe (Avro Canada) in Mal- abruptly on Feb. 20, 1959, Several weeks later he ton, just north of where known as Black Friday, by received a letter from the Pearson airport is today, as Canadian Prime Minister House of Commons, on then a sheet metal mechanic. John Diefenbaker; millions MP John Diefenbaker’s let- A bit of Canadian history of dollars had been spent on terhead, thanking him for is required in order to un- the project. his talk with his wife. A pho- derstand the heady, high- All vestiges of the planes to of the Diefenbakers with stakes, high-tech environ- and their plans were or- their pet dog was included. ment Colangelo worked in dered destroyed. The com- He still has it. for about 10 years starting in pleted planes and those par- Colangelo said unem- 1949. tially assembled were cut ployment after the Arrow In the early 1950s, Roe up to be sold as scrap metal. was, thankfully for him, was the The short-lived. Two days after maker of “He came on the project’s being laid off he got a call an inter- cancella- from Avro’s personnel man- ceptor/ (Avro’s Malton tion put ager, Jack Nesbitt, who told fighter jet, plant) loudspeaker tens of him, ’Mike, you’re working the CF-100 thousands on the flying saucer, so you Canuck, as and told all the of people can come back to work.” well as the out of work So Colangelo continued Avro C102 workers, ’That across to work his sheet metal Jetliner, &$@#* prick in Canada, magic for Avro Canada. It the second the U.S. was done at the Orenda En- commer- Ottawa and Eu- gine’s test site that was just cial jet air- (Diefenbaker).’” rope. Many a short walk from the Avro liner in the of the plant. Nikki Wesley/Metroland world. - Michael Colangelo, brightest Just as he did with the Later aircraft en- Arrow, Colangelo worked Michael Colangelo, 90, was a sheet metal worker who worked on the famous came the former Avro Canada gineering on producing engine blades Avro Arrow Canadian interceptor jet in the late 1950s and the Avrocar, a Avrocar, worker, recalling the and design for the Avrocar, also known protype flying saucer being developed for the U.S. military. the “flying infamous announcement minds, as as the “flying saucer.” saucer,” made by Crawford well as He said he saw both air- in diameter and 5.5 feet tall off the ground and wobbled and wife Alice decided to and, most Gordon Jr., the president skilled la- craft rolled out of hangars — with U.S. military mark- noticeably. stay in Canada. famously, of A.V. Roe Canada, bourers, in Malton and taken for test ings; it looked like the ste- The American military Colangelo sold real es- the CF-105, were flights at various times. reotypical flying saucer of spent more than $7 million tate for a while, and even de- better about the cancellation of scooped up He remembers seeing science fiction pulp books on the project and then can- livered pizzas. One day he known as the Arrow project by Ameri- Arrow chief test pilot Jan and B movies. It was essen- celled it in September 1959. ran into a former A.V. Roe the Avro can aero- Zurakowski, the first to fly tially a hovercraft designed Colangelo was out of work, colleague who got him an Arrow. nautical companies, includ- it, saving the Arrow from se- to take off and land vertical- again, after a seven-month interview with Found The Arrow was an exper- ing NASA, in a massive Ca- vere damage on one test ly. reprieve. Brothers Aviation, builder imental delta-winged inter- nadian brain drain. flight by landing it safely “I did work on the saucer When he started at Avro of bush planes. He worked ceptor jet that was Canadi- Colangelo says he’ll nev- when its wheels wouldn’t blades. I was present for the he made 90 cents an hour; there for a time. an made and more ad- er forget that cold day in deploy. tests on the tarmac. It was by the end he was making His next big break was vanced than any aircraft in February 1959 when Craw- In the case of the flying tied to guide wires and then more than $7 an hour, a very finding work with Ameri- the world, including what ford Gordon Jr., the presi- saucer, a U.S. army secret the pilot performed various good wage in the late 1950s. can-based Power line Fas- the Americans and Rus- dent of A.V. Roe Canada, project, it was a lot less im- manoeuvres,” recalled From there Colangelo teners, a company that sians flew during the early tore into Diefenbaker and pressive than the majestic Colangelo. was wooed by aircraft en- made nail guns. He moved years of the Cold War. his Conservative govern- Arrow. Unfortunately, the sau- gine maker Pratt and Wit- up quickly from sales rep to The Arrow reached ment for cancelling the Ar- The Avrocar was a large cer did little flying as it ney. He almost moved to its Mach 1.98 (2,400 kilometres row project. silver disc — nearly 27 feet could barely get one metre Florida plant to work but he l See MUSEUM, page 41 insidehalton.com 41 NEWS | Burlington Post Museum in Calgary home to most extensive collections of documents, drawings | Thursday, March 15, 2018 l Continued from page 40 regional sales manager to Canadian sales manager to company vice-president and Canadian general man- ager. When Power line moved operations he left it to join Globe Spring and Cushion in North York. By then he and Alice had bought a con- do in Burlington, the same one he has lived in for 30 years. He retired at age 70. .. Michael Colangelo’s par- ents came to Canada from JoAnne Van Slingerland photo the old country, both from The famed Avro Arrow taking off at the Malton. Ont. airport in the late 1950s. Naples, Italy. Michael was born in Toronto and grew the Arrow and the flying when the hammer fell, Avoiding severe work- Tim Whitnell/Metroland up in the area of Dufferin saucer. some of these drawings and place mishaps enabled Street and St.