Alaska Pipeline Project Air Show

Welcome to the official site of "Canada's Friendliest Air Show." Since 1971, Whitehorse has maintained its "free" military Air Display to entertain the people of the Yukon and southeast Alaska with flying and static displays by both U.S. and Canadian Military Aircraft. From 2 aircraft in 1986 to 30 in Can Can Girls at the Air Show 2004, the Sourdough Air Display plans to continue to provide and maintain the entertainment and reputation for many years to come!

The Sourdough Air Display has been a continuous event of our famous (or infamous) Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous since 1971 making it one of the oldest events of our winter festival.

It all started when an F-86 Sabre Jet Pilot by the name of Major Stu Deacon was transferred to Whitehorse in 1970 as the Detachment Commander. After experiencing the 1970 Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous, he made the mistake of inviting some of his flying buddies from various bases across Canada to attend the 1971 Rendezvous Festival. To make a long story short, 14 aircraft arrived and the 1st Sourdough Air Display was born.

Since 1971, the show has had its ups and downs but has managed to maintain its reputation as "Canada’s Friendliest Airshow". Each year from 1971 until 1981, aircraft from different bases would "just show up" to carry on the aura of "Sourdough". In 1981, 82, 83, an X-Snowbird by the name of Major Murray Bertram led a four plane air demonstration team called the "Vikings" from the Flight Instructors School at Portage La Prairie. They set the stage for low level formation flying that is still talked about today. They did an ear shattering display about 100 feet above the streets of Whitehorse on the last Saturday and Sunday of the Sourdough Rendezvous, much to the chagrin of the pigeons that roosted on the roof of the old Nelson’s Hardware store. The Flight Instructors School continued their four-plane display in 1984 and 1985 with a different lead, Major Ken Carr. In the fall of 1985 disaster struck in the form of a major crash involving three C-130 Hercules aircraft at an air show in Edmonton Alberta. After the crash, Air Command restricted all Canadian military aircraft displays except for the "Snowbirds", and as a result the 1986 show had a grand total of two CT-114 Tutor jets on display. 1986 was the smallest number of aircraft to attend a Rendezvous (two Aircraft)

1989 saw the first United States Air Force’s aircraft coming to Whitehorse and since then the numbers have increased steadily year by year. Planes have come from bases throughout the United States; Arkansas, Ohio, Washington State, Florida, California, Texas, and of course Alaska.

Since 1971, Whitehorse has had the privilege of hosting every type of aircraft in the Canadian inventory and we look forward to someday saying the same for both the USAF and the USN. "Sourdough" has seen a low of two attending aircraft (1986) to a high of thirty military aircraft (2004). With the Olympics being held in Vancouver in 2010, we are not sure as to how many Canadian military will be able to attend, however we have already received responses from the US military. We look forward to hosting this event again from February 26 – 28!

Previous Participants

Canadian Forces

These are the Canadian previous participants: