Doncaster-Sheffield - 04/07/14

Should you have been stranded on a desert island during the first week of July, or perhaps be visiting Earth from a galaxy far, far away, you might not have realised that Yorkshire was hosting the first stage of cycling's annual corporate extravaganza, the 'Tour de France'.

Now, I've normally no interest whatsoever in a lot of people wearing incredibly gaudy and tight-fitting Lycra, pedalling up-and-down hills for a fortnight; however, the prospect of some different aircraft operating out of my local airport for a couple of days did grab my attention.

Acting as  'relay' aircraft for the broadcasters were Aerosotravia's Britten-Norman BN2A Islander F-GDHD (note the unusual equipment fit on the fuselage) and Heli Holland's appropriately-registered Cessna 402 PH-RLY.

Not involved in the cycling (as far as I can tell), but a welcome visitor nonetheless, was Royal Air Force Lockheed C130J Hercules C5 ZH885, which spent some time during the afternoon carrying out training approaches to runway 20.