French military to join air show for the first time.

Monday 22 April 2024

A French military team has confirmed they will take part in this year's Guernsey Air Display.

It will be the first time the Mustang X-Ray / PC21 team performs in the Channel Islands.

It has only once performed in UK airspace, and is rarely seen outside of France.

The Guernsey Air Display takes place on Thursday 13 June this year, with the Red Arrows among the planes set to perform.

This year is the 60th anniversary of the Red Arrows meaning they have a busy few months ahead, including performances elsewhere in September which is partly why the Guernsey Air Display was moved to June.

Pictured: The Hurricane Hawker. 

As well as the Red Arrows, spectators in the Bailiwick will see the iconic Spitfire and Hurricane from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, Team Raven, Navy Wings Harvard, The Titans, and Rich Goodwin’s Jet Pitts. The organisers say they are pleased to have secured these bookings as they are all very experienced teams and firm favourites on the display circuit. 

There will also be two new aircraft in this year’s display - as well as the French military’s Mustang X-Ray / PC21 team, the Hawker Hurricane Mk1 R4118 will be flying over the St Peter Port skyline too. That is said to be "one of the most original and historic fighter aircraft to have survived the Second World War". 

Barry Neal, Guernsey' Flying Display Director, said: "We’re very pleased to have been able to confirm such a great mix of aircraft, with a combination of display teams that we have welcomed to Guernsey before and are very excited to bring two new aircraft into the lineup.

"The Mustang X-Ray / PC-21 team is a real coup for Guernsey and we have been working hard with their team to ensure all the correct paperwork, accreditations, insurance etc is in place, as we have to do for all the display teams.  As the PC-21 team is not accredited in the UK, one additional hoop we have to jump through is they will have to carry out a validation flight the day before the display to be accredited by the Director of Civil Aviation’s office.  So we have fingers firmly crossed for good weather and no technical issues that week even more than normal." 

All the aircraft, with the exception of the Red Arrows and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, will also be at a Meet the Pilots event supported by Ravenscroft on Wednesday 12 June, on the East Apron at Guernsey Airport between 14:00 and 17:00.

Pictured top: The French PC 21 team.