Sunderland International Airshow

21st Annual Event Takes Off in North-East England

Jul 23, 2009 Stuart Forster

The twenty-first Sunderland International Airshow will be held in the skies of north-east England on July 25 and 26 2009.

The highly regarded annual event received an Enjoy England Award for Excellence in 2008, in the category of Best Tourism Experience.

The Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) elite aerobatics display team, will be flying on both days of the festival. They first took part in the airshow of 1992.

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

The RAF’s Falcons Parachute Display Team have a longer history of involvement, they have impressed the crowds at every one of the twenty previous Sunderland International Airshows. They will be there again this year, along with the other ever-present attraction, The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, which this year features a flypast by Spitfire, Hurricane and Dakota aircraft.

Newcomers to the Sunderland International Airshow

On the other end of the participation scale, the Swift Glider team and a Vulcan bomber will be making appearances for the first time. The Vulcan is one of the last of its type. Vulcan bombers saw action over the Falkland Islands, during the conflict between Britain and Argentina in 1982, and were also strategically employed during the Cold War.

Highly manoeuvrable Apache and Lynx helicopters will link up as part of the British Army’s Blue Eagles Display Team. The agile, precision flown aircraft are the Army’s answer to the RAF’s Black Cats. The Black Cats happens to be the nickname of Sunderland Association Football Club, the football crazy north-east of England’s only representative in the Premier League. Consequently, the Merlin helicopters of the RAF display team are likely to draw especially enthusiastic cheers from locals in the crowd.

Airshow Draws Over One Million Visitors

If the weather holds, as many as a million spectators could turn out for the show. More than a million flocked to the Sunderland’s seafront during the summer of 1995. Even last year, when fog blighted visibility, the promenades of the city’s Roker and Seaburn districts were packed with visitors.

Anyone heading to this year’s Sunderland International Airshow will have opportunities to see flights by a Chinook, one of the helicopters used in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, a Sea King helicopter, and one of the RAF’s technologically advanced Eurofighter Typhoons.

Down on the ground, Her Majesty’s Royal Marines band, based in Scotland, will be performing. The North East Gunners, members of the 4th Regiment Royal Artillery, which was awarded the Honorary Freedom of Sunderland back in 1973, will also be turning out.

The airshow has a history of inviting participation from abroad. Pilots and aircraft from the air forces of the USA, Russia, Belgium, France, Hungary and Jordan have flown over Sunderland in previous years. A Dutch F-16 will be there this year. Highlights from the past include flights by American B52 and stealth fighters; welcome visitors in airspace that was heavily contested during WWII. In contrast with today's foreign guests, German Luftwaffe bombers were anything but welcome in the early 1940s. At that time Sunderland was a major shipbuilding port and become one of Britain’s most heavily bombed cities during the war years.

Fitting then, that military aircraft can now provide summer entertainment.

Sunderland International Airshow Information

The Sunderland International Airshow is a two day event. It will take place from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm on Saturday July 25 and Sunday July 26 2009. The Red Arrows will perform at noon on both days.

The copyright of the article Sunderland International Airshow in U.K./Ireland Travel is owned by Stuart Forster. Permission to republish Sunderland International Airshow in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

The 2008 Sunderland International Airshow	Her Majesty’s Royal Marines band	4th Regiment Royal Artillery
People at the 2008 Airshow	Helicopter at the 2008 Airshow