report by René Vallée
Canadian Forces Base Bagotville , commonly referred to as CFB Bagotville, is a Canadian Forces Base located 4.5 nautical miles (8.3 km; 5.2 mi) west of Bagotville in the city of Saguenay, Quebec. It is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) ? This edition of CFB Bagotville Airshow his held to celebrate 150 years of Canadian confederation plus the 75th anniversary of CFB Bagotville.
The most remarkable materialisation of this event is the incredibly flashy CF-18 Demonstration Jet’s paint scheme designed to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary. The CF-18 Demonstration Jet’s paint scheme has the aircraft fully painted with a red and white design incorporating the Canada 150 logo. The demonstration team pilot, Capt. Matt Kutryk and all the demonstration team is made up of men and women from throughout 4-WING CFB Cold Lake and 3-WING CFB Bagotville, Que.
Painting the 2017 Demonstration jet has been a team effort between 3 Wing, which provided the jet and technicians to bring the design concept to life, and 4 Wing, which provided hangar space and support throughout the painting. “3 Wing is honoured to provide our aircraft as the 2017 Canada 150 Demonstration Jet,” said Col Darcy Molstad, Commander 3 Wing Bagotville.
Two more CF-18 received a special tail art. the first one is the 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron. The badge is derived from the squadron nickname “Alouette”, and the motto comes from the refrain of the French Canadian folk song. The lark is shown in a hovering position indicative of a bomber over a target, about to strike the enemy. 433 Squadron { Porcupines } locally nicknamed the “Ti-pics”, was formally established on September 25th, 1943 in Skipton-on-Swale, Yorkshire, England under the command of the Bomber Group.
The Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds demonstration team were upping the festivities for the 150th anniversary of Canada’s confederation with a special paint scheme of their own. The new paint on their Canadair CT-114 Tutor features the Canada 150 logo on the nose and wings with the underside of the aircraft featuring 150 crimson maple leaves mixed with the traditional red/white/blue colors of the Snowbirds scheme. Yet again, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have outdone themselves with a stunning display of patriotism and creativity.
The remaining part of the static was mainly invaded by USAF. We were able to note : an F-16c from Vermont ANG – a C-17 and a KC-10 both from Mc Guire and the an F-15c from Westfield MA ANG.The only Aircraft from Europe came from German Air Force with an A-400M. The weather was quitely acceptable even if were spotted some showers. The local Aviation spotters were a little bit disapointed by a so small amout of aircraft due to the large campaign of advertising around this event. Anyway, Globalairpower would like to thank the Canforce authorities to establish such an event!