Expedition team says prototype of Avro Arrow found at bottom of Lake Ontario

Search crews say they have found a test model of the Avro Arrow, an advanced Canadian fighter jet that was controversially scrapped in 1959, on the floor of Lake Ontario.

• Underwater vehicle probes depths of Lake Ontario for long-missing Avro Arrow models

OEX Recovery Group, which is spearheading the Raise the Arrow expedition, says in a news release Thursday that new sonar imagery confirmed the discovery of an Avro Arrow free-flight model.

The company is promising that photos and video footage of the discovery will be revealed publicly Friday in Toronto.

The mission to find nine models of the Avro Arrow began in late July near Point Petre, Ont., with a submarine scouring the waters of Lake Ontario.

Newfoundland's Kraken Sonar was involved in the effort to locate the sunken model aircraft, using its state-of-the-artThunderFishunderwater vehicleandAquaPixsonar systemto capture high-quality images of the lake bed.

Big day for Canadian aviation history

The expedition also is meant to coincide with next year's 60th anniversary of Avro Arrow's first test flight.

The models were first launched from a military base in the 1950s as part of the development of the Avro Arrow, the first and only supersonic interceptor built by the Canadian military to counter potential Soviet bomber attacks in North America's Arctic.

All materials, including completed jets, were ordered to be destroyed when Ottawa abruptly cancelled the Avro Arrow project.

The models discovered the by search team will find new homes at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa and the National Air Force Museum of Canada in Trenton, Ont.