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1977 Warlocks CF-101 Demo Team Video


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A great little film

of the 1977 425 Demo team.

Two things stand out for me as a fixture of the Air Force at the time - the dark green Dodge vans and the white coveralls on the ground crew. Gotta love the hardhat with the built in ear defenders. I have one at home somewhere that Dad brought home when they decided to use ear defenders that actually worked.

Cheers,

Sean

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Very nice. Brings back memories of 409 sqd. Night Hawks putting on their shows at Abbotsford in the 1970's.

I seen them at March AFB in California in 1981, only time I recall ever seeing Voodoos fly in an airshow and I thank Canada for that treat !

Gregg

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I seen them at March AFB in California in 1981, only time I recall ever seeing Voodoos fly in an airshow and I thank Canada for that treat !

Gregg

It's kind of interesting with how the Voodoo never saw service outside of USAF and CAF . The Canadian ones seem to stand out more than US service Voodoos. I guess it is because the US had so many different aircraft at the time that over shadowed the Voodoo. For Canada as a part of its NORAD commitment the Voodoo turned out to be a totally professional and proper airplane in its interceptor roll. We may have never had more than 66 birds at one time but they surely played a role in deterring any (if minimal) possibility of Soviet Bombers coming over the Pole. I as a kid liked seeing the Night Hawks and their 4 ship team officially open the Abbotsford air show each day at precisely 1300 hrs. Stories were said that one could set their watch to Voodoo time.

Any Voodoo day guys here had experience with the Genie and handling it? There are historic pictures of CAF Voodoos firing off inert Genies I can only imagine what a test of a real Genie would have looked like. Stories are said that the Genie stood a good chance of taking out the Voodoo too as well as the Soviet bomber, but as I said that is just a story I heard as a kid and teen.

In the 1960's it was kind of funny about Canada, for not being a true nuclear power our air force was almost 100% nuclear. Genies on Voodoos, tactical nukes on our 104's and BOMARC missiles too. It's just funny thinking about that today and how Canada is seen by the world. I know the nukes the European based 104's were to carry were all stored and responsible to USAF personnel, I wonder was it the same with the Genie?

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Les,

The Genies remained under U.S. control up until a war time profile was to be flown when the weapons would be released to the Air Force - as far as I know no Canadian Voodoo ever flew with a Genie with a live warhead, let alone fired one. There were test firings of inert Genies though, and there are various photos of CF-101's shooting Genies to prove it.

The USAF provided a weapons handling detachtment at each CF Voodoo base for the maintenance and management of the weapons, security was provided by the CF. One frequent exercise was to practice a resupply with all the special security and handling procedures that were required for the arrival of a plane load of buckets of instant sunshine. In Comox a 442 Squadron Buffalo would play the part of the arriving USAF transport to try to lend a an air of authenticity.

Of course no one has ever officially confirmed that Canada had Genies on their bases but from all the the time my Dad spent in the Q (Quick Reaction Alert hanger), he gives off just a slight glow on a dark night.

Cheers,

Sean

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The USAF provided a weapons handling detachtment at each CF Voodoo base

They were easy to find on the base they were the guys in parka and MukLuk from September to June.

Louis , 425 SQN 1976 - 1980

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