RCAF CF-18 Hornet Demo Team and Spitfire heritage flight - RIAT 2024

Carrying on the Canadian tradition of excellence, flying the Demo Hornet for your Air Force's centennial season, is Captain Caleb Robert, callsign Tango. Tango is a qualified combat element on board the CF-18 for the 425 Tactical Support Squadron at the 3rd Bagotville Squadron in Quebec. Your 2024 CF-18 Demo Team pilot was captivated by flight from his earliest memories, logging over 1,100 hours in military jet aircraft, including more than 700 in the CF-18. He has served on NORAD missions, deployed to Romania as part of Operation Reassurance, Canada's contribution to NATO-enhanced air policing, and participated in large force exercises with ally and partner nations around the world. Get ready. You are about to see a dynamic and challenging demonstration featuring the sharp, precise maneuvers using the Canadian Armed Forces operations at home and abroad. Have a look around. See if you can find him. He's going to sneak up on you. With over 200 switches in the cockpit, a CF-18 pilot can make all necessary selections using the 16 buttons on the stick and throttles, which is especially impressive considering the speed and agility needed to make effective tactical decisions during combat. Watch now as Tango performs from the right hesitation roll. Like the song says, as Tango is a fighter pilot, we know he was born to be wild. He is now configuring his aircraft with landing gear, a resting hook, and the refueling probe deployed. With everything hanging out, Captain Robert and the Dirty Inverted Pass. The next pass will demonstrate the agility of the Hornet in changing directions. Tango will fly the aircraft in a high-G 360-degree turn. Watch for the red-hot afterburner in the Hornet's tailpipes. The aircraft that can fly the slowest will win the advantage. Captain Robert is now demonstrating the Hornet's high attack angle approaching the center of the spectacle at low speed, only 190 km per hour. Other fighter jets can slow down, but Fairford, I've got a feeling none of them do it quite like your CF-18 Hornet. From the left, Tango and the high-alpha pass. As Tango sets up for the next high-speed pass, here's a quick message from your pilot. Get ready now as Tango prepares for this final pass, a wave pass. Make sure to wave back. He can see you. Among many other operations, 402 took part in the 1942 Dieppe raid, and in 1944, Operation Overlord, the Allied landings in France, and the Arnhem landings. It flew 10,504 sorties for the loss of 47 of its pilots, including 36 killed or missing, and was credited with 49 enemy aircraft destroyed, plus five V-1 flying bombs. In come the Spitfire and the Hornet for the break. As for the Spitfire, well, it came to us from the fighter collection at Duxford in Cambridgeshire, an outstanding collection of historic propeller-driven warplanes founded by Stephen Gray, and it was in the hands of that wonderful Norwegian warbird pilot But now it's back to the Italian Air Force and back once again to Mike Palumbo. Thank you again, Ben. I will need at least 15 minutes to take over from that wonderful break anyway. OK, it's my job. I start right away.