The Arrow Test Models

A piece of Canada's history is about to resurface after a five-year underwater search of Lake Ontario. One of nine scale models of the famous Avro Arrow jet that were launched from a test range more than 40 years ago was located eariler this week. Marine mechanic Dave Gartshore, 44, yestarday showed video taken by divers of the zebra mussel-covered model resting on the bottom of the lake. "I'm very excited about this find," Gartshore said on locating someting tangile of the ill-fated supersonic fighter that was scrapped in a contoversial move by the Diefenbaker government in 1959. The interceptor models, built in exacting detail of the real thing, have a two-metre wigspan and weigh about 180 kilos. They were rocket- fired over the lake during telemetry and flight tests from 1954 to 1957 at Point Petre near prince Edward County.

Gartshore usaid he used eyewitness accounts of the launching from Carmen Johnson, a techninian who worked on the model tests, to help him locate the general area where he believed the models were. But the main advantage he had to beat out the other four teams hunting for the models was the use of an advanced model sonar called Edge Tech. The side-scan sonor, borrowed from the Massachusetts manufacturer, helped locate the historical artifact in only eight days. "It came down to having the best equipment. That's what did it," Gartshore said.