Starfighter Roll Out event August 17th 10am

Starfighter
Roll Out Ceremony
August 17th 10:00am

Starfighter…conjures images of Luke Skywalker attacking the Death Star, Battlestar Galactica. Aliens, far galaxies and strange worlds.

This Saturday the Alberta Aviation Museum Association Rolls Out it’s latest addition,
the real STARFIGHTER! The history is no less exciting that the Science Fiction we have come to love.

Canada began using the Starfighter in 1961, the Doomsday clock sat at 5 minutes to midnight…nuclear war. At their peak, on the front line over 200 Canadian Starfighters and Canadian pilots. Their goal…to strike the Soviet Union if the West was attacked and defend North American airspace on the homefront.

Canadian Starfighter pilots were trained to penetrate enemy airspace low, 30 meters approx at over 1000km per hour as well as air to air engagement.

But it could go high as well, still holding the Canadian Altitude record of over 31,000 meters and the Canadian speed record.

But all that performance came at a price, the Starfighter did not tolerate mistakes, even little ones. Almost ½ of all Canadian Starfighters were lost in operations, along with many aircrew.

The Starfighter being unveiled at the Alberta Aviation Museum on Saturday is a tribute to all of the Canadians that were involved in the Starfighter program from 1961 to 1984.

Events start with a ribbon cutting to unveil the new look of the Alberta Aviation Museum and the Starfighter Roll Out ceremony begins at 10:30am.

For this special event the Museum has decided to waive regular admissions and instead offer admission by donation from 10am to 12 Noon so all Edmontonians, Albertans and Visitors can attend this once in a lifetime event.

Thomas Hinderks
Executive Director, Alberta Aviation Museum