This fonds consists of records relating to the life and career of aeronautical engineer William Kuzyk. Included here are textual records, photographic material, technical drawings, and cartographic material relating to scientific research mainly on (but not limited to) the C-102 Jetliner, the CF-100 Canuck, and the CF-105 Avro Arrow. These records document pioneering aeronautical engineering work that occurred in Canada during the 1940s and 1950s. More specifically, the fonds consists of: private notes; working papers; correspondence; A.V. Roe documents; and other documents/manuals relating to Kuzyk's work in the United States.
The fonds includes: 4th year laboratory reports relating to aeronautical engineering from the University of Toronto; photographs of various technical aspects of the C102 Jetliner; Research notes on the C102 Jetliner project, including technical documentation such as test flight data and other information on performance (1949-1950); photographs of various technical aspects of C102 Jetliner, as well as additional photographs of the C102 Test Flight; copy of presentation by James Floyd, Project Designer, entitled The Avro C102 Jetliner (1950); draft technical documentation on target drones (1956); U.S. Airforce Aeronautical Planning Chart of Canada; cross-section drawing of fuselage, wing, and vertical tail section for prototype CF-105 Avro Arrow (1955); sketches, research notes, and other technical documentation on future models of the CF-105 Avro Arrow that would be developed - including a zero launch version, the application of ramjets to the airframe, as well as VTOL technology - to meet changing weapons and strategic context, such as the development of Inter-continental ballistic missiles (1957-59).
Kuzyk, William, 1922-1990 : William Kuzyk was born in 1922 in Vegreville, Alberta. His father was originally from Austria, his mother was born near Vegreville. Kuzyk attended the University of Toronto between 1943 and 1949, graduating with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1949. During the early to mid-1940s, he also worked for the Canadian Car and Foundry Limited, in both Fort William and St. Laurent, Quebec, as an aircraft mechanic on Hawker Hurricanes. In 1947-48, he worked for A.V. Roe in the Gas Turbine Division as a designer checker in Production Engineering.
After graduation in 1949, Kuzyk was hired full-time by A.V. Roe Limited (AVRO). During his decade of work at the company, he worked first as a Flight Test Engineer in the Flight Test Research Department; following this, he was a Senior Aerodynamics Engineer, and Project Research Engineer. In each capacity, he helped with the design of different aspects of the Avro Flying Saucer, the C-102 Jetliner, various versions of the CF-100 Canuck, and the CF-105 Arrow. It appears that he was assigned in 1956 to work on the CF-105, when the company got closer to developing the prototypes. He headed the Avro Arrow III proposal in 1957-58, which would have been a Mach 2.7 reconnaissance version of the aircraft, and in 1958, he also assisted in the proposal to build a high speed monorail from downtown Toronto to Malton, Ontario.
Kuzyk's expertise appears to have been with data collection, as many of the reports deal with technical challenges of high speed flight and how to gather proper data on these phenomena. Along this line there is also considerable data and graphs indicating performance and effects, as well as documents on how to collect and report the data. He worked on A.V. Roe's integrated data system for the processing of in-flight instrument readings, for both the C-102 and the CF-105. Kuzyk also maintained a professional interest in other aspects of the CF-105 project that were in the early development phase, including the zero launch version, the application of ramjets to the airframe, as well as revolutionary VTOL technology.
After the termination of the CF-105 Arrow programme in 1959, William Kuzyk, along with numerous other top engineering and manufacturing personnel, left Canada (described as a brain drain that in part may have helped in bringing NASA to fruition in the 1960s). He went to work for John Oster Manufacturing in Racine, Wisconsin (1959-60), then General Dynamics in San Diego, California (1960-65), then Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa (1966-1971). He also did a post-graduate degree at UCLA (1961-64), attended Graduate College in San Diego (1964-65), and enrolled to undertake a PHD in Mechanical Engineering at the University Iowa (1969-1972). He completed his dissertation, "Analytical and Experimental Investigation of Boundary Streamlines entering a 2-Dimensional Free Turbulent Jet Emitting from a Wall" and graduated in 1972. Through the 1970s, he worked as a procurement officer in the National Research Council's CTS program at Shirley's Bay west of Ottawa, Ontario.
William Kuzyk died in 1990.
A.V. Roe Canada : A. V. Roe Canada Ltd. was established in 1945. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of the U.K-based Hawker-Siddeley Group, named after Alliot Verdon Roe, founder of A. V. Roe Co. of England in 1910. A.V. Roe Canada started operations in the Crown-owned Victory Aircraft facilities in Malton, Ontario. Due to a decrease in war plane production following the war, A.V. Roe Canada turned its attention to design and development of new fighter aircraft for the Royal Canadian Air Force and transport aircraft for Trans-Canada Airlines. In addition, some Lancasters were converted for air line service, and in l946, the Gas Turbine Division (later Orenda Engines) was formed to develop jet engines for future Avro aircraft. Through the 1950s many aircraft projects were developed. Following the cancellation of the CF-105 Arrow development and production, Avro Aircraft attempted to diversify, extending its operations to marine, truck and automobile projects. Unfortunately this plan failed and on 30 April 1962 A.V. Roe Canada closed its Aircraft Division at Malton, leaving only Orenda Engines as the Canadian operation within the Hawker-Siddeley Group.
"A. V. Roe Canada Ltd. (Avro Aircraft)." Toronto Aerospace Museum web-site. 26 Feb. 2002. 3018564
