It was a cold but sunny afternoon on the 23rd of February 1909 at the frozen lake Bras d’Or, close to the city of Baddeck/Nova Scotia when John Alexander Douglas (J.A.D) McCurdy took off for the very first powered flight in Canada. McCurdy wasn’t only the pilot of this fragile airplane called “Silver Dart” but also one of its designers. Together with his old friend and classmate Frederick W. ‘Casey’ Baldwin, the US Army Officer Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge and the already well-known motorcycle and engine manufacturer Glenn Curtiss, John McCurdy was working for the AEA (Aerial Experiment Association), which was founded by the famous inventor and visionary Dr. Alexander Graham Bell. The first flight was only for about a half mile and reached an altitude of about 60 ft. The Silver Dart was possibly powered by one Continental A-65 horizontally-opposed engine rated at 65 HP which was enough for a top speed of about 40 mph (some sources claim that the engine was a 35 HP Curtiss V-8 inline engine, which is even more likely).  

Since this time 100 years have gone by, a good reason for the Canadians to celebrate their Centenary of powered flight with a great show. On the weekend of the 13th and 14th of June 2009 the official celebration for the Centenary of Canadian Flight took place at CFB Bagotville / Quebec, just a few miles west of the City of Saguenay. CFB Bagotville is the home of No. 3 Wing and one of two operational CF-18 Hornet bases of the Canadian Armed Forces (the other one is CFB Cold Lake / Alberta, home of No. 4 Wing). Besides the Canadian military the Bagotville airfield is also used by civilian airlines (like the regional carrier Air Canada Jazz or the charter carrier Sunwing Airlines) as well as the defence contractor Top Aces Consulting Inc. , which provides training missions with some of their ex-Luftwaffe Dornier Alpha Jets (altogether the company operates 12 Alpha Jets, 4 of them are stationed at CFB Bagotville).

The base was originally founded on the 17th July 1942 as a RCAF Training Base (Royal Canadian Air Force; in 1968 the RCAF merged with the other branches of the Army and Navy under a common command and the name Canadian Armed Forces) hosting the No. 1 Operational Training Unit as well as the No. 130 Panther Squadron, which flew the Curtiss Kittyhawk I and (later) also Hawker Hurricane Mk. XII. Just a few months before the end of World War II RCAF Bagotville was closed only to be reactivated on the 1st of July 1951 due to the ongoing and escalating Cold War.  In the 1960´s RCAF Bagotville hosted one of the most powerful weapons systems of its time, the McDonnell Douglas CF-101 Voodoo, which caused some political controversies because its primary weapon, the Douglas AIR-2 Genie unguided missile was equipped with a 1,5 kiloton nuclear warhead (W25).  These controversies let to a typical political agreement of these times, which stated, that the nuclear weapons were not owned and purchased by Canada but remained the property of the United States of America.

When the CF-101 Voodoo was disbanded in 1984 the nuclear weapons were returned to the US. The Voodoo’s replacement, the Boeing CF-18 Hornet is still the main frontline aircraft of the Canadian Armed Forces. Between 1982 and 1988 Canada purchased altogether 98 A-models (single -seater) and 40 B-models (double seater), currently there are some 80 still in active service, even if the 2 existing wings consist of 24 aircraft each. The remaining are used for evaluation training and different sorts of testing. The official designation of the Hornet is CF-188, but beside in military documentation everyone refers to it as the CF-18. At CFB Bagotville the CF-18 forms the No. 425 Squadron. CAF`s Hornets saw action in the first Gulf War in 1991 (where they flew more than 2700 sorties logging no less than 5700 flying hours) as well as in the Kosovo conflict. Especially for the Centenary celebrations one of the oldest CF-18A’s in Canadian service (#19th aircraft built, which retires by the end of 2009) was re-painted with a remarkable stunning colour scheme. Flown by Capt. Tim Woods, the CF-18`s solo display was one of the highlights of the show. Another one was the ground attack scenario (including lots of pyrotechnics) and the mass fly-past of 6 of  No. 425 Sqn`s Hornets.

The most anticipated display of the show was unfortunately cancelled due to technical problems with their ejection seats (the ballistic disconnect link assembly failed to work). The national display team, the Snowbirds faced some problems with the ejection seat’s seat belts, which grounded them for the show weekend. Additionally to the Snowbirds display one of the Canadair CT-114 Tudor was painted in the colour scheme of the Golden Centenaries , which flew only for a single season (1967) to celebrate Canada’s centennial year. The forerunner of the Snowbirds as well as the Golden Centenaries were the Golden Hawks flying six stunning coloured Canadair Sabre Jets from 1959 up to 1964. One Sabre owned by Vintage Wings of Canada Foundation, which is a private aviation museum consisting mostly of aircraft in flyable condition, was painted in the colours of the Golden Hawks, receiving the name “Hawk One”. Interestingly the Golden Hawks were formed to perform for the 50th anniversary of powered flight in Canada.

