iN PHOTOS: Royal Canadian Air Force jets thunder over Kamloops

The skies over Kamloops boomed with the thundering sounds of two military jets as residents gathered to paid their respects on a dreary Remembrance Day on Sunday. While some residents attended a Remembrance Day ceremony at the cenotaph at Riverside Park downtown on Lorne Street, many others parked their vehicles at the Fulton Field Park near the airport to watch a pair of CF-18 jets from the 410 Tactical Fighter Operational Training Squadron in Cold Lake, Alberta take to the skies just before 11 a.m. on Nov. 11. “I definitely felt it in my head, the jets were going at almost sonic speed and that boom was just rattling my ears,” said Kamloops photographer Angus Tsang. “Those with high sensitivities to noise would need ear muffs.” Tsang was one of numerous onlookers on a popular dog walking path near the airport who stopped to take in the sights and sounds of the spectacular homage.  Every year the Royal Canadian Air Force conducts flypasts using various models of aircraft for Remembrance Day commemorations in select cities across the country which typically includes Kamloops, but this year the aircraft was different. In previous years CT-155 Hawks would fly over the tournament capital but the aircraft was retired from flying service in March https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/maple-leaf/defence/2024/05/new-life-for-ct-155-hawk.html . The Hawk was the main plane used by the 419 Squadron the late Kamloops-born pilot John Fulton was the founding commanding officer of, according to the Bomber Commander Museum Archives. https://www.bombercommandmuseumarchives.ca/s,moosefulton2.html Fulton, nicknamed Moose, was a highly decorated pilot who served in the Royal Air Force in England in 1934 and completed a tour of operations with 99 Squadron in the Second World War. The third Royal Canadian Air Force bomber squadron, Squadron 419, was formed in 1941 and Moose was appointed its commanding officer. In July 1942, Fulton and his crew went to Hamburg on a raid and were taken down by enemy fighters. They crashed into the sea and were never found. For over two decades the Hawk was the Canadian military’s advanced jet training aircraft. Designed in the 1970s, the Hawks no longer meet the need of in-air training and are now at the Canadian Forces School of Aerospace Technology and Engineering in Borden, Ontario being used as maintenance trainers for aircraft technicians. READ MORE: iN PHOTOS: How a military camp helped grow Vernon into the city it is today https://infotel.ca/newsitem/in-photos-how-a-military-camp-helped-grow-vernon-into-the-city-it-is-today/it107107 For Tsang, photographing the Hawks sparked his passion for aviation photography and he has since taken in other air shows to hone his craft. “I thought maybe I should do this more often and started gaining more experience,” he said. “I love learning the histories behind the aircraft, there is always more to learn.” This year CF-188 Hornet jets blasted overhead. The powerful jets are used for many operations including air defence, ground attacks, training and aerobatic demonstrations, according to the Canadian government website. https://www.canada.ca/en/air-force/services/aircraft/cf-188.html READ MORE: Kamloops D-Day veteran, 104, reflects on wars past and present https://infotel.ca/newsitem/kamloops-d-day-veteran-104-reflects-on-wars-past-and-present/it107091 The jets are 17.07 metres long, have a wingspan of 12.31 metres and a maximum speed of Mach 1.8. The CF-188 has a spotlight on the left side of its nose to identify other aircraft during night missions and a false canopy painted under the fuselage to disorient enemy aircraft. The aircraft is a variant of the American F/A-18 Hornet https://valourcanada.ca/military-history-library/cf-18-hornet/ manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, and the first ones were delivered to Canada in 1982. Production of the craft stopped in 1988. The jets are located at military bases in Bagotville, Quebec and Cold Lake, Alberta. Check out Tsang's Instagram for more photography.  https://www.instagram.com/beef_angus/ To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie mailto:sainslie@infonews.ca  or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .