Though the well-known Hamilton, Ontario Airshow hasn’t been held in some years, there continues to be some great flying at Hamilton for airshow fans. The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum hosts a Father’s Day Weekend “fly-fest” each year, with this one being perhaps the best yet.

  The museum itself is housed well away from the active runway, which allows the “fly-overs” to get low and close to the crowd, including those on the observation deck of the museum (which is open for public viewing). CWH and visiting pilots really show the aircraft with “banana passes” galore at this event.

  This year was special, with the first public flying of the newly-restored Westland Lysander, which only first flew a few weeks prior to the event. Attendees were also treated to passes by the 3 Canadian “Centennial” jets; the CF-18, CT-114, and “Hawk One” Sabre. Unfortunately this flight on Sunday was on station a bit early, before the sunshine established itself. 10 minutes later and there would have been bright blue skies for the numerous 3-ship passes, which came in from the nearby St. Thomas Airshow.

  Flying was sporadic, but worth the visit. The Lancaster flew a few times doing paid rides before having to make a precautionary return with hydraulic problems after take-off for the final “Heritage Flight”, which would have included the Mitchell, Firefly, Lancaster and Lysander.

  The flying was not limited to reciprocating engines either, as a CF-18 in for static did numerous passes before landing, and civilian jets such as the L-29, Fouga Magister, and Mig-15UTI (flown by Jeff Lewis) doing many passes. Jerry Yagen attended with his P-51 Mustang “Double Trouble II” from Virginia Beach (doing some passes when departing on Sunday), and well-known Canadian collectors Ed Russell and Mike Potter sending their Spitfire and Mustangs, respectively.

  Warbird flying included a pair of visiting T-28 Trojans, the CWH Twin Beech, , Firefly, Mitchell, Lysander, Lancaster, Dakota, numerous trainers and the Potter Mustang, which flew with the Lancaster mid-day.

  The only scheduled aircraft that didn’t fly was the CWH “Canso” (“Catalina” in the U.S.), which was on display in the spacious museum hangar, along with many aircraft and some impressive restoration projects.

  This is a very interesting event for those interested in Warbirds, and it’s just over an hour from Niagara Falls, making it well worth the trip from NJ.