When the beautiful, red Snowbird CT-114 Tutor jets take to the skies over Barrie tonight, it will be the stuff of great memories.
“You've got 5 kilometres around the waterfront to stand and watch the show. I encourage everyone to come out and cheer these guys on. It's such a Canadian moment," said a very proud James C. Massie, who was instrumental in bringing the beloved Canadian Forces flying team to Barrie.
"There's lots of small towns across the country that I'm sure would be envious to be in our position that we get to celebrate the 150th anniversary of our country with probably one of the most iconic Canadian symbols there are - the Snowbirds."
The Snowbirds and CF-18 Hornet touched down at Lake Simcoe Regional Airport in Oro-Medonte Township Tuesday afternoon.
Snowbird Captain Paul Faulkner promised a show to remember.
“People can expect to see a dynamic show, hopefully under clear blue skies, and see the nine beautiful red Tutor jets doing main formations all together. The solos will split to do the head-on passes, which are a crowd favourite," said Faulkner.
"As we approach Canada Day, the Canada Burst is quite fitting and hopefully we have the skies for that on Wednesday as well as the Maple Split."
Faulkner and the other pilots will be in Ottawa above Parliament Hill for Canada Day on July 1 but said Kempenfelt Bay is a perfect setting.
“We think it’s an awesome place for an air show. You’re going to have almost 360-degree coverage to see it from all the different vantage points,” he said.
The jets fly at about 750 kilometres an hour at the top end speeds but the solo passes will have closing speeds of 1,000 kilometres an hour, he said.
The Air Show, featuring the nine-plane performance demonstration team, a CF-18 Hornet with the Canada 150 paint scheme and the Great War Flying Museum, gets underway at 6 p.m.
Snowbirds Public Affairs officer Michele Tremblay said this is ‘an extremely special year.’
"Our show is about 35 to 40 minutes. We try and do encores. We try and give Barrie people as much of our thrilling performances as we can. Flying as close as just a few feet apart. You'll see different maneuvers, formations, the solos go at each other at speeds of up to 1,000 km/h."
Canadian Forces Captain Matthew Kutryk will be piloting the powerful CF-18 and says the air show is ‘gonna be big.’
“People in Barrie are going to see an amazing show over the water, which presents a unique environment,” he said. “I’ll be taking the airplane down to 300 feet over the water and doing everything I can with those powerful engines and its aerodynamic capabilities."
Kutryk said he’ll be travelling just under Mach 1, or just below the speed of sound.
“When the aerodynamic cone builds as we approach the speed of sound, you will actually see vapour if the humidity is high enough and it looks like it’s creating a cloud that’s flying with the plane,” he said. “It will make a bit of noise and show how this airplane can fly.”
Being part of the Canada 150 celebrations makes this year just that more meaningful to all of the pilots.
“I feel very lucky and honoured to have the opportunity," said Kutryk.
Mayor Jeff Lehman was in the crowd at the airport Tuesday afternoon to greet the pilots and say an advance thank you for coming to Barrie on their way to Ottawa.
"We're so lucky as a Canadian city to get the Snowbirds during Canada 150 and help kick us off for Canada Day weekend. To have them do the show right over downtown is really special,” Lehman said, anticipating the first roar of the turbojet engines.
"That's going to be one of the most exciting moments for me ever. As a kid growing up, wanting to fly fighter jets, the Snowbirds are something really special."
