Flight Of Fancy . . .

Like a giant lollipop, a jet trainer rears into the air outside Trenton's Air Force Base, home of Canada's National Air Force Museum. Canada was due to spend $30 billion on the F-35, the latest US fighter bomber boondoggle, but it seems the plane is about as effective as this one - so it's been cancelled. The government is determined, however, to waste our cash on bright shiny warplanes, however, undeterred by the fact that we can think of better, less lethal, ways to spend the cash . . .

PS Just been told by Peter Saracino, a pal who is a military history expert, that this is a CF-116. "Nicely known as the Freedom Fighter even before Steve Harper came along.

"Built in Canada by the now-deceased Canadair under licence from Northrup Grumman. Cheap but functional. Unfortunately when Canadair tried to sell repair parts to other international customers our American allies sent a battalion of lawyers to intervene....

"Another touching example of the legacy of Canadian Aerospace History."