The Canadian Forces Snowbirds
celebrated their milestone 50th anniversary in 2021 - originally, it should
have been 2020, until the Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to that. But also
due to the uncertainty about the lingering effects of Covid, we also postponed
our Scale ModelWorld tribute display for a further year, until 2022.
Based at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, as they
have always been since their tentative beginnings back in 1971, the
Snowbirds have become world famous - an impressive feat,
considering that they have never performed outside of North America.
Throughout all the long history and great
heritage of Canadian Forces display teams, the Snowbirds are the
only team ever to be granted Squadron status, as 431 Air Demonstration
Squadron. But what makes them truly unique, is that they are the only aerobatic
team in the world to have used the same aircraft type for the whole of their
50-plus year existence - the Canadair CT-114 Tutor.
The Canadian Forces actually retired the
Tutor from its training role in 2000 and the remaining aircraft are now solely
in use by the Snowbirds. A modernisation/upgrade program, plus
meticulous servicing and maintenance, means that the iconic Tutor is expected
to remain in service with the Snowbirds until 2030.
The "centrepiece" of our display focused on
the Snowbirds and illustrates many of the subtle changes in
colour schemes and markings that their aircraft have appeared in over the
years.(If you would like to know far more comprehensive details of the
Snowbirds aircraft and colour schemes, we recommend that you
click
here to check out the book "Evolution of the Snowbirds", written by our own
SIG Leader, Gary Siddall.)
Flanking the Snowbirds are a
wide range of models that represent the proud history of Canadian Forces
display teams from the First World War to the present day, presented with a
selection of historical memorabilia from some of those teams.
The whole display was presented on an area
of approximately 18 feet x 4 feet (5.8m x 1.2m) of table space. There are a
total of 60 models on the entire display, including ten in 1/48th scale, one in
1/32nd scale, and all the rest in 1/72nd scale. They were all built by 14 of
our members.
