2016 saw plenty of new additions to the historic aviation scene, the earliest of which was Peter Holloway’s Ryan STA which arrived in the UK from Germany late in 2015.

Having made a series of appearances at Old Warden, Duxford and Stow Maries, my first opportunity to see the Ryan perform a solo display up close was at Little Gransden.

Peter Holloway was at the controls on this occasion and delivered and incredibly graceful display close to the crowd making the most of the curved display line with plenty of topside passes and that wonderful engine note.

The Ryan has certainly been a highlight of 2016, while there are other airworthy examples in the UK, this is the first time I’m aware of one performing and it made a great contrast to the Ryan PT22s that were regulars on the circuit a few years ago.