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¢ ACRRES \ IIS ES SSS ——— e—) Avrojeep concept. USAF ing staff were recruited by American contrac- tors and NASA. In early 1962 the plant at Mal- ton was closed down and the site sold to Douglas Aircraft of Canada. Today the Malton factory has virtually disappeared beneath an industrial area attached to Toronto Airport and only a couple of small buildings remain. The outstanding question is whether any of the high-performance Avro flying discs were secretly constructed and test flown. It is a documented fact that the USAF issued an order to proceed with the development of Sil- ver Bug on 29th December 1954 and official records show that the British expected the small Silver Bug research aircraft to be com- pleted during 1955. A USAF press release (No 1053-55 dated October 1955) discusses the imminent test flight of anew VTOL proto- type, which might have been the Silver Bug research aircraft or the Ryan X-13 tail-sitter research prototype. By 1955 Silver Bug had evolved into Project 1794 and by early 1956, Avro Canada had completed a turbo-ramjet engine test rig, which constituted about three-quarters of the aircraft. According to USAF document 57WCLS-2497, a delegation of senior USAF Officials visited Avro Canada on 26th March 1957 and was shown, ‘facilities being used to manufacture the (1794) prototype aircraft’. The report goes on to say that, ‘this (tour) included an inspection of various (1794) components which have already been pro- duced’. Part of another previously secret (but incomplete) set of USAF documents from 1957 (with the reference 57RDZ-3107), has the following to say: ‘The design of the basic structure and propulsion unit (of 1794) is sub- stantially complete and it is expected that the additional items together with all preliminary modifications to the rig design required by the prototype will be complete by June 1957’. The same document also discusses a tethered test stage and tethering rig for preliminary flight trials, ‘probably consisting mainly of a large crane’. In his 2001 book Canada’s Flying Saucer, author Bill Zuk describes how the turbo-ram- jet engine developed for the MX 1794 and WS-606A was tested at Malton. According to Zuk a very serious situation arose when one of the six Vipers ran wild during a test run. This incident brought the turbo-ramjet trials "0000000899 78 Aschematic showing the Avrocar’s propulsive system. USAF Avrocar in USAF markings. USAF Secret Projects: Flying Saucer Aircraft