The Canadian Armed Forces purchased 40 dual-seat and 98 single-seat CF-188 Hornets from the McDonnell Douglas Corporation in St. Louis, Missouri. The first ones arrived in 1982, and the last were delivered in September 1988. Canada was the first country to import Hornets, which were bought to replace the CF-116 Freedom Fighter, the CF-104 Starfighter, and the CF-101 Voodoo. They were used on missions at home and abroad for air defense, tactical support, aerobatic demonstrations and more. Hornets were designed to attack both aerial and ground targets, and carry bombs and guns as well as missiles. Canada’s Hornets first saw combat during the Gulf War in 1991. The CF-188s are based in Cold Lake, Alberta, and Bagotville, Quebec.

CF-188 Hornet tail number 188911 entered service in 1982. As one of the dual-seat variants, it was used as a training aircraft by 410 Tactical Fighter (Operational Training) Squadron in Cold Lake, Alberta and 433 Tactical Fighter Squadron in Bagotville, Quebec. The aircraft was presented to the Museum in 2009, in commemoration of the 100 Years of Flight anniversary (1909-2009); the emblem for this anniversary is painted on its tail.