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In the next installment of our semi-regular feature, In The News, the team at Absolute Destruction considers the recently recovered Avro Arrow. Found at the bottom of Lake Ontario near Point Petre, the remains of the iconic fighter jet provide an unlikely lesson for our readers.

The Avro Arrow — a supersonic, delta-winged, twin-engined interceptor aircraft designed and prototyped during the Cold War — was supposed to be the crowning achievement of Canada’s aviation industry, but it’s abrupt cancellation in 1959 grounded the jet before it could ever leave the ground. Since then, it’s reached a near mythic reputation as the nation mulls over what once could have been.

In offering document destruction Toronto calls its own, the team at Absolute Destruction isn’t indifferent to the mythos surrounding the Avro. Even nearly 60 years later, the question of ‘what if’ hangs heavy in the air, with some experts suggesting it could have made way for a entirely different Canada — a technologically advanced nation that may have sent a man to the moon.

After 9 models were tested, the Diefenbaker government pulled the plug on the jet, citing mounting costs as their reason for cancellation. With the advantage of time, we can understand a changing political atmosphere was another motive, as cost-effective interceptor missiles superseded expensive fighter jets in the Cold War.

At the time of its cancellation, Ottawa ordered the company to destroy everything related to the Avro project, including any completed jets, but the remains found in Lake Ontario suggest engineers skirted these commands.

OEX Recovery Group, the expedition company responsible for the find, posted a picture capturing the sunken Avro found through its Raise the Arrow project. At the time of this article, only photographs of the free-flight model are available, but there are plans to recover the target so it can be displayed at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.

But what does this all have to do with the document shredding experts in Markham? As a prominent shredding service in the GTA, Absolute understands the Avro Arrow represents the potential of Canadian engineers and scientists; however, its recovery acts as a reminder of a completely different sort.

What was supposed to be destroyed was merely dumped, and in the near future, OEX will be able to recover its remains. Though its water-logged hull will never fly, it will reveal key details we thought lost about the Avro.

Without complete destruction, classified information is always retrievable. It takes a lot to sink a model fighter jet. In comparison, dumping paper documents or old gadgets in the garbage is incredibly simple. So easy, in fact, that you may think it a better alternative than hiring a professional shredding service to demolish the evidence.

Unfortunately, when you throw out full sheets of paper containing important personal information or toss computers with financial data saved to their hard drives, the easier route can end up hurting you.

In 2017, the secrets recovered from the Avro will help us see the advances the aviation industry made in the 50s. But any recovery of your PI now will result in identity theft, tanked credit scores, and potential legal troubles for businesses.

As a GTA business owner, you’re responsible by law to properly dispose of any paper or electronic data containing client information. Don’t do what the personnel tasked with “destroying” the Avro Arrow did. Commit to absolute destruction by hiring our mobile shredders in Oakville, Markham, Toronto, or anywhere else in the GTA. We’re only a phone call away, and we’ll make sure what you need destroyed stays that way.