In the 1980s and 1990s, one of the biggest and best airshows in Canada was held in London, Ontario. The London International Air Show was one of the most anticipated and loved airshows on the circuit. Aircraft from the Canadian Air Force, United States Air Force and other air forces from different parts of the world would venture to London as well as many other aircraft from Canada and the US, including warbirds and civilian aeroplanes.

Unfortunately, the events of September 11, 2001 had a great affect on airshows throughout North America and the London International Air Show was a casualty of the deadly attacks. London and area has missed the big airshows and the hope is that the city will return to having a regular airshow once again in the years ahead.

In an effort to restore a little of the old days of glory, the Jet Aircraft Museum and its many volunteers decided early in 2014 to put on a small aviation event, not so much an official airshow, but smaller event they called the Legends Over London Jet-Festival.

The idea was to utilize the aircraft available to the Jet Aircraft Museum in London, as well as some aircraft from friends of the museum. The plan for the event was to have 4 - 6 jet aircraft flying as well as the Canadian Harvard Aerobatic Team, part of the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association in Tillsonburg, Ontario. Up-and-coming aerobatic airshow pilot, Mike Trygvasson, was also asked to perform a pre-airshow display in an effort to work on his 'low show' ticket and Mike put on a good show with his little, brightly coloured Giles 200, tossing the airplane around with some lovely aerobatics.

The first of the jets to appear was the Viper North L-29 Delfin, owned and flown by Richard Cooper. His uniquely painted L-29, in a desert camo, is a popular aircraft at Ontario airshows and Coop always puts on a good show with his L-29. This agile jet aircraft flew as a jet trainer with a number of Eastern Block countries including the country in which it was designed and built, Czechoslovakia.

After Richard Cooper completed his display Martin Mattes took over with his L-29 Delfin, flying in a different livery, but just as enjoyable to watch and enjoy. Martin also put his Delfin through its paces for the crowd. The L-29, depending on the engine in the aircraft, has a top speed of 510mph and a stall speed of 81mph. With tip tanks on the aircraft, the range is roughly 550 miles or 2:30 in the air with a service ceiling of 36,000'.

Taking to the sky to join Martin in some formation fly-pasts was Danny Richer in his British designed and built BAC Strikemaster, the military light attack version of the RAF training jet, the Hunting Jet Provost. Danny and Martin performed numerous formation passes until they performed a break whereby Martin and his L-29 landed and Danny in his Strikemaster moved into the airshow box to perform for the crowd.

The Strikemaster, though similar to the Provost, is an armed version of the training aircraft. It had an improved engine, modified wing hardpoints, upgraded ejection seats and fuel systems, a stronger airframe and, interestingly, a shortened landing gear. The Strikemaster flew in several different versions and were exported to a number of countries such as Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, New Zealand, Kenya and others. Depending on the version, the Strikemaster has a top speed of 481mph, stall speed of 98mph and a range of roughly 1380 miles.

The next performing jet aircraft was the Hammond Aviation CT-133 (T-33) Silver Star, the Mako Shark, now flying as part of the Waterloo Warbirds in Waterloo, Ontario. The Mako is one of the most uniquely painted jet aircraft flying in Canada and is a favourite with airshow goers throughout this part of the country. Owner Derek Hammond and fellow Tbird pilot, Ray Thwaites, flew a nice display showing off some of the performance capabilities of the Canadian built T-33, one of 656 that were built by Canadair under license for the RCAF/Canadian Air Force.

The Canadian built T-33's were built under license and were outfitted with the Rolls Royce Nene 10 engine. The Silver Star flew as a jet trainer with the RCAF and the Canadian Armed Forces, until 1976, though as many as 50 Tbirds continued to fly with the Canadian military as target towing aircraft, enemy simulation and communication aircraft. The CT-133 has a top speed of 570mph and a service ceiling of 47,000'.

The last jet aircraft to fly during the event was the International Test Pilot School L-39 Albatross. ITPS showed off some of the performance capabilities of their L-39, the younger, faster brother to the L-29 Delfin. The Albatross was also a Czech built aircraft and was designed in the 1960s to replace the L-29. The aircraft has flown with more than 30 air forces with over 2800, in assorted versions, of the L-39 having been built. The Albatross has a maximum speed of 466mph with a 'never exceed speed' of Mach .80 or 609mph, a range of over 1000 miles with external fuel tanks and a service ceiling of 36,000'.

Closing out the show were the Canadian Harvard Aerobatic Team, also known as CHAT. Pilots Kent Beckham, Dave Hewitt, Pete Spence and Marco Rusconi put on a fabulous display with the 70+ year old Harvard (T-6) aircraft. These brightly yellow painted aircraft once flew with the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) during World War II training Commonwealth pilots and crews across Canada to prepare them to go to war and/or stay at 'home' and train other pilots. With the unmistakable 'growl' of the propellers and P&W engine, the Harvard is a very popular aircraft at airshows and aviation events.

Of course, there were a number of aircraft on static display including the Ontario Air Ambulance helicopter, AW139, Fanshawe College Aviation Technologies and Avionics program aircraft, JAM volunteer, Bruce Bond's, Decathlon, John Shelley's Cessna 206 on floats, Martin Mattes's Yak 52 and the Jet Aircraft Museum assorted T-33's.

There were also a number of displays and vendors including the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association, Air Force Association of Canada 427 Wing along with a small assortment of food vendors and a display from Fanshawe College. Airshow crowds browsed the booths, enjoyed various food and ice cream and wondered around the various static aircraft throughout the day.

The Jet-Festival was a very successful event for the Jet Aircraft Museum and the hope was to hold a show in 2015 however, circumstances beyond the control of the museum has put another show on hold indefinitely. Unfortunately, the airshow list in Ontario was now dwindled to only 2 in 2015 but, maybe one day, we'll see a return of an airshow of some kind once again to the London, Ontario skies!

Jet Aircraft Museum: jetaircraftmuseum.ca

Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association: harvards.com

Waterloo Warbirds: waterloowarbirds.com

Viper North: vipernorth.ca

Canadian Harvard Aerobatic Team: canadianharvards.com

ITPS: itpscanada.com

Great Lakes Helicopters: greatlakeshelicopter.ca

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