The Super Arrow......nice shape, eh?
I'd be surprised if anything beyond the homemade models were ever developed from that. I don't wish to be mean spirited in anyway, but truly, there's a great difference between a hobbiest's museful explorations, and a major aviation firm's research protoype submission to fulfill a government's military requirement.
Fun to play with in X-Plane, I think it'd be an interesting exercise to plot the physics as close to the visual graphic model as possible, just to see what it could do.
But you know....any jet fighter we can see a picture of right now, is most likely obsolescent already. (Quit posting images of your prototypes, China AF!)
Think of unmanned flying weapons...a drone interceptor that can pull un-holy maneuvers that a human could never survive, flown by a technician in an air conditioned trailer half a world away. Maybe so small and inexpensive that it is the missile itself.
A big bird like the SuperArrow (Or even an F.35) would be/can be a sitting duck.... we're almost there....if not already. Who's going to start an expensive new development program for something like the SuperArrow today?
Develop a disposable interceptor drone the size of a Sparrow missile at a low price.....that'll attract interest.
Something else to muse upon, regarding the original Avro Arrow and it's cancellation.
This all went down at a time (late 1950's) when it was becoming clear that the Soviet Union was investing huge resources into extensive missile defense networks, backing up an astoundingly impressive ICBM (offensive) system.
It was all demonstrated quite clearly in 1960 when an unfortunate Gary Powers had his "untouchable" Lockheed U-2 shot out from under him over the USSR.
With this, I would draw a parallel example of two jet interceptor prototype programs that were canceled in 1959 when deemed obsolete by the Soviet's new strategic focus.
The Avro CF-105 Arrow in Canada, and in the USA, the North American XF-108 Rapier.
By global standards, Avro & Orenda Canada were small companies, and the post war Canadian aviation industry could also be viewed on a similar scale. When the Arrow was canceled, the shock wave that reverberated across Canada's aviation industry was enormous and changed the landscape completely.
Avro soldiered on for a couple of years under bankruptcy protection, and was eventually absorbed by Canadian Car & Foundry Ltd., in turn owned by Hawker Siddeley Canada Ltd,, which in turn sold off some of the the Malton Ontario (Avro) production facilities to Douglas Aircraft Ltd, along with most of Avro's engineering patents.
Avro Canada thus was dispersed forever.
North American's XF-108 was to fulfill a similar specification as the Arrow, and was started a few years later in development, and enjoyed newer design technology from a company that was as large, or even larger than all of Canada's aviation industry combined. (I'm musing in a speculative way here.....humour me, I might not be wrong on this.)
The XF-108 was being developed at the same time as the XB-70 Valkyrie, shared some design details as well as engines. (And) most fortunate for North American Aviation, the XF-108 was only developed as far as the full scale mock-up when canceled.(Arrow was going right into production from the first five prototypes, with extensive production facilities already in full gear, along with a large network of sub-contracting firms.)
Even though the cancellation of the Rapier had little or no impact on the giant North American Aviation LTD, the later cancellation of it's sibling B-70 bomber program in 1961 could be seen as the loss of an investment almost similar to Avro Canada's loss of the Arrow.
Perhaps due to it's sheer size, it's cash flow due to existing production contracts, and the vast and dynamic size of the American economy at the time, North american Aviation simply shrugged it's shoulders and carried on, business as usual.
The fact that N.A.Aviation had the girth to survive such disruptive events meant that research developments could be carried beyond canceled program to contribute to designs that eventually gained tremendous success, and restore to original investment value.
Just for fun, look at images of the XF-108 Rapier, and then have a look at those of the A-5 Vigilante.
And with that, take look at the CF-105 Arrow's variable ramp jet intake, and then view the same feature on McDonnell Douglas' venerable F4 Phantom. (Remember Douglas' purchase of patent inventory?)
I think the point is that a lot of enthusiasts lament the idea of lost glory in regard to the canceled projects of these late fifties super fighter-bomber aircraft, the Arrow, the Rapier, the TSR-2 (1965), and perhaps others, were I to explore further.
In hindsight, the cancellations proved to be correct, saving potential billions in taxpayer money.
Furthermore, the brilliant Lockheed YF-12 (1963-68) pushed the "interceptor" envelope into a level that could be seen as purely sublime, at least compared to the Arrow's mission statement.
Even as the YF-12 siblings A-12 & SR-71 went on to enjoy legendary careers in surveillance, the YF-12 interceptor never went into full production or service.
What's left of CF-105 Arrow, TSR-2, YF-12 now, is the ilk of the Unicorn.
"How glorious it would have been", they say.
Truly, Avro Arrow and BAC TSR-2 never fired a shot. They remain these wonderful, ghostly, slightly sad apparitions of myth around which circulate countless legends, rumour, and what-ifs.
The similar Mirage IV (different mission/ similar specs) gave a host of aircrew the ride of their life, set a few low altitude speed records (no doubt, trimming a few trees in the process) and are now long retired, with many individuals out there who cannot (to this day) wipe the grins off their face.
And it the end, real or fantasy, it all didn't turn out so bad.
Ahh...and while raising a toast to the belated Arrow, TSR-2, the almost XF-108, the now retired, ground hugging Mirage IV, and the ethereal YF-12, I thought I'd post a link about the UK bound Orenda engine. It seems the elderly gentleman who worked for Avro, and then later, McDonnell Douglas....may not have been spinning me a yarn:
http://www.pipelinenewsnorth.ca/news/industry-news/straight-as-an-arrow-1.1122849