Toronto Airshow

On Friday I went down to the waterfront to catch some of the CIAS practice. Unfortunately, it was extremely hazy.
So on Saturday, I joined my brother to bike over to the Toronto Islands to watch the show from the beach. It was extremely hot, so it was nice to cool off in the Lake. But I did burn the top of my foot! Yikes.
The show was called early, as the radio indicated that rain was happening at Pearson, so the snowbirds stayed on the ground.
On Monday, I parked in a lot along Lakeshore and road towards the centre stage area. It was cloudy and grey, but the planes were pretty close.

Some of the aircarft included the A10 Warthog, a tank buster plane. I've always like the plane, with its massive gatling gun. This plane was designed to survive a hit, because it would spend its life down low on the battleground.





The MV-22 Osprey, from the Marine Corps was on hand for its first visit to Toronto. This is a Tilt Rotor aircraft, having the speed of a conventional plane, and the landing ability of a helicopter.



The Canadian CF-18 Hornet performed, and this year was done up to salute the families that support the military.





The CF also had the CP-140 Aurora, which is basically a sub hunter, making a bunch of passes down the show line.



The Canadian Armed Forces also had the Snowbirds on hand. Saturdays show never made it to the lakefront due to rain, but they were able to perform on sunday and monday.
On monday, at the scheduled time for the Snowbirds I heard over my scanner that number 7 had to turn back and pick up the backup aircraft, which delayed the show for 10 minutes. (you can see plane 10 has replaced number 7 in the picture below)



Once they got going, they only had 7 aircraft in the formation, and by the end, an 8th had joined in.







A great jet demonstration team was the privately owned Heavy Metal jet team. Flying 5 L-39 Albatros planes,



plus an amazing Mig 17.



Also in their team is a former RCAF T-33 Shooting Star, which was not at the show.









These guys had the best seat in the house during the show!



Prop planes included the Lucas Oil Pitts flown by Mike Wiskus



The Edge 540 of Pete McLeod





the Sukhoi SU-26M of Rick Volker



And the great Avro Lancaster of the Hamilton Warplane Heritage Museum, with its 4 Merlin engines, which powered the spitfire!







The Misty Blues, an all female parachute team, landed in the water to be picked up by the Police Marine Unit,



while the HMCS Shawinigan was part of the show on Saturday. Its a Coastal Defense Ship, of the Kingston Class.

Waterfront view of the Airshow

I headed down to the east parking lot area of Ontario Place, to watch some of the CIAS. I was just to the west of the Island Airport runway, where you could see Porter Airline aircraft taking off.



Out in the distance you could see the Canadian Navy's Frigate HMCS Fredericton



One of my favourite WWII aircraft, the Voight F4U Corsair, from Vintage Wings of Canada was on hand to give a performance. The aircraft is done up to represent the plane flown by Hampton Gray, a Canadian Navy pilot who died during an attack on a Japanese ship which earned him the Victoria Cross.



It was joined by a Tutor jet done up in the paint scheme of the Golden Centennaires , which lead directly to the formation of the Snowbirds.



Also on hand was the F-16 of Viper East, from the US airforce. The viper ripped through the skies, showing its capabilities.





A suprise visit was the CC-177 of the CAF, a recently aquirred transport aircraft for the Canadian Forces.



One of the aerobatic performaces was by Rob Holland, in his MX2



And to close out the show, the CAF Snowbirds performed their typical awesome show.






From where I was, I was able to get some shots of the snowbirds flying by the CN Tower, which is always cool! Must have been fun for those in the tower to see!



More photos from Saturday are HERE.

SNOWBIRDS

The Canadian Armed Forces Demonstration Team (431 Squadron)is famous throughout the world for there spectacular air demonstrations.
Waterloo Aviation Expo and Airshow was lucky enough to have them booked for the Father's Day weekend, and I was eager to watch their 40th anniversary display, and trust me, no one was dissapointed.

The team is made up of 9 pilots, and one of the pilots this year is Capt Yanick Gregoire, who was a former CF-18 demonstration pilot, and thrilled crowds with what he could do with the Hornet.



As a regular visiter of the Toronto Airshow, I don't get many opportunities to see the Snowbirds from start to finish. As this is an airport show, we could watch the planes taxi into place, and take off in three ship groups







The team starts with a nine plane formation (with the classic "look straight ahead for the nine twinkling lights" opening from the commentator, and eventually splits up into two groups of 4, with a solo;









The 4 plane formations do some tricky crossing stunts that really are a treat to watch.









And then there is the 7 plane formation with two solos. These guys do some amazing crossing moves, and make it look easy.