Snowbirds alumni concerned over squadron’s future despite assurance it will return

Former members of the RCAF Snowbirds say they are worried the team's shows will not be the same after their grounding this year. Donovan Maess reports.

Members of the Snowbirds Alumni Association are raising red flags about the future of the squadron after the federal government’s announcement it will be temporarily grounding the Canadian air demonstration team.

“[The] announcement by the Minister and retirement of the tutor [jet] at the end of this year marks a profoundly disappointing moment for millions of Canadians from coast to coast,” former Snowbirds pilot Dan Dempsey told reporters Tuesday.

“We’ve been inspired by the Snowbirds. [And] for more than 150 million spectators across North America, who have marveled at the team’s iconic nine-plane jet demonstration over the past five decades.”

On Tuesday, the federal government announced plans to ground the air demonstration team until at least 2030 as it works to procure replacement aircraft.

The Department of National Defence will replace the (RCAF) Snowbirds’ long-serving CT-114 Tutor jets with a new aircraft, the CT-157 Siskin II, in a modernization effort.

Formed as the 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, the Snowbirds first took to the skies in 1971.

The name was selected through a contest, with the ‘Snowbirds’ title brought forward by students at a Moose Jaw elementary school.

Its famous crest, with four stylized speedbirds flying in formation are shaped like a ear of wheat, is a nod to its base in Moose Jaw and home in Saskatchewan.

With a rich 55-year history, the Snowbirds have performed nearly 2,900 official shows and another 1,000 more flybys.

• ‘It’s Canadian’: Moose Jaw reacts to Snowbirds’ grounding

Dempsey called Tuesday’s announcement “emotional”.

“We owe so much to this team,” he said with a choke in his voice.

“They represented our country so well. We’re grateful they’re going to continue and it’s essential they do. We’ve had hundreds and hundreds —perhaps, over a thousand members serve on this team. They’ve done so with grace, dignity and pride — and it has [to] continue, simple as that.”

The Snowbirds team released a statement Tuesday afternoon which said its remaining shows will now mean even more.

“With every performance, we carry a deeper purpose with us: to connect with the Canadians we proudly serve,” Lt.-Col. Guillaume Paquet and Chief Warrant Officer Cheryl Abernathy said in the joint statement from the squadron.

“For many people, a Snowbirds performance will be their first and most direct encounter with the men and women who wear the uniform. This encounter begins the moment spectators hear the words, ‘Please look ahead and watch the iconic twinkling lights.’

“What follows brings the skills, professionalism, dedication and teamwork of the Canadian Armed Forces to life overhead in a way everyone can understand. That drive to connect with people, to stir something in them and leave a lasting impression is at the core of everything we do.”

The defence ministry hopes to have the squadron back in the air in the early 2030s.

Retired Lt.-Col. Maryse Carmichael became the first woman to fly with the Snowbirds in 2000. In 2010, she became the team’s first female commanding officer.

She believes once the replacement fleet is ready, it will take years for the pilots to get training on the new aircraft, which have yet to be ordered.

“You cannot put this operational expertise on a shelf and then take it back in two or three years,” Carmichael explained. “When we both joined the Snowbirds, we had nearly 2,000 hours on the airplane and it still took six months to train.”

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Based on his own flight experience, Dempsey says shows will look very different once the team does make its return.

“It wouldn’t have been our first choice,” he said about the CT-157 Siskin II.

“All the G7 nation aerobatic teams are flying jet aircraft. Our preference, as the alumni association, certainly would have been for the next advanced lead and fighter trainer we’re going to get eventually, sometime in the 2030s.”

“You can’t perform the same kind of show with a turboprop trainer you can with a jet. You don’t have the vertical performance and so on. You can still put on a show.”

Australia’s top air demonstration team currently uses the CT-157 Siskin II.

“After more than 65 years of service to the Royal Canadian Air Force, the tutor has earned its well-deserved rest,” Paquet and Abernathy’s statement read.

“As an organization, it is time to innovate and modernize.

“The connection present and past Snowbirds members built between the RCAF and Canadians from coast to coast to coast does not retire with the tutor, it will endure for generations to come.”

The Snowbirds will host its 55th anniversary air show July 11 at 15 Wing Moose Jaw.

It’s expected to be the final hometown show before the replacement of the fleet.

-With files from Graham Richardson