Tutor turns 50

The CT-114 Tutor is, by most definitions, a museum piece. However, think of it rather as “the little airplane that could—and still can” because, after nearly 50 years in service, the agile single-engine jet remains a key element of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

While the appropriately-named Tutors have not been used for lead-in fighter training since 2000, when they were replaced with Beechcraft CT-156 Harvard II turboprops and BAE Systems CT-155 Hawk jets in the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) program, two are still flown for systems evaluation purposes by the Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment (AETE) in Cold Lake, Alta.

But it is 431 Air Demonstration Squadron—best known as the Snowbirds, embedded in 15 Wing at Moose Jaw, Sask.—that has kept the iconic aircraft in the public eye, with dozens of airshows and other appearances in Canada and the United States every year.

To that end, 15 Wing is using a special website, www.tutor50th.ca, to invite current personnel, training alumni and aviation buffs to a 50th anniversary bash in Moose Jaw, Oct. 3-4. Most of the action, including a base tour and a year-end show by The Snowbirds, will take place on the first day. The registration deadline is Sept. 18.

“The Tutor has been, and continues to be, a stalwart part of the RCAF fleet, having contributed decades of service training thousands of pilots and conducting hundreds of air displays,” commented Col Alex Day, commander of 15 Wing. “The CT-114 was an ideal platform to instruct the basic and advanced maneuvers and airmanship required from RCAF pilots in order to allow them to continue their operational training for service to Canada.”

As the Tutor passes the half-century mark, speculation about the aircraft’s future abounds. In 2003, the Department of National Defence budget included $208 million for a Snowbird Aircraft Replacement Project, not to be spent until at least 2007-2008. That was increased to $608 million in 2004, but the project then vanished from the RCAF’s fiscal radar.

An RCAF spokesman confirmed to Skies in early August that the Tutors will remain in service until “the 2020 timeframe” while “options that would address the continued provision of a Canadian air demonstration capability” are still being examined. “There has been discussion on the best method to advance the program within the RCAF and the department in order to meet the needs of the Snowbirds. As yet, there has been no decision on how to proceed.”