BKSDNTDR.RVW 970226 "Shutting Down the National Dream", Greig Stewart, 1997, 0-07-552880-0, C$19.99 %A Greig Stewart %C 300 Water Street, Whitby, Ontario L1N 9B6 %D 1988, 1997 %G 0-07-552880-0 %I McGraw-Hill Ryerson/Osborne %O C$19.99 905-430-5000 +1-800-565-5758 +1-905-430-5134 fax: 905-430-5020 %O louisea@McGrawHill.ca lisah@McGrawHill.ca %P 320 %T "Shutting Down the National Dream" "On Thursday, April 25 [1959], Janusz Zurakowski was making his usual cautious way home from the plant in Malton, careful not to exceed the 60-mph speed limit on the 401. He noticed a flat-bed truck pull up alongside of him carrying a load of jagged white metal that looked somewhat familiar. Not quite recognizing what it was at first, he looked again and was able to discern the numbers "2," "0," and "1," blue against the white metal. Suddenly it wasn't just white metal anymore. It was RL-201, his Arrow, on it's way to Sam Lax's scrapyard." - p. 276 Forty years ago the Arrow flew at almost twice the speed of sound, driven by a pair of under-powered test engines. Within two years nothing remained but one nose section and a few pieces of landing struts. Those who built her, or saw her fly, say she was the most beautiful aircraft ever to take to the sky. Even today there are those who say that the Arrow, had it been completed, would have been viable against modern aircraft, leaving aside what forty years of development could have done. The tragedy of the destruction of the Arrow would have been well understood by the Greek playwrights with heroes flawed by hubris, and the doomed love affair of Canada and the pride of her aircraft industry is worthy of Shakespeare. Stewart's account of the story is compelling and dramatic. His research is evident in a massive bibliography and list of interviews, but even more so in the extensive quotations from those involved. (At times the italic font almost threatens to take over the book.) The work is not without flaws. The narrative is frequently ragged, and a number of important points and people suddenly appear in the story without introduction. (Stewart never does explain the term "Arrowhead", even in the references and bibliography.) The original 1988 edition was used as the basic source for "The Arrow" mini- series. (The series is the reason for the reissue of the book: the second edition contains stills from the series.) It is amusing to see how freely the film people adapted the source, using anecdotes but switching principals or equipment, and compressing the activities of a number of people into a few characters onscreen. It doesn't make the story any more dramatic, although I suppose it made it easier or cheaper to produce. A Canadian, of course, looks back on Avro, Orenda, and the Arrow and wonders what might have been. Given the dispersal of so many talented people to other endeavors, one can equally wonder what might *not* have been. One of the strongest impressions I am left with, though, is that technologies are so often at the mercy of ignorant politicians who understand nothing of the uses, potential, or outcomes of that which they destroy. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997 BKSDNTDR.RVW 970226 ====================== roberts@decus.ca rslade@vcn.bc.ca slade@freenet.victoria.bc.ca link to virus, book info at http://www.freenet.victoria.bc.ca/techrev/rms.html Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94663-2 (800-SPRINGER)