The only Atlantic Canadian 2024 tour date for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) CF18 Demonstration Team will be August 24 and 25, part of Air Show Atlantic at 14 Wing Greenwood. Check out this newly-unveiled RCAF100-themed paint scheme!
April 1, 2024, marked 100 years of service for the RCAF as a distinct military element. The CF18 Demo Team will represent Canada and the RCAF throughout the 2024 season as part of Operation INSPIRATION 2024, touring Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. The CF18 team will highlight the RCAF’s distinct heritage, recognize its people and look forward to the RCAF’s bright future.
Every year, the RCAF selects a special group of people to make up the CF18 Demo Team, with members selected from RCAF units across the country for their superior performance, dedication to excellence and the desire to represent Canada’s operational air force.
“Being selected as the CF18 Demonstration Team pilot for the Royal Canadian Air Force Centennial season is a great honour,” says Captain Caleb Robert, 2024’s pilot. “I am looking forward to sharing my love of aviation with the audiences at show sites throughout the season.”
Robert is a combat-qualified element lead on the CF18 for 425 (Alouettes) Tactical Fighter Squadron at 3 Wing Bagotville. Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Robert was captivated by flight from his earliest memories. He joined the 155 Borden Gray Squadron Royal Canadian Air Cadets, and then spent many summers working with Cadets Canada as a glider instructor before enrolling at the Royal Military College of Canada. In 2022, Robert deployed to Romania as part of Operation Reassurance, and has served on NORAD missions across North America as well as large-force exercises around the world.
A 2024 CF18 winning paint design, selected by the RCAF 100th Planning Team, was submitted by Master Corporal Kevin Kelly from 10 Field Technical Training Squadron at 3 Wing Bagotville.
The design itself, painted by a skilled team of aviation structures technicians at 1 Air Maintenance Squadron, 4 Wing Cold Lake; features a full-colour, full-body paint job, focusing on four key themes: Innovation and Technology, Air Power, Our People and the RCAF’s distinguished heritage and history.
Innovation and Technology is represented by a futuristic and modern motif of the RCAF logo on each wing, along with gears, electronic circuits and a binary pattern painted along the back and between the tails; all representing technology RCAF aircraft depends on. The binary numbers on the back of the aircraft, when decoded, read “RCAF 2024” and “ARC 2024.”
Air Power is represented on the port vertical stabilizer using silhouettes of aircraft from the RCAF’s fleet to represent the fighter force (CF18 Hornet), maritime aviation (CH148 Cyclone), search and rescue (CC130 Hercules and CH146 Griffon), tactical airlift and transportation (CC177 Globemaster and CC130 Hercules) and community outreach (CT144 Tutor).
Our People are represented on the outside of the starboard vertical stabilizer, using silhouettes of a non-commissioned member, an officer and a pilot.
Also included on the starboard vertical stabilizer is a reference to the RCAF’s distinguished Heritage and History, through the use of silhouettes of key aircraft from the RCAF’s lengthy past, including the CF100 Canuck, the CF86 Saber, the C5 North Star and the Avro Lancaster.
The entire 2024 CF-18 Demonstration Team looks forward to the upcoming season, and the opportunity to celebrate the RCAF Centennial.
