By Michel Rossignol
The Canada Day ceremonies on July 1, 2024, included a massive flypast of 49 aircraft from the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in honour of its 100th anniversary. Since Lowertown is so close to Parliament Hill, ceremonial flypasts by RCAF aircraft inevitably pass over our community.
Over the years, flypasts by the Snowbirds aerobatic squadron and high-speed passes by one or two CF-18 jets have played a major role, weather permitting, in Canada Day ceremonies. For example, there was a spectacular flypast on Canada Day 2011 when Prince William and Catherine (today the Prince and Princess of Wales) arrived on Parliament Hill for the ceremonies at noon. At that time, I lived on the west side of the Watergate Apartments on Wurtemburg Street. From my balcony, I watched two CF-18s make a high-speed flypast over Parliament Hill and continue over Lowertown before passing just above my building.
Other ceremonial flypasts are done at a more sedate speed, notably on November 11, Remembrance Day. A formation of four CF-18s usually arrives from the North and continues southward over the National War Memorial. Over the years, many flypasts by RCAF jets have passed over Lowertown, notably on Battle of Britain Sundays.
Every year, ceremonies are held on September 15 or a Sunday close to that date in honour of the Canadian pilots and groundcrew members who participated in the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940 during the Second World War. Some Canadians were members of Britain’s Royal Air Force while others were members of No. 1 (RCAF) Squadron.
In September 1960, I was on Parliament Hill for a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. There was an impressive flypast by two dozen CF-100 Canuck interceptors that flew low over the Parliament Buildings before passing over Lowertown. In those days, buildings could not be taller than the Peace Tower. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Battle of Britain ceremonies were held on Green Island, the location of the Ottawa Memorial (Commonwealth Air Forces), usually with a flypast by a dozen CF-101 Voodoo supersonic interceptors.
Lowertown was the home of a Second World War RCAF Squadron pilot, Jean Paul Desloges. He was born in the Hull sector of Gatineau, but a few years later, his family moved to Lowertown and he was a student at Guigues School on Murray Street. He became an RCAF pilot in the 1930s. On August 31, 1940, his Hawker Hurricane aircraft was shot down and Desloges suffered severe burns before parachuting to land. The injuries ended his career as a pilot, but he was assigned to other duties in the air force. He died in an aircraft accident in 1944.
Many other residents of Lowertown were in the air force during and after the war and the flypasts over our community, among other things, remind us of their contribution to Canada’s defence.