The Thunder Day event at Yorkshire Air Museum will be an opportunity for aviation enthusiasts to watch historic aircraft run their engines including a WWII Dakota DC3 paratrooper and Blackburn Buccaneer cold war jets.

The Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington will be hosting a Thunder Day event this weekend (October 8) that is expected to attract many people who are fascinated by aircraft and all things aviation.

Visitors will get a rare opportunity to hear and see various aircraft in the museum’s collection run their engines.

At the time of writing, these aircraft will include the Dakota DC3 paratrooper transport, which was used during the Second World War, one of the museum’s Blackburn Buccaneer cold war jets and potentially the Handley Page Victor, a nuclear bomber repurposed into an inflight refuelling tanker, that saw action in the Falklands War.

The Douglas DC3 Dakota (pictured) was an American-built transport aircraft, used during WW2 and for years after. (Pic credit: Yorkshire Air Museum)

placeholder image — The Douglas DC3 Dakota (pictured) was an American-built transport aircraft, used during WW2 and for years after. (Pic credit: Yorkshire Air Museum)

The engine runs will take place across the day, with the very first runs of the day being repeated in the afternoon for those who can’t get here in time.

Normal ticketing is suspended for the day, so you will need to buy a specific Thunder Day ticket which costs £20 for adults and £10 for children. These are on sale online or at admissions, but they are selling very fast, so the public are encouraged to buy online.

Yorkshire Air Museum has not hosted an event like this since 2019.

The museum is one of the largest independent air museums in Britain and the only Allied Air Forces Memorial in Europe. It was founded and first opened to the public in the mid 1980s.