Stewart Davies' fighter jet is punching holes in the bloated white clouds over the North Sea.

It is a glorious sunny day and much of the Tees Valley is visible from 8,000 feet up - but Mr Davies' friend "Captain Eagle", who has his fire-retardant gloves on the controls, is trying his hardest to ensure I don't get too good a look.

The captain is steering the decades-old RAF training plane at all sorts of angles so the horizon, where the winter sky meets the waves, is bouncing in and out of my line of sight.

He tilts the nose to the sky and hands over the controls saying, "your go, let's go beat up some clouds".

While we are playing with Mr Davies' private jet, the man himself, who's swapped his trademark pin-stripe for a green flight suit, is entertaining TV crews back at Durham Tees Valley Airport, where he has brought two of his planes.

It is the "reluctant" chairman's latest stunt to boost the gate at Darlington Football Club.

Since he took over, Mr Davies and his team have tried a number of promotions to attract more fans.

A year ago the average gate was 4,200 - and this hasn't changed - but the club is hoping 6,000 will go along to today's game against second-placed Wycombe Wanderers.

"If we can win games consistently at home, more people will come to see us. I don't think there are any quick fixes in football, you have to build the fan base slowly and steadily," said Davies.

"The only way we would ever fill the stadium is if we drew Manchester United, or similar, in the cup," he says, and quickly adds, "but that would be next year now", referring to Darlington's FA Cup exit at Barnsley last weekend.

"I haven't made much of an impact on the number of fans at all but I have improved the customer experience."

The use of corporate facilities at the newly-named TFM Arena has boomed but there is still work to be done for the man who says he had "no choice but to take over" when the George Reynolds era brought the club close to extinction.

Asked if he is disappointed with Darlington's mid-table position, he says: "At the moment we are under-achieving, so ask me again at the end of the season."

Flying is one of his greatest passions. He owns three planes, including the RAF Provost Jet Mk4 and Provost Jet Mk5 planes, he has brought to the airport.

Davies said: "I know this sounds corny, but I wanted to show that I believe a win over Wycombe on Saturday will help our season to really take off."