Sunderland International Airshow

Sunderland International Airshow is the biggest free annual airshow in Europe, held near the Roker and Seaburn seafronts. It takes place over the course of two days, normally the final weekend in July and attracts around 1,200,000 spectators every year. The airshow features a large number of planes, including the Red Arrows and the Eurofighter Typhoon. In addition to the planes, the seafront plays host to a range of food counters, stalls and fairground games. The Royal Navy traditionally have a warship off the coast every year, usually the HMS Ocean, the adopted warship of Sunderland, however in 2007, HMS Albion made an appearance instead as HMS Ocean had other commitments. The airshow was first held in 1988, and was planned to be a one-off event, when it attracted 250,000 spectators. Due to thick fog and mist in 2008, the airshow was practically cancelled and only one plane was flown, the Belgian F-16 flown by Mickey Artiges on the Sunday.