International Ayr Show – Festival of Flight 2026
The International Ayr Show – Festival of Flight is Scotland’s only major airshow of the year. Organised by South Ayrshire Council, the event brings a huge audience to the west coast of Scotland for two days of flying displays and ground attractions along Ayr’s Shorefront. Given its status as the sole major air display in Scotland, the event attracts significant support from the Royal Air Force and partner nations which use near-by Prestwick Airport.
Paul Johnson/Flightline UK reports. All photography by the author.
2026 was the fourth edition of the International Ayr Show – Festival of Flight. In that short time, the event has gained a reputation for bringing some unique flying displays to Scotland and for also promoting aerospace careers through a STEM outreach program at Prestwick Airport. This year, that part of the event moved from the airshow week to a period shortly after the airshow. However, the ground displays on Low Green still included an impressive STEM area adjacent to displays from all three of the UK’s armed services.
This part of Scotland is well placed to promote aerospace thanks to Prestwick Airport. The Airport has long been an important hub for transatlantic air traffic but is now also thriving centre for engineering with many of the world’s major aerospace companies having a presence at the airport. It is pleasing to see that so many of these companies supported not only the STEM week, but also the airshow.
The public airshow takes place along Ayr’s Shorefront adjacent to a green space called Low Green. This is a short walk from city centre and the main rail station which links to Glasgow and Edinburgh. Low Green is transformed for the Ayr with everything you’d expect to see at a major seafront airshows with the STEM and military displays set alongside local traders and a fun fair.
The 2026 Festival of Flight opened on the Friday afternoon with an evening flying display in some very blustery conditions. This continued well into the evening but fortunately did abate in time for the main show day on Saturday.
Opening the flying displays were the RAF Red Arrows who returned from their USA250 tour just three weeks before the Ayr Show. Despite the windy weather on Friday, they managed to fit in their full display under the cloud base which at times had an orange glow to it as the sun lowered over the Isle of Arran. They were slightly less lucky on Saturday as there was a lower cloudbase and one aircraft suffered a technical issue on start reducing their display to just six aircraft.
The Reds were just one of many military displays gathered for Ayr. The Royal Air Force was also represented in the by the Grob Tutor T1 flown by Flt Lt Rich Tomola and the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 piloted by Flt Lt Tom Nation. The Tutor display looked especially sporty in Friday’s strong winds as Rich had to keep on eye on the display line, so he wasn’t blown too close to the crowd. On Saturday, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight also made the long transit north of the RAF Coningsby base with an extended solo display by Fly Lt Andy Preece in Supermarine Spitfire XVIe TE331.
Friday’s strong winds meant the RAF Falcons Parachute Display Team had to withdraw from the display. However, Saturday did see the British Army contribute to the display with the Red Devils Army Parachute Display Team. While the wind speeds had dropped overnight, it was still quite a brisk wind for the members of the Parachute Regiment to drop in. They carried out their display with great aplomb hitting their marks in the drop zone arena perfectly. They were also able to show off the large Scottish Flag, the Saltire, which they had specifically for their Ayr appearance.
The UK military appearances did not end with the traditional display teams. On both days, 28(AC) Squadron performed three flypasts with a Boeing Chinook HC6 along the shorefront. The aircraft was part Exercise Kukri Dawn which has seen 28(AC) deployed to Leuchars Air Station in Fife supporting training exercises with the British Army, Royal Navy and emergency services.
While the current Royal Navy were not part of the flying displays, naval aviation heritage was marked by the NavyWings Heritage Flight which brought three aircraft to Ayr. On Friday night, the crowds were treated to a duo of Kennet Aviation’s North American AT-6D Texan and appropriately the Scottish Aviation Bulldog T1. The latter is an aircraft that was built at Prestwick and as well as RAF pilots, was used to train Royal Navy pilots before they were streamed into fixed wing or rotary flying. On Saturday, the formation was expanded further with John Heath’s Westland Wasp HAS1 flown by Tim de la Fosse. It was certainly an impressive sight to see three very different aircraft flown together in formation before their respective solo displays.
