CNE 1: THE AIR SHOW

So, the Canadian National Exhibition. Or the Big Assed Fair, whatever you want to call it. Around here it is a tradition. The end of summer, the start of a new school year, new stuffed animals to be won for Collette's classroom. This will be a multi part story, as we went twice, once to the see the Air Show and again, just to see the rest of the fair. So we start with the air show.

We love the air show. It runs over the last three days of the Ex and it is three hours of all kinds of aircraft, doing all kinds of things, over Lake Ontario. Military planes, acrobatic planes, vintage planes and as always, the Snowbirds at the end.

I'm not sure how many Air Shows Collette and I have seen, at least fifteen, maybe as many as twenty. A lot. Let's put it that way. The Snowbirds have always been the consistent thing. We've seen gliders, mock dogfights between WWI biplanes, parachuting teams, the Stealth bomber ... and yes, even a plane crash that took the life of the crew on board. A sad thing, a sad event, but the Air Show goes on, much like the Ex itself.

There is a lot to love about the airshow. My faves are the aerobatic pilots, reminiscent of barnstormers. Highly developed prop planes doing things that defy gravity ... and logic. This year we had Matt Chapman and the amazing Julie Clark.

There was also a demo of the waterbombers, planes and helicopter, used to fight bush fires in Ontario. Apparently these planes are very rare, there are only six in the world. At any rate, they were pretty impressive to watch, scooping water out of the inner harbour then dumping it over show center.

Then we had the Harbord Aerobatics team. Harbords are the prop driven training planes used by the Canadian forces back in the day. Oh, I love these planes. In the video, listen to the engines ... a very distinct whine that sends shivers up my spine. The team is good, flying a nice tight well co ordinated show.

I arrived late at the show (don't ask, I won't tell you) but thankfully Collette caught some stills of a special flyby with a CF-18 Hornet and a WWII Spitfire. I've seen this show before. The skill of both pilots, considering the amazing difference in engine power and speed, to keep these two planes in tandem is pretty impressive. And you can see the differences in design, between the bullet-like elegance of the Spitfire with its smooth lines and bubble canopy, to the purely functional look of the Hornet.

Speaking of jets, the Americans sent us the Viper. Oh, she is a loud beast, is this jet. Here her on the video. What you don't hear are the comments of way too many men "Now that's what I'm talking bout!! Now we have some noise!! Whooohooooo!!! Loud noise!! Wow, that is awesome!!! It's really loud and pointless!!!! I don't care about design and pilot skill let's just hear some noise, maybe it will drown out the self doubt I have about myself and I don't have to think about what a meaningless jackass I am!!! Whoohooo!!" Um... here's the Viper.

So now we come to the dilemma I have about the Airshow. I love the aerobatic planes. The water bombers were cool. I love the vintage fighters, bits of the past that you can admire for their style and their abilities. Then we come to the contemporary warplanes. The jets. The flying guns. That is what they are. Weapon delivery platforms. High tech, well made, flown by pilots of undeniable skill .. but weapons nonetheless. I like weapons. I love swords and I can even admire certain firearms for the skill and sometimes artistry with which they were made. Handle a genuine Kentucky rifle, with its tigerwood stock and brass fittings and you can't help but view it as thing of beauty. A katanna is a weapon designed to kill with an economic efficiency but hold one, feel the balance, the beauty of the temper lines on the blade ... it is breath taking.

I feel the same way about a lot of the vintage prop fighter planes. In particular the Spitfire and the Mustang .. these are just beautiful machines. Take away their guns and their bombs and as pieces of design, they are just beautiful. Yes, they were weapons, but so far removed from their wars, it is easy now to admire them.

I don't find many jet fighters beautiful in an aesthetic sense. I know many would argue with me and I am sure there is a jet or two that are exceptions but, as a rule, I find them prosaic and functional. They are function over form, the shape of the wings, the canopy, everything is designed for maximum efficiency. They are weapons and what weapons they are, capable of delivering death at a rate so stunning you have to wonder what the designers were thinking: You really need to kill that many people at once?

I take nothing away from their pilots. Watching these jets at the airshow, how the pilot can control all that raw power, you can't help but admire him. I support the Airshow but I don't support our need to spend millions and millions of dollars to build these flying guns just to kill people faster than ever before.

Then we come to the Snowbirds. Ok, their planes are trainers. They are not flying guns, they are not war planes. But it is a military flying team ... but my god, how beautiful they are to watch ..

So, here is the Airshow video, just a short trailer sort of vid, highlights if you will, three hours compressed into four minutes. Yes, the flying guns are included and yes, they are pretty cool. Music is Machine Head by Bush. The Snowbirds end the vid as they ended the show. Pretty pretty snowbirds.

CNE Airshow from Victor Kellar on Vimeo.