Gatineau-Ottawa Executive Airport is a small airport, east of Canada's capital of Ottawa. There's an airport terminal, an assortment of hangars and one of Canada's premier vintage aircraft organisations, Vintage Wings of Canada. The airport offers 100LL and Sun A-1 (FSII) fuel, indoor and outdoor aircraft parking, type 1 de-icing & type IV anti-icing, engine heating and aircraft towing and Canada Border Services Agency for clearing customs. The airport also offers a 6000' asphalt runway, oriented east-west, and a newly installed taxiway.

Vintage Wings of Canada, in cooperation with the city of Gatineau, and many other assorted sponsors (see Aero Gatineau website), put together the Aero Gatineau Airshow. It may not be the largest airshow around, but it is well organised and well represented by an assortment of Canadian and American aircraft from vintage or modern, gliders to jet fighters.

This year, the airshow was held the third weekend of September, offering very nice late summer weather, well, for half of the weekend. Unfortunately, though Friday (practice day) and the Saturday airshow day were nice, the weather didn't cooperate for the Sunday airshow as skies were gloomy and very rainy all day making the day a veritable washout.

Flying began around 10:00am with an interesting and speedy ultralight aircraft known as the VL3 performing numerous passes. The VL3 offers an option of 3 different engines, 912, 912iS and the 915, with the 912 offering a cruise speed of 270kp/h, a stall speed of 78kp/h, a best rate of climb of 1300fpm, retractable undercarriage and a glass cockpit. It has a very sleek and sporty look and can get you places faster than a lot of GA aircraft.

Pilot and owner, Patrick Coultier, flew his Polish designed & built PZL-104 "Golden Oriole" Wilga in a nice display. The Wilga was first built by PZL Warszawa-Okecie in the early 1960s, with the first flight of the Mk I in April of 1962. The aircraft was originally designed for the sport & civil aviation market, leaning toward both parachuting and glider towing use. Though there were some issues with the first production aircraft, the Wilga went through a redesign to correct those issues, including different engines, eventually producing the Mark 3 which first flew in December 1963 and proved a very successful aircraft. The later variants, the Wilga 35A and the Wilga 80, the latter of which was certified for the US market, were among the most successful Wilga production models.

Vintage Wings of Canada displayed three of their 'yellow wings' aircraft in flying displays. These aircraft were some of the aircraft used to train Royal Canada Air Force pilots and crews, as well as pilots and crews from other Commonwealth countries, training with the BCATP (British Commonwealth Air Training Plan) during World War II. Among their yellow trainers are the de Havilland of Canada Tiger Moth (in restoration), de Havilland of Canada Chipmunk (built & operated by the RCAF, post World War II, static), the Fleet Finch (Fleet Aircraft of Canada, Fort Erie, Ontario), Fairchild (Fleet) PT-26 Cornell (Fleet Aircraft of Canada, Fort Erie, Ontario) and the Canadian Car & Foundry Harvard Mk 4 (built in Fort William, Ontario). These training aircraft played extremely import roles in training pilots and aircrews before sending them off to train further on fighters or bombers and eventually joining the ranks of fighter pilots and bomber pilots and crews.

Rick "Hollywood" Kopp took his custom built International Transtar 4300 jet truck, "Bone Shaker," out for a 'runway check.' This powerful, and loud, jet truck boasts 18,000hp plus an additional 12,000 pounds of thrust from the J79 GE Turbo jet engine. This engine was used in a number aircraft including the F-4 Phantom, F-104 Starfighter and the B-58 Hustler. Lighting up the jet engine threw a 30! foot flame out the back while also shooting flame out the stacks, an impressive sight, day or night! Ripping down the runway showing impressive speed requiring the use of the drag chute to assist with slowing. Lots of flame, smoke and speed impressed the crowd.

Mackenzie Cline flew the lovely P-51D Mustang, "Double Trouble II," in a nice air display. This P-51 has a Canadian connection as it served with 416 Uplands Squadron, RCAF from 1952 to 1957 when it was retired from service after an accident. The aircraft underwent a full restoration in 2020 and was acquired by Canadian, Peter Timmermans, a pilot himself. It is based out of Chatham-Kent Airport (CYCK) in southwestern Ontario.