The Canadian built Sabres were considered as the best and most powerful aircraft of this type and were widely used by NATO-Forces. Altogether 1,815 Canadair CL-13 Sabres were built, where some 225 Sabre 6’s were purchased by the German Luftwaffe. The Hawk One is originally a Sabre 5 but retrofitted with the wings of the F-86F and the latest Sabre’s Orenda 14 engine it is “upgraded” to Sabre 6 standard. When the founder and CEO of Vintage Wings of Canada Foundation, Michael Potter purchased the Sabre in the US (it was a former RCAF Sabre; even flying as a training aircraft for the Golden Hawks) he and his team figured out some problems with the original Martin Baker Mk.5 ejection seat. The solution was to replace the seat with a Weber CL-41 seat which is used in the CT-114 Tudor. Due to this modification all aircraft for the announced fly-past at the Bagotville Airshow were using the same type of ejections seats and were grounded by the same technical problems, much to the regret to the thousands of visitors. The grounding affected 25 CT-114, the Sabre as well as one CT-133 Silver Star, which is owned by the National Research Council.

Fortunately Michael Potter brought some more of his fantastic fleet of vintage planes to Bagotville. A superbly restored and award winning Goodyear built Change Vought FG-1D Corsair was flying together with a North American P-51D Mustang IV. Vintage Wings of Canada Foundation is located just a few miles away from downtown of the Canadian Capital town Ottawa at the Gatineau airport. No less than 16 aircraft are owned by the foundation. Beside the already mentioned Sabre, Corsair and Mustang one can find among others a beautiful restored Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XVI, two Hawker Hurricanes (one Mk.IV and one Mk.XII), a Fairey Swordfish Mk.III and a Westland Lysander Mk.IIIa. The FG-1D Corsair is painted in the markings of one of the last Canadians who died in World War II, Lt. Robert Hampton "Hammy" Gray, who received the Victoria Cross for his bravery while attacking and sinking a Japanese destroyer on the eve of the end of the Second World War (09th of August 1945).

For sure one of the most interesting displays at CFB Bagotville was the one from an Avro Lancaster Mk. X, a Canadian license-built  version of the famous four-engine bomber. Canada built 430 Lancasters (of a total of 7.377) between 1943 and 1945 - by Victory Aircraft Ltd. at Malton, Ontario.  The Mk. X differed slightly from the British-built version, but was using American license built Packard Merlin 38’s or later Merlin 224 engines. Canada used the bomber after the Second World War for photographic and maritime roles for more than 15 years. Interestingly the last three Canadian Lancaster retired from active service in April 1964!
The Lancaster on display at Bagotville is one of only two surviving aircraft of this type in flyable condition (the second one is the famous Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Mk.III ) and belongs to the Canadian War Plan Heritage Museum, Mt. Hope (Hamilton Int. Airport) / Ontario. This museum offers a wide range of great Warbirds and Cold War “Warriors” ranging from an Avro Anson Mk.IV up to the Canadair CF-104 Starfighter. Many of its exhibits are in flyable condition.

The International contribution to the Centenary of Canadian Flight was limited to a British RAF Boeing E-3C Sentry and of course lots of American stuff, like two A-10 Thunderbolt II, a Grumman E-2C Hawkeye, Boeing E-8 Joint Star and KC-135. In the flying display the only non-Canadian (military) display was an USAF Lockheed Martin F-16C Solo display by the West Coast Viper Demo Team coming from 388th FW / Hill AFB.
If one thinks he has to go to USA to get to see a good airshow they should reconsider their opinions and  should have a look at the Canadian airshow dates as well. CFB Bagotville was a fantastic show, superbly organised and well executed. What made it so special was the friendliness of the Canadians and their universal hospitality – place this together with their beautiful natural landscapes and genuine goodwill and it would be hard to imagine a better experience in the aviation and airshow calendar.

Robert Kysela / CHK 6

Special thanks to:

Col. Pierre Ruel / CO 3 Wing
Capt. Alexandre Muñoz / PAO 3 Wing Bagotville
Michael Potter / CEO Vintage Wings of Canada
Paul Tremblay / Vintage Wings of Canada
Ron Cruse / Canadian War Plan Heritage Museum
and all others for their superb support!!!