BY JOETEY ATTARIWALA
The 2024 CF-18 Demo Jet features a new livery to celebrate the RCAF’s centennial
CDR’s Aviation Editor, Joetey Attariwala, recently traveled to 19 Wing Comox to meet with the CF-18 Demonstration Team as they prepare for the upcoming air show season.
April 1st, 2024, marked 100 years of service for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as a distinct military element. Celebrating the centennial and representing the RCAF is the CF-18 Demonstration Team which aims to highlight the distinct heritage of the Air Force; recognizing the people; and looking forward to the future.
Every year, the RCAF selects a special group of people to make up the CF-18 Demo Team. The Team is truly a national team with members selected from RCAF units across the country, albeit primarily from the two fighter Wings of the Air Force. All are selected for their superior performance, dedication to excellence, and the desire to represent Canada’s operational Air Force.
Throughout the 2024 Centennial season a specially painted CF-18 Hornet, featuring a unique commemorative paint job, will perform in front of audiences as part of Operation INSPIRATION 2024.
“2024 marks a significant milestone for the RCAF and provides a unique opportunity, through the CF-18 Demonstration Team, to showcase Air Force personnel and their capabilities, while proudly celebrating our past – present – and future,” said Major-General Iain Huddleston, Commander, 1 Canadian Air Division. “We’re pleased to have Captain Robert, and his team of highly motivated and professional technicians, represent the RCAF as the 2024 CF-18 Demonstration Team to celebrate the RCAF Centennial during the upcoming airshow season.”
Flying the 2024 CF-18 Demo jet is Captain Caleb “Tango” Robert, who spent many summers working with Cadets Canada as a glider instructor in both North Bay and Trenton, Ontario, before enrolling at the Royal Military College of Canada.
Today Capt. Robert is a combat-qualified element lead on the CF-18 at 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron at 3 Wing, Bagotville, Quebec. In 2022, Capt. Robert deployed to Romania as part of Operation REASSURANCE, Canada’s contribution to NATO enhanced air policing; and he has also served on many NORAD missions across North America, as well as large-force exercises with allies and partner nations around the world.
In addressing the training required for the CF-18 Demo Team, Capt. Robert said, “We had a great training camp in Bagotville and in Cold Lake as well, and we’re super happy to be on the West coast to finish off. This is the first and probably only opportunity for both the East and West maintenance teams to be together to work on our routine. The jets have held up serviceable, so we are excited for the Centennial — 100 years of the Air Force in Canada, and the demo jet is celebrating that fact.”
This year’s CF-18 Demo jet (188774) is a CF-18A from 3 Wing Bagotville which has been upgraded as a Hornet Extension Project I jet. It features a unique commemorative RCAF Centennial livery which was applied at CFB Cold Lake and is meant to recognize the past, present and future as mentioned by MGen Huddleston.
“People might expect that the most important thing for me is my name on the jet, but that’s not how I think of it,” Capt Robert told CDR. “I believe it’s not the demo pilot, but it’s the demo team, so that’s how I view the entire season. We just can’t do what we do without the maintainers and support — everybody behind the curtain that nobody gets to see do their incredible work.”
THE DESIGN
A key feature on the CF-18 demo jet is the RCAF 100 centennial logo which incorporates the RCAF roundel in the center, and the slogan for this year: Your Air Force. Another distinguishing feature is the false canopy which is painted in the RCAF tartan. This aspect of the jet is highly detailed, and undoubtedly took painstaking work to apply. The undersurface of the jet has a red maple leaf which is painted in between the main landing gear, and that along with the red-painted outer aspect of the wings is meant to replicate Canada’s flag when the undersurface of the jet is in view.
The top of the jet is painted in dark blue and is marked with cogs and wheels at the back of the jet which commemorate the past. Forward of that are ones and zeros to represent the present digital age, and forward of that are fiber optic cables which represent the future.
“The fiber optic cables end at the leading-edge extension, leaving no specific markings on the very front of the jet, so my interpretation of that is it represents the unknown — I mean who knows where we are going from here. It’s a neat feature that I see in the jet,” said Robert.
The demo jet’s fins are also painted blue, and each side outer aspect is painted differently to reflect the RCAF of the past and of today — the left side has silhouettes of current RCAF aircraft, while the right side has silhouettes representing people of the RCAF and older aircraft that once operated in the RCAF.
A MILESTONE YEAR
“I’ve been saying that the Royal Canadian Air Force is putting on a birthday, and our role is to provide the entertainment,” said Robert. “You have to celebrate your milestones as you’ve worked hard to be where you’re at, and looking forward you have to take those tactical pauses to enjoy where we’re at, so we’re hoping everyone will have a good time this season.”
The furthest the CF-18 Demo Team will perform in 2024 is Fairford, England, where they will perform at the Royal International Air Tattoo. “It’s a big undertaking to cross the ocean at the best of times but rest assured, we have a really good team of people working on that already and we’re super excited to showcase the routine there,” said Robert. “We are happy to show it off, but it’s also important for people to realize that our CF-18’s don’t tour around the country just to do air shows. The jets are all about doing the business at the pointy end of the sword.”
The CF-18 Demo Team began its airshow season at CFB Comox, and will continue to perform across Canada, the United States and England this year; with their last show scheduled for the end of September. We look forward to seeing the CF-18 Demo Team represent the RCAF for this milestone year!
Joetey Attariwala is CDR’s Aviation Editor
