After two false starts in 2013 and 2015, an air show returned to Durham Tees Valley Airport after a 27-year hiatus. Part of a five year rolling plan, the event was the 25th (as far as I can tell?) air show of various forms to take place on the airport site and the first to be organised by a third party, with the airport signing over the land to Skylive Events the prior evening. It was not possible to draw upon the experiences of previous events and the organisers wisely took a "crawl before you walk" approach, but when the day arrived it could not have gone any better, and a fantastic day was had by all, with reviews being extremely positive.
Flying Displays
| REG / SERIAL | A/C TYPE | OPERATOR | NOTES |
| G-BSBW | Bell 206B Jet Ranger III | Adventure Helicopters / Castle Air | Pleasure flying 1028 - 1805 |
| G-IITC | Mudry Cap-232 | Tom Cassells | |
| G-OFFO | Extra EA 300/L | The Blades | |
| G-VANX | Gippsland GA-8 Airvan | Airkix Aviation | Silver Stars, see note below |
| G-ZEXL | Extra EA 300/L | The Blades | |
| G-ZXCL | Extra EA 300/L | The Blades | |
| G-ZXLL | Extra EA 300/L | The Blades | |
| AB910 | Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb | RAF - Battle of Britain Memorial Flight | |
| PZ865 | Hawker Hurricane IIc | RAF - Battle of Britain Memorial Flight | |
| XX219 | British Aerospace Hawk T1A(F) | RAF - The Red Arrows | Red 2 |
| XX232 | British Aerospace Hawk T1(F) | RAF - The Red Arrows | Red 1 |
| XX244 | British Aerospace Hawk T1(F) | RAF - The Red Arrows | Red 6 |
| XX245 | British Aerospace Hawk T1(F) | RAF - The Red Arrows | Red 10 - see note below |
| XX278 | British Aerospace Hawk T1A(F) | RAF - The Red Arrows | Red 8 |
| XX310 | British Aerospace Hawk T1W(F) | RAF - The Red Arrows | Red 3 |
| XX311 | British Aerospace Hawk T1W | RAF - The Red Arrows | Red 7 |
| XX319 | British Aerospace Hawk T1A(F) | RAF - The Red Arrows | Red 9 |
| XX322 | British Aerospace Hawk T1A(F) | RAF - The Red Arrows | Red 4 |
| XX325 | British Aerospace Hawk T1(F) | RAF - The Red Arrows | Red 5 - see note below |
| ZK352/BV | Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon FGR4 | RAF - 29(R) Squadron |
Note 1: The Red Arrows, Blades, the BoBMF and the Airvan all landed and were parked for most of the day but not as part of the static display.
Note 2: Red 5 XX325 didn't display due to a bird strike on departure, Red 10 remained on the ground.
Note 2: Airvan G-VANX is temp based operating for Skydive St. George, it dropped the Royal Logistics Corps Silver Stars parachute display team into the air show.
Static Displays
| REG / SERIAL | A/C TYPE | OPERATOR | NOTES |
| G-AKBO | Miles M38 Messenger 2A | Nicholas Lee | |
| G-BCPG | Piper PA-28R-200 Cherokee Arrow | Flying Fox Aviation | |
| G-BUUJ | Slingsby T67M Firefly II | Durham Tees Flight Training | |
| G-CEXO | Piper PA-28-161 Cherokee Warrior III | Durham Tees Flight Training | |
| G-FLAV | Piper PA-28-161 Cherokee Warrior II | Flying Fox Aviation / Eden Flight Training | |
| G-FRAH | Dassault Falcon 20D | Cobham Aviation Services | |
| G-HEVR | Ikarus C42 FB80 | Durham Aerosports | May have actually been G-HEVR? |
| G-KAIR | Piper PA-28-181 Cherokee Archer II | Flying Fox Aviation | |
| G-MUMY | Vans RV-4 | Stan Howes | |
| G-NALA | Cessna 172S Skyhawk | Airfotos / Naljets / PTT Aviation | |
| G-NHAA | Aérospatiale AS365N2 Dauphin II | Great North Air Ambulance | See note below |
| G-WACT | Reims Cessna F152 | Durham Tees Flight Training | |
| G-WCAO | Eurocopter EC135 T2 | NPAS Tees Valley | |
| N75CE | Christen Eagle II | Craig McCloud | |
| XZ327 | Westland Gazelle AH1 | Army Air Corps | Arr / dep by road |
| ZF171/171 | Short S.312 Tucano T1 | RAF - 1 FTS |
Note 1: G-NHAA remained just outside of the static area so it could remain operational during the day. It operated from James Cook Hospital during the Red Arrows display.
Cancelled
| REG / SERIAL | A/C TYPE | OPERATOR | NOTES |
| G-COBS | Diamond DA42 M-NG Guardian | Thales Flight Inspection | Static only, see note below |
| G-DTFT | CZAW PS-28 Cruiser | Durham Tees Flight Training | Appears to have been dropped in favour of G-CEXO / G-WACT |
| G-FPLD | Beech B200 Super King Air | Thales Flight Inspection | Static only, see note below |
| PA474/KC-A | Avro Lancaster B.I | RAF - Battle of Britain Memorial Flight | Scheduled maintenance overran |
| N/A | British Aerospace Hawk T1A | RAF - 100 Squadron | Didn't turn up, reasons unknown (static only) |
| N/A | Aircraft unknown | RAF Falcons parachute display team | Aircraft went u/s |
| N/A | Flex-wing microlight | Unknown | Didn't turn up, reasons unknown (static only) |
Note 1: A Diamond DA42 and Beech 200 were advertised on the Skylive website as part of the static display, with Thales being the only possible candidate operator as far as we could tell, G-FPLD was noted on stand 1 during the show but otherwise they played no part.
Photos
Click here for a selection of photos from Chris Smith, Matt Falcus, Michael McNeil, Paul Watterson and Stuart Reid.
Review
Click here for a review of the air show by Michael McNeil.
That's all until next time! For more detailed information on aircraft arrival, departure and display times visit our daily movement page for 28th May 2016.