Snowbirds fly into the Canadian Warplane Museum

Thursday, June 18, 2026

Snowbirds fly into the Canadian Warplane Museum

It was a special day in Hamilton as the Canadian military acrobatic jet team met up with a B-25 Mitchell Bomber and did a number of flyovers before landing at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum for a meet and greet. The weather on Wednesday, June 17, 2026 was a little suspect but it remained clear enough for the B-25 to take off and meet the jet team after their recent appearance at the Barrie Air Show. The heritage flight did a pass over the museum before heading to Niagara Falls and later over Toronto for the flyovers, returning to land at the airport.

The clouds were angry around the museum

The grounded Lancaster

The Snowbird's old CT-114 Tutor aircraft are being retired from the team in 2026. The last scheduled performances will be in October will be in the States, otherwise there are a number of events in September - including over Toronto during the Canadian International Air Show. It is anticipated that the new planes will be propeller driven, Swiss-made CT-157 Sisken II aircraft which may take until the 2030's to be used by the team. These aircraft are also to be used for early pilot training in the Canadian military. This is season 55 for Canada's jet team.

Snowbirds rolling in towards the museum

The B-25 and Snowbird heritage flight

B-25 bomber heading taxiing out to meet the Snowbirds

Firing up the twin-engine bomber

Lancaster out with the Snowbird jets during a pilot meeting

Snowbird team meeting around one of the jets wing

During initial planning the Avro Lancaster was proposed for the heritage flight, however a brake problem grounded the historic bomber and a B-25 Mitchell bomber was fired up as the Lancaster's replacement. The Snowbird team was anticipated in Hamilton around 2:30pm but first a single Snowbird did some maneuvers over the airport before landing to setup the landing area. As the balance of the Snowbirds flew south, the B-25 took off to meet up with the other eight jets to begin the heritage flyovers.

See more photos from the museum after the jump.