“August 1” aerobatics team of Chinese PLA Air Force

With the approval of the Central Military Commission (CMC)， the Air Force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) established an escort and demonstration team on January 25, 1962, which was officially named "the 'August 1' Aerobatics Team of the Air Force" in July 1987.

The PLA Air Force "August 1" Aerobatics Team is a special force of the PLA. Since its establishment, it is mainly responsible for flight demonstration for welcoming distinguished state guests and aerobatic flight for major domestic events. In the past 5 decades since its establishment, it has performed more than 390 aerobatic flights to welcome 633 delegations from 146 countries and regions and successfully accomplished tasks of aerobatic flights for major events such as 3 National Day parades and 4 Zhuhai International Air Shows.

The "August 1" Aerobatics Team has undergone 6 equipment conversion in the past 5 decades. In June 2009, the team got the latest domestically-developed J-10 fighters. Together with US "Thunder Birds" and "Blue Angles"， and Russian "Knights" and "Swifts"， the "August 1" Aerobatics Team is ranked among a handful of aerobatics teams which perform aerobatic flight with 3rd generation combat aircraft in the world. At present, the "August 1" Aerobatics Team is capable of performing single J-10 and dual J-10 aerobatic flights as well as four J-10, five J-10 and six J-10 stunt formation flights.