Airshow London’s 2026 Evening “Hours of Power”

by Ken Kula · Published September 30, 2026

Raptor

USAF Raptor Demo during the Friday night Hour of Power at Airshow London

CF-18 Hornet slow pass during its Tactical Demo at the Friday night Hour of Power at Airshow London

Story by Ken Kula, photos by Shawn Byers and Ken Kula

Over the years, the airshows at London, Ontario have attracted hundreds of thousands of spectators because of the event’s ability to draw large numbers of military aircraft for their static and flying displays. Before the worldwide COVID crisis, Airshow London and its predecessor, the London International Air Show, presented a two-day weekend airshow. One of the extras before the show was the much-anticipated Friday arrival day photography tour, where one could get up close and personal with many aircraft without spectators around them. This evolved into a three-day airshow, with a Friday night session with arriving static display aircraft and practice/familiarization flights for the weekend airshow performers. Highlights were beautiful sunsets and blazing afterburners as the daylight waned.

USAF KC-46A Demonstration Team jet on an extended low approach in front of SkyDrive spectators

As COVID crowd restrictions were eased but not fully relaxed, a SkyDrive format was worked up so that spectators could safely watch the show from their vehicles parked within a 16 by 20 foot plot of land, safely distanced from other people. Up to six people could be in an individual car for one price. The SkyDrive concept worked well and has been embraced by Airshow London in their current three-show format… for Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday daily shows.

RCAF CF-188 Hornet shows off its colors during its tactical demonstration on Friday night at Airshow London

The “Hour of Power” on Friday night comes as the sun sets and afterburners alight. Many think this is even better than fireworks, and a CF-18 in full afterburner easily makes more noise than fireworks! During the 2026 show, it was a three and a half-hour event, thus I’ll call it “Hours of Power”. Military afterburning jets in the 2026 show included the Canadian CF-18 Hornet Demo, the U. S. Navy’s F/A-18F Hornet Demo and the USAF F-22A Raptor Demo teams. Add to that a spectacular display by Bill Culberson in the Fighter Jets, Inc. MiG-17F during dusk. There were a number of other military and warbird performers during Friday night too. Here’s what Airshow London’s “Hour of Power” crowd watched in 2026, in photos:

U. S. Navy’s F/A-18F Rhino Demo during a tribute photo pass

USAF F-22A Raptor Demo Team jet departs during London’s Hour of Power

Canadian Forces CP-140 Aurora gave a full demonstration early in the flying show

KC-46A with its air refuel boom extended

The C-17A was going to be part of a 2-ship demo routine with the KC-46A, but an onboard issue caused the jet’s takeoff to be aborted safely in front of the Airshow London SkyDrive parking area

RCAF CT-145, a Beech King Air 90 multi-engined trainer, will be replaced with newer aircraft in the next few years

London Ontario has scheduled airline service, which is accommodated during the air shows

London also is serviced by medivac helicopter and fixed wing aircraft, one arrived with a patient during the Friday evening show

The Canadian Skyhawks team dropped in before sunset on Friday evening

A RCAF CC-138 Twin Otter served as the Skyhawks’ parachute jump plane this year, only four are in service

Diamond Aircraft’s headquarters and manufacturing plant is located at London’s airport, these three Diamonds made several passes during the early part of Friday’s show

It’s not what you think… this US Coast Guard MH-65 is picking up a rescue swimmer off of the ground during its search and rescue demonstration. The radome is across the runway from where the Dolphin helicopter was hovering

U. S. Air Force Heritage Flight with the Raptor and Steve Hinton Jr. flying the P-38 Lightning all the way from California… note the P-38’s drop tanks!

A rarity in Canadian skies, the Lightning showed off its distinctive form near sundown

The International Test Pilot School is based at London, this Grumman Albatross is their largest aircraft

The International Test Pilot School’s Hawker Hunter leads the Jet Aircraft Museum’s Canadair CT133 and a pair of Aero L-39s from the International Tactical Training Center

CT-133 Silver Star

Flying well after sunset, the vintage pair of a Hurricane and Spitfire sounded wonderful with their Rolls Royse Merlin engines purring mightily

Based at Patuxent River Maryland, this one-of-a-kind UV-18 Twin Otter is operated by the U. S. Naval Research Lab

Approaching darkness, this Mig-17/Lim-5 (Polish built version) made use of its amazing afterburner capabilities during a series of high-speed passes down the runway