T-33 Silver Stars

By the summer of 1953 the T-33 had become an instant hit with the instructional core of the RCAF. Due to its speed and manoeuvrability, there was no comparison to the lumbering Harvard trainer. Although converting to a jet aircraft for the first time was somewhat daunting for many young pilots, they would become comfortable with the increasedspeed soon enough and most would ultimately look back on their T-Bird days with great fondness.

The T-33's first foray into the airshow business was directed by Training Command to show off the new trainer to the Canadian taxpayer - the venue was to be the largest airshow of its kind in North America, the CNE in Toronto. W/C Cam Mussells was the OC of Central Flying School in Trenton at the time and was very active in promoting the concept of a demonstration team to represent Training Command. After careful consideration, he chose one of his most experienced instructors to form and command the team. S/L Lou Hill had been one of the first post war RCAF pilots to be posted to an exchange tour with the USAF's Training Command where he had picked up valuable experience on the T-6 Texan, T-33 Silver Star and F-80 Shooting Star. Upon his return to Canada and a posting to CFS, he was immediately put in charge of Harvard basic training. With the introduction of the T-33 to the RCAF inventory, he was given the added responsibility of developing the jet curriculum as officer in charge of the newly formed Jet Training and Visual Flight. He explains how an initial eight plane non aerobatic team eventually got clearance to do formation aerobatics.

"In August of 1953, CFS was tasked to provide a formation demonstration team to perform at the CNE in Toronto. For eighteen consecutive evenings at 6 pm, eight T-33 Silver Star aircraft rose from the runway at Trenton en route to the waterfront at the CNE. The aircraft were scheduled to be on stage at precisely 1818 hours (6:18 pm) and off stage at 1830 hours. For the 12 minute program, a demonstration of various formation patterns took place. On the final run, with two aircraft of the second section formed on each side of the box position of the lead flight, the lead flight would pull up into a vertical climb and perform an upward bomb burst. The second section would fly straight ahead and rejoin into a box formation. The two flights would then rejoin for the return flight to Trenton.

My right wing was F/L Russ Scott, left wing F/L Jack Seaman and in the box position was Major Mick Felts, a USAF exchange officer. The second flight was led by F/L Doc Payne with F/Ls R Leather, A Leahman and G Frostad completing the formation.

It was while performing at the CNE that CFS was requested to provide an aerobatic team to perform at the National Air Show at the Toronto waterfront scheduled for Saturday, September 19th, 1953. Although we had only two weeks to work up a program, a four-plane aerobatic team was established, led again by myself with F/L Scott, F/L Seaman and Major Felts. The program included loops and rolls with formation changes during their execution and concluded with the upward bomb burst. The fact that a formation aeorbatic routine was accomplished with such a short work up of time was a tribute to the professional ability of the other three members of my team. A second formation, again led by F/L Payne with his previous wingmen flew various formations between our aerobatic manoeuvres.

On the day of the national show, low cloud and rain prevented us from completing our full program. Major Felts complained that he was having difficulty seeing me due to the heavy rain on his windscreen as he flew the box position. We were also entering cloud during looping manoeuvres. I therefore directed the formation to discontinue and we returned to Malton from where we were operating for the show. It was during this show that S/L Ray Greene, my partner from the Centralia Harvard team, unfortunately lost his life while performing solo aerobatics in an F-86 Sabre.

Our second manoeuvre of the show was a barrel roll carried out in finger-four formation changing to a box formation during the roll. This was followed by completing two leaves of a clover leaf which placed the formation back parallel with the spectators. On return with the formation in line abreast, a loop was carried out with the formation returning to the box formation at the top of the loop. Forming echelon right on turn-around, the formation went into a barrel rool to the right changing to the box formation in the roll.

