My favourite however was the Antonov AN-2 utility bi-plane, the kind that fly in the Estonian the Air Force since the re-independence. The pilot/owner Lee Barker, also a member of the Estonian House pistol club, explained the plane first built in 1947 in the USSR was built in 1995 in Poland (the last one was built in 2005). Barker explains further that the aircraft is a bi-plane because they needed it to take off and land in short spaces in the Russian hinterlands and has the ability to carry loads of thirty seven hundred and fifty pounds.
Barker, the owner of a mining company, fell in love with the Antonov AN-2 while visiting Russian diamond mines. He has had several since and keeps the plane at the Oshawa airport.
The other aircraft were the RCAF front line fighter, the kind that now protect Baltic airspace, the CF-18 Hornet, the C-123 Provider twin engine transport from Vietnam war days, the Russian MiG-17, the Lucas Oil Pitts Special aerobatic stunt plane, a quartet of WW II training planes, the Harvard AT-6's, the twin engine Beech 18 doing stunts, the Great War Flying Museum flying WW I replica fighters, Lucas oil skydivers, the ancient T-33 trainer, the venerable American P-51 Mustang WW II fighter, and the RCAF glider along with tow plane.
As usually, a fun time was had by all.
Adu Raudkivi
