THOUSANDS of people enjoyed the sights and sounds of vintage aircraft in York this weekend.

The Yorkshire Air Museum's latest Thunder Day took place on Sunday, with seven aircraft, including biplanes from the First World War, the Douglas Dakota and De Havilland Devon twin props, and three big jets, the Blackburn Buccaneer, the BAE Nimrod and the Handley Page Victor ‘V bomber’, revving up for a crowd of about 2,500.

Ian Reed, director of the Elvington museum, said: "We have 50 aeroplanes and several of them are over 100 years old, from the First World War, which we've recently displayed in Paris and London.

"This time we managed to taxi two of them. It's the first time they've taxied in public, and probably the first time an aircraft like this have been in the York area for maybe 70 or 80 years. The appleause was quite something from the crowd.

"We had a lot of people, a lot of excitement, and more than 15 exhibitions, two restaurants running, so it was a great day out for the family."

The crowd was also treated to a flypast from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight the MK 9 MK356 Spitfire, in ‘desert’ colours, which made low passes over the museum.

The museum runs three Thunder Days each year, and Mr Reed said the 2,500 visitors on Sunday were treated to "what we call 'Elvington Weather'" - with sun and wind, but not too warm or cold, and without rain.

Mr Reed said the event had seen more people than expected flock to the museum for the day, and plans were already being put in place for the first Thunder Day of 2019.

He said: "Everything went well, everyone enjoyed themselves, and we're already looking forward to another one in the early part of next year.