Colin Dewar; Moose Jaw Times Herald

The 2009 Snowbirds are described by Maj. Chris Bard, Team Lead, as a tightly-knit family, who interact very well both in the air and on the ground, and the results were obvious in the skies over 15 Wing on Friday.

“We’re like a band of brothers,” said Bard of the Canadian Forces flight demonstration team.

Bard said that the team was excited to be back for a new show season as the Snowbirds flew Friday’s annual acceptance show, the team’s first public performance of the year.

“The show is really important for the guys. This is the culmination of a year’s hard work and training all put together in front of our most critical audience: all our friends, peers and family,” said Bard.

This year’s acceptance show was dedicated to pilot Capt. Bryan Mitchell and military photographer Sgt. Charles Senecal, who died in a CT-114 Tutor jet crash crash on Oct. 9, 2008. “We miss our friends very much and it feels great to put on a good solid show that we know would make them proud,” said Bard.

This year’s show also celebrates the centennial of powered flight in Canada.

The Snowbirds flew with Hawk 1, a restored F-86 Saber that joins the formation for the first two passes of the show, then the pilot conducts the aircraft’s own aerobatic routine. The Hawk will appear at 19 show locations and as well as several fly passes in towns and municipalities around Canada.

Bard told the Times-Herald that the Snowbirds would be commemorating 100 years of powered flight by doing 100 fly passes at 100 towns across Canada in addition to the shows that they will be performing in Canada and in the United States.

The Snowbirds team have added a couple new of formations to this year’s show including the Silver Dart, which commemorates the 100-year anniversary of the initial flight of the aircraft that J. A. Douglas McCurdy flew over the frozen waters of Bras d’Or Lake in Nova Scotia.

Maj.-Gen. Marcel Duval, commander of 1 Canadian Air Division was on hand to officially approve the show. “I will declare the season open and that the Snowbirds team is ready to go,” said Duval.

Duval said aviation has played an important role in Canada over the last 100 years and he is grateful for the opportunity to be able to celebrate the milestone in our national history. Duval said the Snowbirds are great ambassadors for the military and for the air force. “They show the excellence of our training in the way they perform.”