MOOSE JAW — Attending the Snowbirds’ season-ending home show was a treat for Harry Chapin, who flew with the aerobatic team 50 years ago and was seeing them perform for the first time in years.
Chapin was one of hundreds of people who attended 431 Air Demonstration Squadron’s home closer show on Oct. 18 at 15 Wing Air Base. The event is traditionally held to thank families and friends of deployed squadron members and Snowbird alumni for their support.
“(That was) awesome. (It) just gave me goosebumps all over. It brought tears to my eyes,” the retired pilot said after the half-hour performance.
Chapin flew with the legendary team from 1974 to ’76 and operated the No. 7 plane. After the home closer show concluded, he walked up to a plane with a No. 7 designation and took a selfie with just himself and then with a friend.
The things that Chapin enjoyed while flying with Canada’s famed aerobatic unit were participating in the shows, being a part of the country’s military and wearing the Canadian flag. Meanwhile, operating the CT-114 Tutor jet was like “the nicest sports car you’ve ever wanted to fly in or drive.”
“It’s just a great airplane … for doing the show,” Chapin added.
Reginans Gordon and Audrey Stopanski brought a poster of the Snowbirds in aerial formation that they wanted the pilots to sign after the event.
Mr. Stopanski explained that he attended the Snowbirds’ very first air demonstration in 1971 when he was the commanding officer of a cadet squadron from Indian Head. After working at the show, they were allowed to see the machines up close.
“That first year was absolutely wild,” he recalled.
That first show attracted almost 60,000 people to Moose Jaw, which caused massive traffic jams on highways 1 and 2, while the event ran out of food by 11 a.m. Organizers, he noted, clearly didn’t expect to have such a wall-to-wall-packed crowd.
However, funding cuts by the federal government led to the Snowbirds performing fewer shows. So, the Stopankis have travelled to Alberta and Manitoba over the years to see the red-white-and-blue planes take flight.
“It’s something that’s been a passion of mine for practically forever. It doesn’t matter what the weather is, I’m here,” he said.
As for the poster, Mr. Stopanski explained that the Kodak Company used to sponsor the event and worked with Don’s Photo in Regina to distribute pictures to people who attended. However, because of how many were printed, he ended up obtaining 200 after Kodak stopped sponsoring the show.
So, every year for the last 53 years, he and his wife have brought a poster to a performance for the pilots to sign.
“And hopefully they’ll go for another 50 (or) 60 years … . I’m sure they will, or in some format like that. Maybe in different airplanes … ,” Mr. Stopanski said. “It’s an icon. It’s just like the RCMP musical ride.”
He added that he collects anything Snowbirds-related, while his basement is “just a little bit packed” with memorabilia, although not like “the shrines” other people have.
Before the show began, the Snowbirds presented a trophy and command team coin to Moose Javian Brian Herde to thank him for his support over the decades.
“It was very unexpected (but it’s) very much appreciated,” he said.
Herde worked on the Tutor jets in the 1960s as a mechanic and flew with the Snowbirds in the 1980s. He joked that some of the pilots flying today weren’t even alive when he flew. Meanwhile, since 2010, he has worked at the base for a Montreal-based contractor handling technical issues with the planes.
“It doesn’t feel like work,” he said. “There’s a lot of satisfaction in helping keep the aircraft flyable and serviceable.”
Herde added that the Tutor is a great plane but is old and should not be replaced.
