Wings and Wheels

Not much of an old car fan, but i do appreciate many of the wings that were to be on display at the Wings and Wheel Heritage Festival at the fomer Downsview base, home to the Canadian Air and Space Museum.
Scheduled to appear planes included the CF-18 Hornet, the Golden Hawks replica Sabre, the C-130J Super Hercules, the T33 Silver Star, the AM640/Global TV Helicopter and the CF Griffon.
Unfortunately, bad weather scrubbed the T33, the Sabre was in the hanger,



The CF 18 was on static display, along with the Griffon, so the only thing I saw in the air was the a Harvard



and the Fairchild PT-26B Cornell and de Havilland DHC-1 Chipmunk from Hamilton's Canadian Warplane Heritage.
Inside the museum were some of the models of famous canadian aircraft, including the CF-100 Canuck, a canadian designed and built interceptor,



along with a really big model, of a really big plane, the CF 101 Arrow.





In another hanger, there were lots of items on sale, incuding these beer can planes,



and these Mahogany Arrows.



It was neat to get up close to the Hornet, so I took some pics of both ends of the two engines that provide the performance of Canada's front line aircraft.





Also on display was this MD 520N NOTAR Helicopter, which has NO TailRotor, and instead uses a vented, rotating drum at the end of the tailboom, called the direct jet thruster, which replaces the tail rotor. Its said to be both quieter and safer.



A common thing you see at air shows are brightly colour "Remove Before Flight" ribbons, which is what I thought of when I saw this little guy!

HMCS Fredericton

The HMCS Fredericton was on a Great Lakes Deployment, and was docked at the foot of Yonge St. After the Airshow, we checked it out.

The Fredericton (FFH 337) was started a the Saint John Shipyard in 1992, and official commisioned in 1994. She is a Halifax Class Frigate, and 8th ship in her class, with a total of 12 ships in the class.



Her Captain, Commander John Zorz told us some info about the ship. She just returned from deployment in Somalia, and he only recently became the Captain. He will have a two year posting, and then will likely be back to Ottawa. The ship is scheduled to go for a mid-life retrofit in the next few years.



On the front of the ship is the main gun, the 57mm Bofors MK2.



For close in support, the "last ditch" weapon is the Vulcan Phalanx MK 15 20 mm Close-In gun, which spits out a whopping 3000 to 4500 rounds a minute, depending on the version. With it's distinct shape, its nicknam is "R2-D2" !



It is also equiped with the Raytheon Vertical Launched Sea Sparrow, a short-range anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapon.



Another form of protection is the four BAE Systems Shield Mark 2 decoy launchers which fire chaff and infrared rockets. The chaff confuses the radar of incoming missles, while the rockets due the same for heat seeking missles.



While in Somolia, the boarding crew would man the fast boat and do anti piracy investigations. They are well armed to deal with this mission.





A couple of Toronto cops were on board doing a tour, and probably talking about who has the bigger gun!



With any tour, the Armed Forces also had some displays, including this car done up as a recuitment tool.



It didn't work, as I didn't join up!