The War Zone has reported:

The Canadian Forces Snowbirds ended the CT-114 Tutor’s aerobatic display career with a final home-base performance on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, at 15 Wing Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The private event was livestreamed and honoured the Canadian-built trainer that had defined the team for more than half a century, along with the aircrew and support personnel who kept the increasingly demanding aircraft flying. The team’s schedule still includes a Grey Cup flyover in Calgary on Nov. 15.

The Royal Canadian Air Force said on Oct. 13 that the livestream of the final airshow would begin at 2 p.m. EDT on its Facebook page. In a post announcing the event, it invited the public to join in saying farewell to the Tutors. The display marked the end of the aircraft’s aerobatic work with the Snowbirds, though the planned Calgary flyover remains ahead.

Maj. Maciej “Match” Hatta, the Snowbirds team lead, described the final season as an emotional milestone for the squadron and an opportunity to recognize the families and support staff who sustain the team through its annual touring season. He spoke to MooseJawToday on Oct. 15, one day before the home-base event.

Hatta has flown with the Snowbirds before, serving with the team from 2014 to 2017. He later worked on testing avionics upgrades for the Tutor and returned in 2026 to lead the Snowbirds through their final season flying it. Although he has flown around 30 aircraft types as a test pilot, the Tutor remains his preferred aircraft. “This is still my favorite airplane to fly,” he said.

The day before speaking with MooseJawToday, Hatta flew a solo maintenance test sortie. He said he enjoyed looking out over the wings without the near-constant radio calls required when leading a formation display. Individual Tutors differ in their handling and conditions, he said: “They all have their own personality,” Hatta said. “Some of them howl a little more than others. Some get hotter inside. Some have poor air conditioning.”

Lt.-Col. Guillaume Paquet, commanding officer of No. 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, said spectators have responded strongly to the final season. Many have watched the Snowbirds fly the Tutor since childhood. “The reality is we’ve been touring this country for 55 years, so everyone has a story, a childhood memory,” Paquet said.

Canada’s tradition of military formation aerobatics reaches back to 1929, when the biplane Armstrong Whitworth Siskin helped establish the country’s formation-flying heritage. The modern era began in 1959 with the Golden Hawks, created to mark the 50th anniversary of powered flight in Canada and the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 35th anniversary. The team flew gold-painted Canadair-built F-86 Sabres and was initially intended to operate for one season. Its popularity led to several more years of performances in Canada and the United States, but it was disbanded after the 1963 season amid high maintenance costs.

Canada’s centennial celebrations in 1967 brought the Golden Centennaires, a new demonstration team that flew CT-114 Tutor trainers at 100 airshows in Canada and the United States. The group existed for one year. The Tutors later became the basis for the Snowbirds after Col. O.B. Philp, newly appointed commander of No. 2 Canadian Forces Flying Training School in Moose Jaw, encouraged instructors in 1969 to practise formation aerobatics using surplus aircraft from the Centennaires program. The flights began as training and proficiency work, but drew public attention and gradually developed into a formal demonstration team.

The formation expanded from four aircraft in 1970 to seven in 1971, when schoolchildren selected the Snowbirds name in a competition. Two solo aircraft were added in 1972, creating the familiar nine-aircraft format, and pilots were assigned to demonstration flying full time. The Tutors were modified to support solo operation from the right-hand seat and inverted flight during aerobatics. In 1974, the aircraft received their distinctive red, white and blue paint scheme, and the team was authorized to perform a fully aerobatic display.

The Snowbirds later became No. 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, one of the best-known symbols of Canadian military aviation. The squadron’s stated mission was to demonstrate the professionalism, teamwork and flying skills of the Canadian Armed Forces to audiences across North America. The U.S. Navy Blue Angels joined the Snowbirds in their signature Delta formation for a scheduled photo shoot over Evansville, Indiana, in 2015. The team also performed at Gowen Field in Boise, Idaho, during the Gowen Thunder Open House and Airshow in 2017.

The Tutor’s closing years included several serious accidents and greater scrutiny of its aging systems. In October 2019, a Snowbirds aircraft crashed in Georgia after an engine fuel-delivery failure. The pilot survived an ejection, although the ejection was affected by a parachute malfunction.

In May 2020, another Tutor crashed shortly after takeoff near Kamloops, British Columbia. The crash killed the Snowbirds’ public affairs officer and seriously injured the pilot. Investigators found that a bird strike had caused an engine compressor stall. The fleet was temporarily grounded, then resumed operations in August 2020 under additional restrictions.

A further accident in Fort St. John, British Columbia, in August 2022 led to another fleet-wide operational pause after an engine failure during takeoff. Investigators traced the failure to an improperly assembled oil filter, and the aircraft returned to service the following month. Later safety measures restricted some aerobatic manoeuvres and formations, set minimum runway lengths, and limited flying over water or performing certain manoeuvres beyond gliding distance of a suitable landing surface.

Persistent engineering problems involving the Tutor’s airframe, engines and ejection system also contributed to retirement. The Royal Canadian Air Force concluded that further life-extension work was no longer practical. Canadair Limited of Montreal had begun developing the CL-41A Tutor in the mid-1950s as a high-performance jet trainer to prepare RCAF pilots for the Canadair-built F-86 Sabre.

The all-metal, low-wing, single-engine aircraft had side-by-side seating and duplicate flight controls, allowing instructors to monitor students and take control when needed. Two prototypes were built. The first made its maiden flight on Jan. 13, 1960, with Canadair test pilot Ian MacTavish at the controls. After extensive testing and demonstrations, Defence Minister D.S. Harkness announced an order for 190 production aircraft on Sept. 11, 1961. Deliveries began in 1963, with each aircraft reportedly costing about C$425,000, or around $394,000.

The Tutor was powered by a General Electric J85-CAN-40 turbojet built under licence by Orenda. It entered RCAF training service in late 1964 as the CT-114 Tutor. Malaysia was its only other military operator: the Royal Malaysian Air Force received 20 aircraft designated CL-41G Tebuan, Malay for “Wasp,” which served in the ground-attack role from 1967 to 1986.

The Tutor served as the RCAF’s primary jet trainer for decades and accumulated more than one million flight hours before its training role ended in 2000. The CT-156 Harvard II and CT-155 Hawk replaced it in that role, but the aircraft remained in military service with the Snowbirds. Capt. Wes MacKay flew a Tutor over downtown Toronto in a practice run before a Canadian National Exhibition performance in 1988.

The Snowbirds are expected to continue with a new aircraft type. In May 2026, the Department of National Defence announced plans to replace the CT-114 with the CT-157 Siskin II, based on the Pilatus PC-21 turboprop trainer. The new demonstration capability is to remain at 15 Wing Moose Jaw and is expected to become operational in the early 2030s.

On May 19, 2026, the Royal Canadian Air Force said the government had committed to acquiring a future RCAF air demonstration capability. It said 2026 would be the CT-114 fleet’s final season after more than six decades of service, and that the aircraft had represented Canada with dignity and pride since 1971. The Siskin II has already been procured under Canada’s wider Future Aircrew Training program, known as FAcT, for advanced fixed-wing and jet preparation. It is one of five aircraft types being procured under that program.