Frost continued to lobby for the project now called the Y-2 and achieved a remarkable breakthrough by demonstrating the project to the United States Air Force. With funding from the Americans, Frost was able to proceed with his research. From 1955 to 1959, the design team concentrated on the new VTOL supersonic studies known as Weapon Systems 606A and a "proof-of-concept" vehicle, the VZ-9AV "Avrocar" as it came to be known. Avro Canada also continued to support the VTOL program through an associated private venture program, the PV-704 which resulted in the construction of a six-engined test rig in 1957.

The Avro Canada VZ-9AV "Avrocar" designed by company Chief Designer John Frost was a true flying saucer that was produced for the U.S.A.F. and U.S. Army in the period 1958-1959. The Avrocar was built as a 6.2 m diameter research vehicle with a pilot and observer in separate cockpits facing forward. It used three Continental J-69's turbojets, turning a central impeller ("turbo rotor") to keep it airborne with downward thrust, with a vane/shutter system to propel the craft in any direction by venting thrust in the direction the pilot desired. The Avrocar used tricycle wheels and later, landing pads for an undercarriage.

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