The Tillsonburg Regional Airport is a rather quiet, unassuming and very friendly place to visit. There's a new terminal with a little café that's open Saturdays and Sundays, April to October. There are a few hangars with an assortment of private aircraft, maintenance services, paint shop, a flying school and fuel is available. The main, paved runway is 5500' in length and the two grass runways are more than 2200' in length. It's also the home of the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association including several Harvard aircraft (T-6 Texan in the USA), a Yale and a Tiger Moth.

As part of the growth of this Southern Ontario airport they are working toward attracting new clients and business opportunities and one way in which they're attempting to do so is with a semi-annual airshow. In August of 2012 the Tillsonburg Regional Airport held two airshows to whet the public's appetite for future semi-annual airshows starting in 2014.

In the first of the two airshows a number of different aircraft and airshow performers, including the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association Harvard demonstration team and the Canadian Harvard Aerobatic Team, performed in the skies above Tillsonburg. Also participating were two T-28 Trojans, a BAC Strikemaster, L-29 Delphin, aerobatic pilots Rick Volker & Gord Price and, performing in his first official airshow, Mike Tryggvason, son of former Canadian Astronaut, Bjarni Tryggvason.

Before the official start to the airshow, Jim Mattice took to the air in his beautiful Yale, "The Spirit of Dunnville," performing several passes. Eventually, CHAA hopes to have their own Yale back in the air and maybe we'll see both of these beautiful and rare aircraft in the air together.

Officially opening the airshow were three skydivers from a group called SWOOP (South-Western Ontario Organization of Parachutists), a South-Western Ontario skydiving centre. The team took to the air in a Jet Ranger flown by Danny Richer, climbing to over 5000' before the skydivers made the leap out of the chopper and worked their way back to earth. Their target was a large, yellow "X" set up in front of the crowd and all three jumpers either landed on, or very near, while the Canadian anthem played.

Following the jumpers Gord Price took to the air in his rare and beautiful Yak-50 to perform a series of superb aerobatics. Gord has returned to the airshow circuit after a 20 year hiatus and, despite being in his early 70s, he flies like he hasn't missed a beat. Gord demonstrates the abilities of both the airplane and himself with finesse and grace and it's a joy to see him back again.

Turning to something with a little more speed and noise, Martin Mattes climbed into the cockpit of his L-29 Delphin and tore up the sky across the showline. Martin performed several high-speed passes showing off both the top and bottom sides of this popular 2-seat Russian training aircraft.

The Canadian Harvard Aerobatic Team, consisting of pilot/owners Kent Beckham, Pete Spence and Dave Hewitt, flew their well known and spectacular formation aerobatic display. These three experienced and devoted pilots show off the performance of their 70+ year old World War II training aircraft in the most graceful of displays. Flying under the banner of the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association, they are part of a group that are among the best Harvard pilots in the country.

Also taking to the skies were pilots/owners Danny Richer and Alf Beam in their beautiful T-28 Trojans. Danny's T-28 is painted in the livery of the US Army and Alf's T-28 is painted in US Navy colours but both aircraft are fine examples of this large and loud radial engine aircraft. The two pilots showed off their airplanes with an assortment of individual passes and a loose formation pass.

Performing in his first official airshow was "new" Canadian aerobatic pilot Mike Tryggvason. If the name sounds familiar, Mike is the son of former Canadian Astronaut, Bjarni Tryggvason. Flying his beautiful Pitts Special, Mike's first airshow was a great success and it's expected he'll be performing on the airshow circuit for years to come.

Next week we'll return to the Tillsonburg Regional Airport 2012 Airshow to see what other aircraft and aviation acts participated in the airshow.

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