The final manoeuvre was in the box formation with a vertical pull-up and bomb burst after which all aircraft would individualy complete the back side of a loop and criss-cross from four different directions at high speed. A crossing position would be designated at briefing and if at an airfield, the runway parallel to the spectators was used. Lead and four would use opposite sides f the runway while two and three would approach at right angles to the runway. Each pilot would be responsible for clearing the aircraft to his left as well as the oncoming aircraft. The two aircraft parallel to the runway would be at the same height but below the two aircraft approaching from right angles. In those days, there was no limitation on flying towards the spectators and the height limitation was 100 feet. After completing the criss-cross the lead would pull up vertically and recover to level flight, two and three performed tight climbing turns into lead while number four completed a roll-off-the-top of a loop. This allowed a rapid rejoin in box formation. If the length of the runway permitted, we would land in finger-four formation or perform a one second overhead break to land in close stream on shorter runways. Taxi back to the ramp and shut down was again completed in formation.

In 1954, The Silver Stars formation performed at many armed forces displays as well as civilian airshows in southern Ontario. Our spare aircraft was flow by F/L Payne who also acted as servicing coordinator. If ground personnel did not accompany the formation, the aircraft inspections and refueling operation would be handled by the pilots.

The highlight of the season was when the team became part of Operation Prairie Pacific under the command of W/C Cal Lee. This was a cavalcade of jet aircraft which toured the Western Provinces partaking in airshows at the major cities of each province. In addition, on days not scheduled for a show the team would fly at 500 feet over the local countryside zigzagging from community to community to display the current jet aircraft used for the operational and training roles of the RCAF. Due to the tandem seats in our T-33 aircraft, we also flew many media, VIP and photo flights during this exercise. After Operation Prairie Pacific completed its final performance on September 11th at the CNE, all participating aircraft returned to their respective bases.

Not to be overlooked is the tremendous contribution that the ground personnel made to the success of the Silver Stars Aerobatic Team. Under the leadership of Sgt. G Munro, they worked countless hours, often extending into the darkness, to clear up the unserviceabilities and servicing the aircraft. The long, noisy and aftiguing flights in the C-119 Flying Boxcar across the countryside, ability to improvide with minimum of facilities and personal dedication to their profession with little recognition, speaks highly of the participating NCOs and airmen.

With the winding down of the 1954 airshow season, the Silver Stars personnel resumed their regular duties with CFS. In the spring of 1955, we resumed practices. Shows were flown at London, Windsor, Centralia and Trenton. Our final displays were again at the CNE in September 1955. These comprised six formation demonstrations with no aerobatics involved as I was on temporary duty at the time. The team leadership was temporarily passed to F/L Russ Scott. The team was disbanded when I was posted to No. 1 Air Division in Europe to fly the F-86 in the spring of 1956, followed shortly thereafter by F/Ls Scott, Seaman and Payne. F/L Bowman was posted as well to Empire Test Pilot School in England.

During the late 40s and 50s there was only limited support from higher levels for air displays, thus the performance of these air displays was not to interfere with regular Central Flying School commitments of personnel or aircraft. Therefore, practice by pilots was carried out on a voluntary basis, usually on evenings and weekends. Our aircraft had no special markings other than a red and white stripe on the upper part of the fin and rudder. We had no special flight dress, wearing only the issued flying and G suits and the ground personnel wore issue coveralls or working dress. Ground transport consisted of a bus and driver on call. Except at Toronto and Vancouver, accommodation was in barracks. Although funds were tight and amenities few, the spirit was high and everyone put their heart and pride into being able to represent that "branch of the service" they represented, the RCAF.

One of the more humourous incidents that I recall from my airshow days occurred in Vancouver. As I was walking back to the crew room after completion of our team demonstration, I was handed a pamphlet by an elderly lady. On reading the pamphlet, the headline in bold print stated, "Are You Prepared to Meet Your Maker?"

All told, the logbooks of Lou Hill and Russ Scott record 68 airshows by the Silver Stars during the summers of 1953 to 1955. These shows were performed with grace and style, and for the first time team members were able to share the pride of their profession with the Canadian public from inside their aircraft as eager media scrambled for a ride. This added an importnat new dimension to the public relations aspect of airshow teams and did much to increase their popularity.