August 1st (aerobatic team)

August 1st Aerobatic Team
	J-10 (August 1st aerobatic team)
Active	1962 - present
Country	China
Branch	People's Liberation Army Air Force
Role	Aerobatic Display
Garrison/HQ	Yangcun Air Base (Meichong) ( 39°22′24″N, 117°5′42″E )
Nickname(s)	Bayi
Colors	White and Red; formerly White and Blue (with red star on the tail fin)
Insignia
Identification; symbol	150px
Aircraft flown
Fighter	8 Chengdu J-10

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The August 1st or 81st Aerobatics Team (Chinese: 八一飞行表演队) is the aerobatic demonstration team of the People's Liberation Army Air Force. It is named after the date of the founding of the PLA (August 1, 1927), and is a part of the PLAAF Beijing Military Region. The unit was founded in 1962 and has over the years performed more than 500 times for delegations from 166 countries and regions. Its first show abroad happened in August 2013 during the Russian airshow MAKS.^[1]

Aircraft

The August 1st aerobatic team (Ba Yi aerobatic team) initially equipped the fleet with JJ-5 fighter-trainer jets, a Chinese version of Russian made MiG-17. In later years the JJ-5s were replaced by Chengdu J-7EB, then again was replaced by the newer J-7GB (2001). There are about 8 aircraft in the fleet, but only 6 are set for any airshow.

In May 2009, the team upgraded their jets to the much more advanced Chengdu J-10 multirole fighter.^[2]

Base

The aerobatics team is based out of Yangcun Air Force Base (Meichong) near Tianjin, home to the 24th Fighter Division.^[3]

Appearances

Accidents

June 1997 - 3 aircraft crash in Tianjin during a practice session
15 September 1998 - single aircraft crashes near Chongming Island Airport near Shanghai
July 14, 2009 - Number 3 wing which was a J-7GB crashed at Yang Cun airbase during practicing session, while preparing for the coming National Day demonstration on October 1st.