The Canadian Snowbirds fly the CT-114 Tutor. See its CL-41 name, display modifications, nine-aircraft formation and common CF-18 confusion.
The Canadian Snowbirds fly the Canadair CT-114 Tutor, the Canadian Armed Forces designation for the Canadair CL-41 jet trainer. A full display normally uses nine Tutors, while the travelling team generally brings two spare aircraft. “Snowbirds” is the team name, not a separate aircraft model.
For readers of our Aviation & Real-World Flying section, the naming is the main source of confusion: CT-114 and CL-41 describe the aircraft, while Snowbirds refers to 431 Air Demonstration Squadron.
CT-114 Tutor and CL-41 names explained
The CT-114 is a Canadian-built, single-engine, two-seat subsonic jet originally developed for military pilot training. Its seats are arranged side by side rather than in the tandem layout used by many later jet trainers.
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| CT-114 Tutor | The Canadian military designation and the most precise name for the Snowbirds aircraft. |
| Canadair CL-41 | The manufacturer’s designation for the aircraft family. |
| Snowbirds | The display team operated by 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, not an aircraft type. |
The Tutor entered Canadian service as a trainer in the 1960s. It was withdrawn from general pilot-training duties in 2000 but retained for the Snowbirds, which operate from 15 Wing Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan.
Is the Snowbirds Tutor specially modified?
Snowbirds aircraft remain CT-114 Tutors but are equipped and marked for the display role. The visible changes include the red-and-white team colour scheme and a smoke-generating system used to make formations easier for spectators to follow.
The display is hand-flown in very close formation. Pilots make constant, small corrections to pitch, bank and yaw as parts of aircraft attitude; pitch corrections involve the control principles covered in our explanation of how elevator movement changes the nose position. The modifications do not create a separate “Snowbird” aircraft variant.
How many aircraft fly in a Snowbirds display?
A standard full Snowbirds display uses nine CT-114 Tutors. The travelling team normally deploys 11 aircraft, providing two spares in case a display jet becomes unavailable.
A particular appearance may involve fewer than nine because of weather, aircraft serviceability, venue restrictions or the planned display format. References to 11 Tutors therefore describe the usual travelling complement, not an 11-aircraft formation.
Do the Snowbirds fly CF-18 fighters?
No. The Snowbirds’ normal display aircraft is the CT-114 Tutor, not the CF-18 Hornet. The Tutor is an unarmed training jet rather than a front-line fighter.
A CF-18 may perform separately at the same air show or join the Snowbirds for a special flypast. That does not make it part of the standard Snowbirds formation, and the Royal Canadian Air Force’s CF-18 demonstration aircraft belongs to a separate display operation.