Every year Ostrava, the third largest city in the Czech republic, hosts the NATO-days. A two-day (or five including the arrival and departure days) event which draws visitors and airplanes from all of the world.

The 16th Edition
In 2001 the NATO days started as a small event on a Friday afternoon at a festival area in the heart of Ostrava. The only flying aspect that year was a Bell-412 from the Czech Police. In 2003 the event moved to today’s location; the airport Ostrava-Mosnov. Over the following years the event grew year by year and nowadays it is one of Europe’s largest airshows which drew over 135.000 spectators this year.

The MiG-21 returns
Although the overall line-up of aircraft on the static and show was very impressive, the two Romanian MiG-21’s were certainly one of the highlights on this year’s event. The MiG-21 has a history on Ostrava. It was stationed at Ostrava for many years until the reorganization of the Czech Air Force in the 90’s. In September 2016 is was exactly 24 years ago that the last MiG-21’s from 82. SSLt left Ostrava for the last time. It took exactly 24 years for the MiG-21 to make its return to Ostrava.

We published an article about the NATO days in the December 2016 issue of Full-Stop magazine.