The Aviation Magazine 51 July-August 2017 | Page 116
THE END OF A JOURNEY
That's it, we come to the end of our American adventure. After our return to the East Coast of the United
States, with the stopover at Langley and Stewart, we landed at the naval base of Norfolk, Vir‐
ginia. Subsequently, we performed a demo and two passages for the NATO Tattoo Festival.
The NATO Allied Command (NATO), which is responsible for overseeing the transformation of the military
capabilities of NATO countries, is located at Norfolk Naval Base. It is headed by General Denis Mercier, for‐
mer Chief of Staff of the Air Force, who is now Supreme Allied Commander Transformation since September
2015.
On the day of our arrival on April 26, 2017, we presented our demo to several civilian and military officials,
including General Mercier and Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Cooper Alexander. We made a first pass, on April 28,
over Scope Plaza in Norfolk. We dropped the tricolor flag in the sky of the city as the Flag Raising ceremony
took place. A soldier from each of the 28 NATO countries presented his flag while part of the anthem was
being played. That same evening we had the honour of attending the Virginia International Tattoo, a great
show where a number of military musical ensembles from around the world, including the Air Music, per‐
formed.
The next day, when the Parade of Nations, a large parade in the streets of Norfolk where each country of
the organization showed its culture and heritage was held, we flew over the city again. April 30 was our last
day of presence in the United States. We left for Canadian neighbours that day for the Gatineau air show
"Aero150". This air show celebrated two great events in the history of Canada.
First of all, Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. The country was born on July 1, 1867, made up
by four 4 provinces; of Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, this is known as the Confedera‐
tion of Canada. The other event honoured at this meeting was the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy
Ridge. This battle took place during WWI in this French commune located between Lens and Arras, and was
won by the Allies. In April 1917, after four days of fighting, the Canadians managed to take Vimy Ridge, but
at the cost of more than 10,600 soldiers wounded and killed. This battle is very important for Canada be‐
cause, for the first time since the beginning of the First World War, the four divisions of the Canadian Corps
fought side by side.
The weather was not with us on April 30, for the air show with a cloudy sky and a lot of rain. We therefore
presented our "bad weather or low show" demo. We have had the opportunity to meet with our Canadian
counterparts, the Snowbirds, who are the Canadian Armed Forces' aerobatic team. We were able to admire
the performance of their 9 aircraft, the CT‐114 Tutor, a training and ground attack aircraft designed by
Canadair.
On May 1, the demo that we had planed to perform in Montreal was cancelled, the sky being too low for us
to be able to fly safely.
During our transit on May 2, we were able to fly with the Snowbirds on certain parts of the route. At their
side, we flew over Parliament in Ottawa, but also Montreal. These passages were rich in symbols of the
strong ties between Canada and France.
We begin the return ferry, with stages planned in northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Scotland. The
landing on our Salon‐de‐Provence base was scheduled for May 6th.
Written by: LTT Antonia Buroni, May 3, 2017