Southport’s skyline feels complete again.
The community’s beloved CT-114 Tutor aircraft, missing from its post for the past couple of years, now proudly stands reinstalled as the "Gate Guardian" at the entrance to the Southport Aerospace Centre, marking a joyful homecoming for a piece of local and national aviation history.
"It’s been down for a couple of years while we worked on the construction of our new administrative building," explains Colby Orchard, Director of Development for Southport Aerospace Centre. "A lot of people were asking questions about what's happening with it. It was just on hold. We now have it back up and incorporated into the whole design of the building and the lot and everything."
A golden piece of history
This specific CT-114 holds deep significance.
"Yeah, it's a very important aircraft for us," Orchard states. "It's what we call our golden centenary, and it's a CT-114 Tutor aircraft, and it's painted in the Golden Centennaire livery; basically, that was an aerobatic flying team that flew in Southport in the 1960s. They were commissioned for Canada's Centennial year in 1967 and flew over 100 air demonstrations across the country. So it's an important piece of our history and important for us to get up."
The aircraft serves as a "Gate Guardian," a tradition honouring military heritage.
"The aircraft itself is put at the front of our site here as a gate guardian," Orchard clarifies. "A gate guardian is typically a retired piece of military equipment. You see it at a lot of military bases, and although Southport is not a military base anymore, it's important for us to show our history. We were a base for many, many years, and we still have our RCAF training here. So, it's important for us to show our support to the RCAF and post up a piece of our history here too."
Community cheers the return
The return of the familiar landmark has generated widespread enthusiasm.
"The community has been excited about it," Orchard shares, highlighting broad interest. "Not only locally, but also the RCAF community, the veteran community that you know are voicing their interest in the story online, it's been a great reception."
While the Golden Centennaries evolved into today's Canadian Forces Snowbirds aerobatic team, the reinstalled plane isn't a prelude to reviving the team locally.
"The Golden Centennaries are what turned into the snowbirds," Orchard confirms. "So the snowbirds are doing the aerobatic flying now for Canada... This is just a show of the history of our site, and of Canada's aerobatic team."
The once dominant aircraft once more greets visitors and residents, a tangible link to Southport's storied aerospace past and a source of renewed local pride.