Tango Charlie Charlie is a Lockheed model 10 Electra. Electra's made many legendary flights. Howard Hughes flew one around the world, and Amelia Earhart was lost over the Pacific in one. This particular Electra was made in 1936, and was the first true airliner in Canada. It was the flagship of Trans-Canada-Airways, which later became Air Canada. The ship was restored in the eighties to full modern flightworthiness standards (care to imagine the work involved in replacing a main spar?). I had the great fortune to fly on TCC twice, in it's modern capacity as a charity fundraiser for 'Dreams take flight'.
The Consolidated Catalina was by far the most numerous flying boat ever built (more than 3200). Many of these planes, designed in the mid thirties still do useful work as fire bombers. Two Canadian plants, Boeing in Vancouver, and Vickers in Montreal built and assembled Catalina's for the RAAF, RAF and USAAF as well as a special Canadian model, the Canso for the RCAF. All in all, more than a quarter of all the cats have a Canadian pedigree. This particular Canso amphibian lives at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, in Hamilton, Ontario. I saw it at the excellent Canadian Aviation Expo in Oshawa, an unusually intimate airshow (Being parked on the flightline, seeing the ships taxi, take off and land tells you a lot more about them than a fly-by).
The Boeing B-17
was an incredibly modern airplane - back in 1935. By the end of the war, it was practically an antique, but it is still better known than any of the other American bombers in the fleet, and I think one of the reasons for that is it's lovely shape - and another factor is it's human scale, you can really see where all the people go, just looking from outside. I took the opening shots at the Hamilton Airshow - and the interior shots at the end were taken at Osh Kosh, several years ago. 
North American Harvard (T6 Texan).
One of the all-time greatest pilot training aircraft. Many thousands were produced to train american and commonwealth pilots. Hundreds of these growling beauties are still flying. This lovely display was performed by a local team from southern ontario, who were joined by many friends in type, for the gloriously noisy finale. 
Airshow sights.
Airshows are truly great places for cameras (but bring lots of water and a good sun-hat, or you're really going to regret it). No matter what you're doing, something will fly-by, or show up around a corner, that just begs to be snapped. If you're smart, you'll learn to keep a quick-shot grip on your camera, and leave your lenscap in your pocket. 
