History

The history of the Midnight Hawks has began already before WWII, when Finnish Air Force Academy used Gloster Gamecocks and other aircarft for display flying. The tradition of formation flying continued and it became a trademark of the Finnish Air Force Training Air Wings' annual Midnight Summer Airshow. Midnight Summer Day is normally the third Saturday of June. Originally the show was just Training Air Wing's Midnight summer party for the families, relatives and the people of the Kauhava village where the Academy was located. Over the years this event has grown to the Midnight Summer Airshow and Festival with many foreign participants and over 20 000 spectators. Because of the midnight sun the airshow starts around 7 p.m. and lasts until the midnight when the last display is flown.

Finnish Air ForceTraining Air Wing's flight instructors have always performed formation flying in the Midnight Summer Airshow. The formation flying has been a part of the normal training syllabus; no special team names or aircraft has been used. There have been several nicknames for the teams, often based of the name of the team leader, but no official team name has been used until 1997. The flight instructors have simply showed their skills and aircraft to the spectators. The aircraft flown have been Training Air Wing's standard trainer aircraft. During 60' to 80' Saab Safir and Fouga Magister were used, and from the beginning of the 80' Valmet Vinka and BAe Hawk Mk 51. So for the last forty or so years Finnish Air Force Training Air Wing has had two formation display teams; one flying with the basic prop trainer, and the second with the jet fighter trainer. Both teams have performed almost solely at the Midnight Sun Airshow once in a summer.

During 90's the Finnish Air Force Training Air Wing's jet display team started to perform also in the other airshows than just own Midnight Sun Airshow. The sight of four BAe Hawks in a tight formation came familiar to thousands of airshow spectators around the country. The jet display team started to operate more and more like an official display team even it was still without name. 1997 saw the change. In the biggest ever airshow in Finland, Oulu International Airshow, the Finnish Air Force Training Air Wing's jet display team had become the Midnight Hawks. Immediately the name spread around the country and world - Finnish Air Force Display Team Midnight Hawks had born.