By Eric Dumigan | November 13, 2017 Estimated reading time 1 minute, 53 seconds.
At cenotaphs across Canada on Nov. 11, people assembled to pay tribute to veterans and current Canadian Forces personnel, as well as to remember those who have lost their lives in defence of the freedom we enjoy today.
Several communities across Ontario were treated to sounds of the past as vintage aircraft droned overhead during the ceremonies. Canada’s largest flying museum, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, flew its Avro Lancaster and B-25 Mitchell bombers over cenotaphs in the Hamilton-area and Toronto. A Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CC-130 Hercules transport also accompanied the vintage bombers, connecting the past to the future. The Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association, based at Tillsonburg, Ont., performed a missing man tribute over downtown Toronto as well as Sunnybrook Veterans Hospital and other locations.
The Canadian Historical Aircraft Association, based in Windsor, Ont., flew its Fairchild 24, Chipmunk and Harvard over Windsor and Harrow. Waterloo Warbirds flew a Vampire and T-33 jets over the communities of Kitchener/Waterloo, Hespeler, Cambridge and Guelph. The Vampire pilot, Peter Stewart, flew his father, George Stewart, a Second World War veteran who flew de Havilland Mosquitos during and after the conflict.
Members of the Canadian Harvard Aerobatic Team and Glenn Goldman with his Canadian-marked T-34 Mentor performed missing man passes over Woodstock and Tillsonburg, as well as flying over cenotaphs in Embro and Ingersol. The National War Memorial in Ottawa saw a flypast of RCAF CF-188s from CFB Bagotville, Que.
Three biplanes flew over Brampton Cenotaph during their Services.