2018 Airshow London – Ontario, Canada

Airshow London International Airport (CYXU), Ontario, September 6-9, 2018

Air Show London is a not-for-profit organization that promotes the aviation industry, businesses and education opportunities of London and surrounding areas. The show is considered to be the largest display of military aircraft in Canada.

The 2018 show was another successful year despite the less than ideal weather. According to the show’s organizers, more than 30,000 people made their way to the London International Airport over the weekend of Friday, September 7, to Sunday, September 9.

Once again, the presenting sponsor for the show was Lockheed Martin.

The 2018 program line-up included the USAF F-16 Viper Demo Team, with a TF-51D Mustang as part of the USAF Heritage Flight, the RCAF Snowbirds (431 Air Demonstration Sqn), the RCAF CF-188 (CF-18) Demo Team with the special colour scheme commemorating the 60th anniversary of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the Canadian Forces SkyHawks parachute team, the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Para-Commandos parachute team, the Jet Aircraft Museum’s (JAM) CT-133 Silver Star making its first public appearance in a commemorative RCAF Red Knight colour scheme, a Canadair F-86E Sabre flown by Paul Keppler, a RCAF 424 Sqn CC-130H demo, and civilian aerobatic acts Mike Tryggvason in his Giles 202 and Pete McLeod in his Red Bull Extra 300.

The RCAF Demo Hornet and the JAM Red Knight also performed a RCAF Heritage Flight. A special tribute to NORAD was planned for the Saturday show with the RCAF Demo Hornet and one of the F-22 Raptors. Unfortunately, the F-22 had some technical issues, leaving the Demo Hornet to do a few fly-bys alone. After some maintenance work and three engines starts the F-22 took to the air, providing an impressive flying display with beautiful vapour pulls and afterburner.

A privately-owned Northrop F-5A, flown by Jeff Kaney, was scheduled to perform, however the aircraft did not fly over the weekend and remained on the hot ramp.

The show also featured numerous military aircraft fly-bys from the USAF and US ANG including the F-16 Viper, the F-22 Raptor, and the A-10 Warthog and the RCAF with the CF-188 Hornet.

There were very few cancellations this year with the RCAF CT-142 Gonzo, the USN T-45s and the USAF 18th Aggressor Sqn F-16s as no-shows.

There were at least 70 aircraft (61 military and warbirds, and 9 civilian), by my count, at the air show on both the static and hot ramp.

On Friday gates opened to the public at 4:00PM for the “Friday Night Hour of Power”, with flying scheduled to begin at 5:00PM. Gates closed at 9:00PM.

On Saturday and Sunday gates opened to the public at 9:00AM, with the flying scheduled to begin at 1:00PM. Gates closed at 6:00PM.

See the table below for a complete list of participating aircraft.

Airshow London Photo Tour

As with 2017, the 2018 Airshow London offered the 5-day Photo Tour pass ($300 CDN), including Thursday and Friday arrivals, the Saturday and Sunday air show days and Monday departures. The total cost with taxes was $356.00 (CDN). Thursday and Monday access is only available to those who have purchased the full 5 day pass.

The photo pit was located in the same spot as all of the previous London air shows. Situated at the north-west corner of the main taxi-way (paralleling Rwy 15-33) and south of Rwy 09-27, the photo pit area provides a first-class view of aircraft movements (arrivals and departures) and the air display which runs along Rwy 15-33.

The photo tour pass also provides early access on all 5 days; check-in 8:30 – 9:00 AM on Thursday, Friday and Monday and check-in 6:30 – 7:00AM on Saturday and Sunday show days.

Once again, the Media area was kept separate from the Photo Tour pit area.

This year Nikon Canada was a sponsor of the 2018 Photo Tour. Nikon had a tent set up within the photo pit area, staffed with knowledgeable Nikon staff. Photo tour participants were given free access to the photographic equipment, however it still required I.D. (driver’s licence) and a credit card (to guarantee the return of the equipment). Nikon brought in some very high-end lenses and cameras including the Nikkor 300mm and 400mm f2.8’s, the 500mm and 600mm f4’s, the D4S and D5 camera bodies and the new mirrorless Nikon Z series.

During the day, on Friday, the RCAF CF-188 Hornets and the USAF F-16s departed the airport for a few hours to perform joint training manoeuvres. On their return, the photographers and air show volunteers were treated to some amazing photo opportunities as each of the aircraft beat up the field, making several high-speed low passes, with tight pitch-up turns.

Unfortunately, this year the weather continued to deteriorate as the weekend progressed, with some excellent lighting conditions for the Thursday and Friday arrivals as well as some decent light early on Saturday. However, by show time the sky was a dull overcast milky grey/white. Sunday was also overcast but much cooler with fairly high winds. Sadly, there was only a very small window of opportunity to get photos with the early morning sunrise lighting prior to the sky clouding over. On Monday it rained most of the day. I didn’t return to the airport to watch the remaining aircraft departures.

Airshow London 2019 is scheduled for September 12–16 (show days on Saturday and Sunday).
More information can be obtained on their website at airshowlondon.com