Having been delayed for a week due to the elections, the main event of the XVII Gijón Air Festival takes place on Sunday, with a wide variety of aircraft taking to the sky to show off their flying abilities in the hands of some of the best pilots from around the country
Small events have been taking place all week, but the main event is Sunday 30 July, with the spectacular Patrulla Águila visiting from San Javier, showing off their high-risk moves over the bay of Gijón. There will also be members of the Air Force Parachute Acrobatic Patrol (PAPEA), who have not participated in the city since the 2017 edition. All this will be complemented by the Air Force Honor Patrol.
The Navy will participate with an Augusta Bell AB-212 helicopter, from the Third Aircraft Squadron, a ship well known for being the protagonist in the movie ‘Apocalypse Now’. There will also be an aircraft from the Army, the NH90 ‘Sarrio’, which makes its debut in this contest. But there will be more helicopters, such as the Helimer Cantábrico AW-139, from Salvamento Marítimo; the H135 Airbus, of the National Police, and, predictably, the Dauphin AS 365, of the Guardia Civil, who will also showcase their Airbus CN-235.
Within civil aviation, at the moment three of the main aerobatic pilots in Spain are confirmed at the festival, such as Juan Velarde, Ramón Alonso and Jorge Macías. You can also see the traditional ultralight carousel based at La Morgal aerodrome, which traditionally opens the festival; the Quijote Formation, two Cessna 337 Skymasters in USAF colours, belonging to the Antonio Quintana Aeronautical Foundation, and the British aeroSPARX team, made up of Bob Barsby and Guy Westgate who fly Grob 109b gliders. This team will also participate in the Sunset Air Show, which will take place on Saturday at dusk, since they are one of the few planes that use pyrotechnics in their shows and that are more spectacular when the sun has already set.
But the Gijón Air Festival is much more. On the 27th and 28th, at 7:30 p.m., at the Caja Rural de Gijón, reserve lieutenant Francisco Carreras will give the lectures ‘Paratroopers in Spain’ and ‘History of individual armament of the Army’s FFPP’. In addition, on the 29th, starting at 10:30 a.m., at the La Morgal aerodrome, there will be a day for amateur photographers with V Spotter Day.
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