Canada Ping!
Posted on 03/27/2015 4:20:00 PM PDT by Squawk 8888
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Captain Denis "Cheech" Beaulieu as the pilot for the 2015 CF-18 Demonstration Team.
Flying his specially painted CF-18 Hornet commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Captain Beaulieu will wow crowds around the continent during the 2015 air show season.
"I am really looking forward to taking the CF-18 all over Canada and the United States,” said Captain Beaulieu, who is a member of 425 “Alouettes” Tactical Fighter Squadron at 3 Wing Bagotville, Quebec.
“This job gives me the opportunity to celebrate aviation with audiences all over, while flying the Hornet in a way that few pilots get to fly. Best of all, I get to do this all with a team of highly talented professionals who work together to put on a great show."
The CF-18 Demonstration Team selects a theme for each year and 2015 will feature the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. The specially painted CF-18 Hornet will feature a unique commemorative paint job designed by veteran design director, Jim Belliveau, at 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alberta. The Demo Hornet will be revealed later in 2015 before the start of the air show season.
A native of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Captain Beaulieu graduated in 2005 with a mechanical engineering degree from Sherbrooke University and from an engineering school in Paris, France, where he spent two years as an exchange student. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 2006 with the ambition of becoming a fighter pilot. Just five years later, he fulfilled that dream when he completed his CF-18 training and was posted to 425 Squadron.
During his time at the squadron, Captain Beaulieu has participated in multiple training missions and exercises all over Canada, the U.S.A. and even South America. He also conducted many missions in Canada, as well as NATO missions in Iceland and Romania. He has over 1,100 flying hours on high performance military aircraft, including 780 hours on the CF-18 Hornet.
In late April, Captain Beaulieu will take to the skies over Comox, British Columbia, where the team conducts its annual training before launching the 2015 air show season.
"The Royal Canadian Air Force has yet another opportunity to connect with its cherished history by commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain with our CF-18 Demonstration Team,” said Major-General David Wheeler, the commander of 1 Canadian Air Division and the Canadian NORAD Region. “Captain Beaulieu has proven his abilities and will be a great representative of the RCAF all over North America this year."
Canada Ping!
Is this going to be a team similar to the “Snowbirds” demonstration team?
The CF-18 demo is a single-plane operation. They perform at most of the shows where the Snowbirds fly, plus some special events such as the flypast at the Grey Cup game.
Sweet paint job.
Sweet plane.
Yup, I heard that too. The inflating could get in the way of what they need to do.
Nice paint job, but I just can’t get excited about the F-18 Hornet. We should have upgraded to the Super Hornet years ago. Fer cryin’ out loud, there’s a F-18 Hornet at the Air Museum in Ottawa now, and our people are still flying them !
Yep, we should’ve done what the Aussies did, upgrade the Hornets and fewer F-35s. Though from what I’ve heard lately about the F-35 I think we should cancel the order entirely.
I thought we had cancelled, but were just going to stay involved with research and development. Personally, I don’t think we’ll ever see the F-35 Edsel in full production.
The last I heard was that it was not cancelled but placed on hold while the programme is reviewed. With the other capable airframes available at much lower cost (Super Hornet, Saab Gripen etc.) buying the F-35 doesn’t make sense; we should just write off our contribution to the R&D costs and move on.
Agreed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.