By Chris Moran, Canadian Council member, EAA 726984
I am sure as most of you were, I was very sad to hear AirVenture was being cancelled, as were all Canadian air shows including small events like the Gathering of Classics at Edenvale. Oh, well, I guessed my ticket for Airshow London would be good for next year, sad as it was. I would have to wait a whole year for my next air show fix.
Or would I? I received an email from Airshow London saying that they had decided to try something totally different and make it a drive-in show — each vehicle would be allotted a space big enough to allow social distancing, and the show would go on. I bought a ticket immediately. They apparently had room for around 2,000 vehicles and were sold out both days.
It was a very different show without static displays, vendors, food trucks, and crowds of aviation enthusiasts, but there was enough jet noise and aircraft action to keep even die-hard fans happy.
Airshow London had come up with a creative way of keeping the show alive for this year but if it weren’t for the support of our friends to the south and the participation of the USAF there would not have been a show at all.
The show opened with two Canadian CF-18s which happened to be the only two air show aircraft on the ramp in London, joining with a CC-150 Polaris that flew up from CFB Trenton doing aerial fueling demonstration passes.
We were treated to demonstrations from the F-16 Viper demo team, the F-22 Raptor demo team, the F-35 Lightning II demo team, the C-17 Globemaster III demo team, and the A-10 Warthog demo team.
The teams also formed up for a Heritage flight including the A-10, F-22, F-35, and F-16.
The U.S. aircraft were staged out of Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan, located approximately 90 miles west and a little south of London, just over the border north of Detroit on the northwest side of Lake St. Clair.
There was one exception, a B-52 BUFF (Big Ugly Fat Fellow or something like that!) flew up from Barksdale Air Force Base which is near Shreveport, Louisiana, a distance of approximately 2,000 miles round trip. I looked up Barksdale AFB on Google Earth to see just exactly where it was and was able to count 25 plus B-52s sitting on the ramps at the time of the image, but most interesting were the static displays along a nearby road which included a B-17, B-24, B-29, B-47, numerous B-52s, an F-111, SR-71 and a surprise RAF Vulcan bomber.
The air boss did an amazing job of coordinating all aircraft over the air show considering they were all coming from 90 miles away across the border and not launching from right there in London.
Sadly, our Canadian Snowbirds were not able to attend because of the unfortunate accident that took the life of Capt. Jennifer Casey earlier this year, but in a show of respect all the U.S. demo team aircraft including the six Thunderbird F-16’s paid tribute to the Snowbirds and Capt. Casey by placing a Snowbird decal with a black ribbon on their aircraft.
The show of course ended with the Thunderbirds who closed it out in grand style. I think they needed to cut their usual performance a little short, since they would not be landing in London fuel was probably a consideration.
Given the circumstances, the organizers pulled a rabbit out of the hat and put on a great show, and are to be congratulated for getting creative and keeping the show going. Let’s not forget all the volunteers who did all the set-up, parking, traffic control, and so many other things. Without them it would not have been possible. And, of course, a big thank you to the USAF for their support of aviation starved Canadian airshow fans.
Perhaps the Airshow London organizers have shown other air show groups how to achieve something positive during the difficult times we’re still facing.