The Royal Canadian Air Force flew one of its remaining de Havilland of Canada CC-138 Twin Otters with the Canadian Army Parachute Team, The SkyHawks, in the show. The DHC-6 Twin Otter was designed & built in the early 1960s with the first flight in 1965. Designed as a STOL (Short Take Off & Landing) aircraft and capable of operating from wheel, skis, floats and 'tundra tyres,' the Twin Otter (often referred to as the Twotter), is an extremely versatile aircraft. It has operated around the world from extreme cold to extreme heat conditions and is capable of carrying out military and civilian missions. Cargo can be passengers, troops, ATVs, snow machines, canoes and boats, food, building materials, game (moose, bear, deer, etc) and so much more. New Twin Otter-400 aircraft are being built once again by Viking Air in Victoria, B.C. who acquired building rights of several de Havilland of Canada aircraft. If you want a workhorse aircraft capable of flying from virtually anywhere from almost any surface, and very short strips, the DHC-6 Twin Otter is a must!

The Canadian Army Parachute Team, The SkyHawks, opened the official airshow with a para drop of the Canadian and US flags by team members. Later in the show they also performed parachute demonstrations with teams forming up with some interesting drops as they gracefully descended back to earth. The SkyHawks were officially formed in 1971, though their unofficial beginnings date back to 1969 with the Canadian Airborne Regiment and qualified sport parachute members performing drops during the Mobile Force Fire Power Demonstration at CFB Petawawa, Ontario as the Canadian Airborne Regiment Parachute Team. In 1970 the team name was changed to the Canadian Forces Parachute Team participating in the World Parachuting Championships in France. It proved very successful with the team bringing home the silver medal in the event, Team Accuracy. The SkyHawks have performed all over the world for more than 75 million spectators, including the most northerly drop ever performed over Canadian Forces Station Alert in the high arctic.

Vintage Wings of Canada pilot, Dave Hadfield, demonstrated the maneouvreability of the Westland Lysander III, built by National Steel Car in Malton, Ontario. The Lysander was utilised by the RAF as an army cooperation aircraft during the early part of World War II, mostly in France. After the fall of France, the role of the Lysander was modified to include air-sea rescue, in cooperation with RAF rescue squadrons, often operating very close to enemy territory. Lizzies were also used as target tugs for training gunners as well as inserting & extracting spies and saboteurs into & out of enemy territory. The RCAF operated 225 of these aircraft as target tugs, typically painted in the yellow & black striped livery in an effort to avoid having gunners accidentally shoot them down. The VWC Lysander is painted in honour of RCAF Squadron Leader Andy Carswell who was shot down during World War II over Berlin on his fourth mission.

Former RCAF and Snowbirds pilot, Brent Handy, displayed his Pitts Special S-2 in a graceful and g-filled aerobatic display, throwing the little aeroplane about the sky. Handy first learned to fly with the air cadet gliding program in Ontario. He went on to join the RCAF and, eventually, flew the CF-18 Hornet and was then selected to fly as part of the Canadian Forces Snowbirds aerobatic team. After retiring from the RCAF, Brent purchased his Pitts S-2 and qualified to fly aerobatic airshow routines. In 2019, he and former Snowbirds pilot & friend, Todd Farrell, formed the Northern Stars Aeroteam. Handy is qualified as an unrestricted aerobatics performer.

This week we had a look at some of the performers in the 2022 Aero Gatineau Airshow. Next week we'll return to the airshow to have a look at more performers including the VWC Roseland Spitfire Mk IX and their Canadian built, Canadian Car & Foundry Hawker Hurricane Mk XII, the Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18 Demonstration Hornet, Canadair CT-133, Rick Volker in his SU-26, Mario Hamil in the Salto sailplane, Kyle Fowler in his Rutan Long E Z, Trevor Rafferty in his Pitts Model 12, the USAF A-10 and more.