John Frost had been born in Walton-on-Thames near London in 1915 and had shown an early interest in the sciences at St Edward's School, Oxford, where he graduated with honours[clarification needed] in mathematics, chemistry and physics.

Frost began his aeronautical career in the 1930s as an apprentice for Airspeed Limited before he moved on to the Miles, Westland, Blackburn and Slingsby companies.

Frost's work began to be noticed when he joined the de Havilland Aircraft Company (UK), builders of the famed Mosquito bomber and fighter.

Frost had then become heavily involved in one of the most important new developments at the time: swept wings and a tailless configuration on a supersonic jet fighter.

Designer and company founder, Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, had already begun the D.H.106 Comet development process and was considering that radical configuration for their first jet airliner.

During his tenure at de Havilland, Frost began to put forward a number of unique ideas for a tip jet-driven rotor helicopter – a concept also known as a gyrodyne.

He continued his research privately and with a group of friends, including fellow engineer, T. Desmond Earl, built a scale model to test his theories.

Shortly after his departure to Canada, Earl joined Frost in his new venture, and remained his "right-hand man" for the rest of the Canadian period.

On 14 June 1947, Frost arrived at Avro Canada's Malton, Ontario facility with his wife to take over as Project Designer of the new XC-100 jet fighter interceptor.

Frost decided to alter the aircraft design which immediately brought him into conflict with Avro Canada Chief Aerodynamacist Jim Chamberlin.

[1] While Frost was in England to confer with members of the Hawker Siddeley Group, Chamberlin made another alteration by moving the engines back and "notching" the wing spar to accommodate the change.

"[3] Shortly after its formation in 1952, Frost's Special Projects Group started a paper study on a "pancake" engine, a jet turbine that had its main components arranged in a circular design.

Housed in a Second World War-era structure, across from the company headquarters, the group had all the accoutrements of a top-secret operation, including security guards, locked doors and special pass cards.

Research undertaken by Frost on the "Coandă effect" confirmed that the concept of ground cushion could be the basis for a vehicle he had envisioned that could have both vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities and could still operate as a high-performance aircraft.

As Frost developed further studies, his ideas on revolutionary vertical takeoff systems led to the patent of "Aircraft Propulsion and Control".

By 1953, with the company having little more than a wooden mock-up, paper drawings and promises to show for a $4-million (Cdn) outlay, a more critical eye was cast on the project.

From 1955 to 1959, the design team concentrated on the new VTOL supersonic studies known as Weapon Systems 606A which Avro Canada continued to support through an associated private venture program, the PV-704 which resulted in the construction of an engine test rig in 1957.

Two Avrocar prototypes were constructed and completed a series of wind tunnel tests at NASA Ames in California and a 75-hour flying program at the Malton home of Avro Canada.

As the result of his work in vertical takeoff systems, John Frost was invited to become a fellow of the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute after he presented the W. Rupert Turnbull seventh lecture on 25 May 1961.