Strana 38
CANADA 2002
On Monday, I finally got behind the inner fence
where the Sabre was parked. I discovered that
it had a suspended laminate target for live fire
training. It was not unlike the type that our
L-39ZA Albatroses carried in Thailand. The
weather was beautiful and sunny outside, but
the temperature was again below minus 25.
After a while of looking around, I went to warm
up in the hangar, where two more targets are
lying on the ground and I began talking with an
older gentleman standing by the them.
He told me that he was the pilot of the
yellow Sabre and that he had been flying this
type for perhaps forty years. He flies for the
civilian company Air Spray, which provides
these special services for the Canadian army.
He said that he had a few missions scheduled
for the afternoon with pilots from the 410th
Cougar Squadron. Imagine my surprise when
they told me on the flight deck that I would
be flying an aerial shooting exercise. I was
assigned ‘Dewy’, who introduceed me to what
what I could expect in the air. We flew in pairs
with another Hornet. Unfortunately, the Sabre
took off before us, so the chance for some rare
photos never even presented itself. He flew
himself to a designated area, released the
target and unwound the tow rope to a length of
about 1500 feet, started circling and waited for
the fighters. We watched the video, and I was
pretty surprised at how far below the aircraft
the target sank.
Dewy introduced me to the Canadian pilot‘s
qualification expansion in the form of courses
and pointed to the patches on his overalls -
Fighter Electronic Warfare, Advance Radar,
Fighter Weapons Instructor. The conclusion
was that some target shooting was a pretty
routine thing for him. It was freezing outside
for me, but the locals praised the same day
I was experiencing as ‘warm and sunny’.
I always get a chill down my spine when it‘s at
least minus twenty-five outside and someone
invariably goe to a vending machine to grab
a Coke and doesn’t forget to first put a load of
ice in their cup. Different country for sure!
Our Hornet is waiting n the apron, ready to
go. By this time, I am able to strap in faster.
I noted that there were no weapons experts
buzzing about like I see at home during firing
exercises.
Unfortunately, we took off individually again,
apparently for safety reasons, so no photos
in a tight group. We few into the designated
airspace and Dewy reported from the front in
an annoyed voice that there would probably be
nothing to come out of the exercise today. The
defogger on the windscreen is not working and
I leaned to look past him as he tries to clear of
the condensation manually with his hand.
Meanwhile, the first Hornet made contact
with the target, took up the agreed height above
it and the position outside the circle described
by the Sabre. Dewy fought the ice forming
on the windscreen and made an improvised
scraper with something like a credit card.
Resigned to the fate that we would not be
shooting again, we flew in and joined the circle
with our number one, which flew opposite and
at our level. He went into a dive, but I could not
make out the actual firing. After a while, Dewy
informed me that things have improved a little
and that he would try. I spotted the Sabre in the
distance at a fairly high angle, the target sure
to be somewhere below it. We leaned over the
wing, a loud burst of about two seconds was
heard that reverberated through the plane
as the six-barrel 20mm Vulcan cannon in the
front did the talking. We gradually took turns
with the bursts, us making four and we were
empty. We flew home in as a loose group. The
target was in signal red-orange colors, so
that it was clearly visible in the winter sky
and against the ground. But I have also seen
targets that are all white.
After landing, I were more Hornets on
the apron getting ready to head out. The
squadron uses mostly two-seat machines, as
it is intended for training purposes, including
incoming exchange pilots from other countries.
I saw that I am not the only ‘exotic’ here, hungry
for a ride, but I also met general aviation
specific journalists, people from television
channels who have come to do articles
and reports. Of course, the personal flight
experience were the proverbial icing on the
cake.
As for permission to take photos, that varied
from base to base. While at the ‘provincial’ base
in Bagotville, there was no problem with taking
photos. The best place at the airport was the
control tower, under which the planes stopped
for post-flight checks, folded their wings and
slowly taxied to the stand. When I asked about
the possibility of taking photos, the friendly
air traffic controller allowed me to do so and
added that she would intercede for me at home.
I didn’t understand for a while until the second
assistant revealed to me that the lady was the
wife of the base commander. In short, you have
to be a little lucky. At Cold Lake, after asking
if I could take photos, three gentlemen visited
me and assigned me one number on the stand.
They didn’t understand why one machine
wasn’t enough for me and politely explained
to me that we were at the largest base and
I couldn’t take photos of entire rows of aircraft,
but only my own. They also skillfully positioned
themselves and narrowed my field of view,
so that only ‘my’ machine made it into the
viewfinder.
A Flight in a Hawk with Stoner
Another day and another flight. This time
with some slower competition. I met the Hawk
instructor from the 419th Squadron, a giant of
a man named Stoner. I would be with him for
training with a cadet whose task the following
day would be an introduction to the BFM fighter
syllabus - the basics of fighter maneuvering.
The goal was to teach the cadet to maneuver
behind the target and find a way out of the
approach. The target has a predetermined
flight path, speed and other parameters. This
makes the decision-making process easier for
the fighter in the beginning, after that he just
needs to follow the theory-backed experience
and verify in practice that it works. We were
designated as the target, the cadet to be
sitting in the other plane with his instructor.
I wondered if it would be a good time to ‘tidy
up a bit’, but Stoner calmed me down, saying
that we would have twenty minutes just for
me. I examined the canopy thinking that these
boys go a little overboard with the Canadian
INFO Eduard38
September 2026
After landing in a Hawk with the giant Stoner at CFB Cold Lake in Alberta.