A handful of civilian displays provided some interludes from the military flying. Appearing on both days were Rich Goodwin in his Pitts S-2SE Special G-JPIT and the Aerosuperbatics Wingwalkers. Both gave superb displays in some challenging conditions during Friday’s display, particularly the Aerosuperbatics pilots who work hard to keep their display synchronised and the wingwalkers who bore the brunt of the very chilly air coming off the Firth of Clyde.
Also appearing were Airborne Pyrotechnics with their pair of Grob 109B motor-gliders. As in previous years they closed Friday’s evening show as well as flying on the Saturday. This year, their display was set to the world premiere of ‘Sky Spirit’ performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. This music was by the late film score composer James Horner who was also an avid aviation enthusiast. Sky Spirit was being composed by Horner at the time of his passing and the RSNO put together the music from Horner’s incomplete workings. The result is unmistakably Horner’s work with hints to some of the music he produced for movies including Star Trek – very apt for the technicoloured motor-gliders with sparks streaming from their wingtips.
On Saturday, the civilian line-up was bolstered by the addition of the Starlings Aerobatic Team and their two Extra NGs. Pilots Tom Cassells and Michael Pickin flew a superb, and very precise sequence of close coupled formation aerobatics before each performing their own short solo aerobatics slots.
A unique display to the Festival of Flight is the Reims-Cessna FR172F G-DRAM or ‘Wee Dram’ flown by Ayr resident, Hamish Mitchell. Hamish flies G-DRAM commercially offering training, unique floatplane experiences to Scottish Lochs and filming services. The Firth was too choppy during the show for a full landing on the water this year, but Hamish gave some spectacular low passes just dipping the floats on the water surface.
O again it was Ayr’s international military participation that really made it stand out from other similar shows on the UK calendar. 17 Squadron of the Belgian Air Force made a welcome return to Scotland putting one of their Agusta A109BAi Hirundo utility helicopters on static display on Low Green. Based at Beauvechain near Brussels, the A109BAi is heading towards retirement as the Belgian Air Force starts to receive the Airbus H145M Dragonfly. This may well have been one of the type’s final UK appearances.
Other very welcome returnee was the Lockheed C-130J-30 Super Hercules from the 165th Airlift Squadron of the Kentucky Air National Guard. It was only seen on the Friday evening for three flypasts where the crew paid tribute to Dolly Parton by flying to ‘9 to 5.’ While there were no flares this year, the crew led by Lt Col Josh Ketterer did bring the units aircraft that carries invasion strips to commemorate the D-Day Landings in 1944.
However, in the battle of returning air forces it was the Royal Canadian Air Force that rather stole the show with not one, but a pair of Lockheed Martin CC-130J Hercules transports performing series of flypasts along the shorefront. These aircraft are stationed at Prestwick as part of “Operation Reassurance” which sees RCAF support operations across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The aircraft and crews come from 436 Squadron based at Trenton, Ontario and use the display at Ayr to thank the local community for their support and hospitality. It has been a long time since two C-130s from any air arm have performed together at any UK show and they certainly made for quite the sight performing low turns over the sea and the rugged coastline that bookends the display line.
However, my personal highlight of the flying display was the Irish Air Corps’ Silver Swallows. This team has a long history having been originally formed on the venerable Fouga Magister. They now fly four Pilatus PC-9M aircraft and only perform a handful of displays each year and are rarely seen outside of their homeland. Though a relatively short display of 10-15 minutes, they flying quite an eye-catching routine with tight loops and some nice variations on the ‘Apache roll’ of Helix which sees one member of the team roll around the rest of the formation.
Despite some challenging weather, the International Ayr Show – Festival of Flight was another exceptional show with plenty of unique attractions not seen an any other airshow in the UK. It can be a challenge for photographers, but the dramatic backdrop of the Isle of Arran, The Heads of Ayr and Troon make for one of the finest backdrops to any UK show.
