Rank 14 in the Aviation Heroes collection, this print centres 409 Tactical Fighter Squadron — the Nighthawks — and the CF-18A that became Canada's tactical fighter backbone from 1982. Based at CFB Cold Lake under 4 Wing, the squadron stood on NORAD alert defending Canadian airspace with the same McDonnell Douglas Hornet lineage the US Navy flew as the F/A-18, adapted with RCAF grey, maple leaf roundels, and the fake canopy painted on the underside to confuse an adversary in a merge. Tail 188781 and nose 781 read as the kind of bureau detail collectors expect on a squadron-profile board — not a combat vignette, but a Cold Lake intercept posture rendered clean.