Departures of note

John Carver Meadows Frost, a British aircraft designer, moved to Canada in 1947 to lead the Avro Canada CF-100 jet fighter project. He later became the driving force behind the company's secretive Special Projects Group, which developed the Avrocar, a disc-shaped vertical takeoff and landing vehicle. Frost's work on the Avrocar led to patents for the air cushion effect, and he was recognized as a fellow of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute in 1961.

Frost began his career in the 1930s, working for several British aircraft companies before joining de Havilland in 1942. There, he contributed to the Hornet and Vampire fighters and served as project engineer on the DH.108 Swallow, a swept-wing experimental aircraft that set a world speed record in 1948 and became the first jet to exceed the speed of sound. He also designed the Slingsby Hengist glider, which featured an innovative rubber bag undercarriage.

At Avro Canada, Frost's design changes to the CF-100 brought him into conflict with chief aerodynamicist Jim Chamberlin, and after a prototype crash, he was removed as project designer in 1952. He then formed the Special Projects Group, which worked on the pancake engine and the Y-2 project, eventually securing U.S. Air Force funding for the Avrocar. Two prototypes were built and tested, but stability problems and funding cuts ended the program in 1961.

After leaving Avro Canada in 1962, Frost moved to New Zealand in 1964, where he worked for the Civil Aviation Authority and later Air New Zealand as a technical services engineer. He designed various aircraft components, including a hydraulic tail dock system, and after retirement, he began work on a human-powered aircraft, the EMME 1, which flew after his death. Frost died of a heart attack in Auckland on 9 October 1979.