The Red Knight

1962 was a big year for Hanna, Alberta. The town was turning fifty and the first week of August, amidst colourful bunting and window displays, it launched into three days of celebrations. Pioneer relics — branding irons, treasured embroidery, antique china — were proudly placed in storefront windows. Church services graced the local school auditorium. Dancing, the Calgary Herald reported, was planned for the Main Street, along with a “mammoth” parade. That antique china may well have been safe from slideshows and museum displays, but it was likely more than a little rattled when a bright, Day-Glo red T-33 “T-Bird”, piloted by Flight Lieutenant (F/L) Dave Barker of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), roared overhead. The Red Knight had arrived.

Between 1958 and 1969, the RCAF Training Command’s solo demonstration performer, the Red Knight, flew more than 600 such appearances. These showcased some of the air force’s best flying to Canadians across the country. Over a twelve-year run, the Red Knight’s fame grew as it performed aerobatic displays within an airfield’s boundaries — which is how it came to visit small towns, like Hanna, that would otherwise have been unable to attract a jet aerobatic team.

The program was first conceived at the Canadian International Air Show in 1957, where F/L Roy Windover, a flight instructor at the RCAF Central Flying School at Trenton, was in attendance. Watching the sky over Lake Ontario that day, he saw a United States Air Force exchange pilot flying an RCAF solo display. “It burned my butt to see someone else flying an RCAF jet in a premier air show in Canada,” he once explained to aviation historian Larry Milberry, “so I made up my mind that come hell or court martial the 1958 CNE pilot would be myself.”

Neither hell nor court martial appeared, but Windover did. True to his word, he convinced the air force to authorize him to fly, and it was he who raced through Toronto’s skies in 1958. The next year marked two important aerial anniversaries: the RCAF’s 35th as well as the 50th of powered flight in Canada. Windover was asked to fly again, followed by his successor F/L Bob Hallowell. Over the coming decade, an additional fifteen pilots would eventually fly under the banner of the Red Knight.

The aerobatic displays they performed were unique to each pilot. Yet, whoever the pilot, and whatever their style, a Red Knight performance tended to last about fifteen minutes and generally included advanced aerobatic manoeuvres: inverted passes, tight turns, rolling turns, rhubarb rolls, stall turns, Cuban 8s, four-point rolls, vertical rolls and various loops. As Red Knight Jack Waters recalled, “the demonstrated manoeuvres were those familiar to any modern military pilot, especially one engaged in combat operations, where the essential characteristic was, and is, performance at the ‘edge of the flight envelope.’” What set the Red Knight’s performances apart from a training exercise were the seamless transitions between each manoeuvre, all while flying at high speed and at very low altitude.

To ensure the team’s single aircraft remained visible, it was painted bright red – a scheme that reminded some, including photographer Cpl George Hardy, of the famed German flying ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen, who was brought down during a 1918 dogfight with Wilfrid Reid ‘Wop’ May and Arthur Roy Brown. Whether ironic or not (given the role Canadian airmen played in the Red Baron’s demise), the name stuck. And, what initially started as an unofficial reference was soon formalized, with one of the RCAF’s most iconic pieces of nose art gracing the Red Knight’s aircraft: a red knight’s helmet with flowing golden plume set against a white background.

During its first two years, the Red Knight was never intended to be permanent; its appearances were basically ad hoc and short-term. But the solo displays proved hugely popular, and long-term planning for an ongoing program really took off in 1960. That year, the Red Knight flew at air shows throughout North America for the first time, putting on a total of 45 performances. An increasingly busy schedule necessitated more support and planning. For 1959-60 a crewman accompanied the Red Knight. A second aircraft was added to the team in 1961, along with a second crewman, both planes painted in the Red Knight’s new eye-catching scheme. This spare aircraft was flown by a second pilot, the alternate Red Knight, who would then assume the lead role the following season. For its first six years this was the extent of the Red Knight’s operation. It was a demanding job, with almost all planning and logistics falling on the shoulders of the display pilot(s). An Officer Commanding (OC), who travelled with the team, took over responsibility for organization and planning for 1964. Early in 1968, Red Knight Captain Dave Curran adopted a new mount – the Canadair CT-114 Tutor. Despite the small team and many challenges, including relocations (from Trenton, the Red Knight base of operations moved to RCAF Station Saskatoon (1959), RCAF Station Portage la Prairie (1961) and RCAF Station Moose Jaw (1964) before returning to CFB Portage la Prairie (1967)) as well as budget cuts, the Red Knight achieved a remarkable following across Canada, thrilling millions of Canadians young and old alike.

The Red Knight succeeded in part because of the commitment, skill, and training of its team members. In the early 1950s, RCAF Training Command benefitted greatly from participation in the NATO air training plan, which produced for Canada a cadre of well-trained instructors and the availability of leading flight trainers. These pilots learned from each other and brought some of the best of the RCAF’s flying to their displays, whether performing on their own or with the formation teams of the day, such as Canada’s Golden Hawks, the Golden Centennaires, or the American military’s Blue Angels and Thunderbirds.

Flying as the Red Knight did on the edge of the envelope was risky. In 1963 the program suffered the first of three fatalities when “Bud” Morin was killed performing at RCAF Station Gimli, MB on 21 August. Five years later, on May 21, 1968, John Reid died after a crash during a photo session at CFB Portage la Prairie, MB. And, the following year on July 13, the team lost Brian Alston, killed flying a Red Knight practice at CFB Moose Jaw, SK. His untimely death led to the eventual end of the program in early 1970. At the time of its formal cancellation, the Canadian Armed Forces Red Knight was officially Canada’s longest running military aerobatic display.

All told, the Red Knight performed in each of Canada’s 10 provinces and the Yukon. It also made appearances in the Bahamas and in the United States, flying in Alaska, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington. As a testament to its lasting impact, and as a tribute to the influence of the Red Knight’s displays, the team’s distinctive paint scheme has been revived by civilian operations across North America. The Red Knight was awarded the Centennial Medal in 1967 and in 2022 the Royal Canadian Mint honoured the Red Knight’s legacy with the release of a commemorative coin to further solidify its place in Canadian aviation history.