It’s been a long 2 years since the last air show in St. Thomas. This year’s edition was rebranded as Great Lakes International Air Show (formerly known as St. Thomas Wings and Wheels), held at St. Thomas Municipal Airport (CYQS), St. Thomas, Ontario.
There was no classic cars display this year, where the freed up space was mostly taken up by an expanded Canadian Forces contigent. There were separate displays for each of its three branches, as well as a full blown obstacle course for kids.
Regardless, the weather was fine, cloud conditions were almost perfect, which could only result in a great show!
Canadian Forces Skyhawks parachute team kicked things off:
Next up, solo performances from the Hercules, and the world’s only flying Curtiss Helldiver:
A search and rescue demo by the US Air National Guard followed after a short break, featuring the HH-65C Dolphin helicopter:
Then both the B-25 Mitchell and Avro Lancaster from Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum did several fly-by’s. 4 x Rolls Royce Merlin engines on the Lanc!
Next up, 3 x Canadian built Harvard trainers from the WWII era:
The Canadian Forces treated the crowd to a combined air and ground asssault demonstration. I believe this was the first year this demo was performed.
The RCAF’s CF-18 Hornet demo jet this year is based at 409 Sqn, CFB Cold Lake. The full length of the fuselage top side is beautifully painted:
Following the CF-18 was a parade of modern jets from the United States, including F-16 Vipers, a Northrop F-5N used as adversary training target, and A-10 Thunderbolt II.
The RCAF Snowbirds closed out the show as usual. Good weather conditions allowed them to perform a complete high show:
I managed to catch a few solo cross shots, but missed the 4-way cross this time 
St. Thomas is one of the few places where one can see the parked aircraft from the crowd line. I took advantage of that to capture the Snowbird team’s return, shutdown, and debriefing:
Instead of trying to beat the crowd to the exit, I hung around a bit longer to catch some aircraft going home. The gorgeous late afternoon sun made for great lighting.
Feel free to view all my shots from this show at my Flickr Gallery!
I like the line abreast & 2nd contact shots. Fantastic sky that day.