I can't believe it's that time of year already, Airbourne is only days away and I'm really excited!
You guys all know that Airbourne is my favourite 4 days of the year and I begin petitioning the weather gods months prior (let's be honest it can't be any wetter than RIAT was this year 😅) and watching to see what's added to the line up.
Last year we were blessed by some absolutely gorgeous weather (you can read my blog about it here) and I hadn't seen the beaches as busy in years, possibly even busier than the times the Vulcan visited. It all combined to help raise the money for the show to run again this year so thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who dropped pennies in the boxes or made online donations (you can do that here) or bought merchandise it all helped to bring it back this year.
So after all that gushing let's get down to the business in hand, previewing this year's show. Click on the titles for links to their websites to find out more about them.
Let's start with the headline display! We're lucky enough to have the Red Arrows closing the show each day. I'm super lucky to see them at airshows around the country each year but nothing beats them shooting over my head on the beach in my home town.
Looking gorgeous against the blue sky last year
This was their arrival and display last year.
Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight
The seafront will be treated to the rumble of the BBMF's Merlin engines all 4 days of the show with the Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster all in attendance. I'll never not have a tear in my eye watching them arrive and hearing the applause from the crowd.
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| The Lancaster at Headcorn Airshow this year (there's a blog of the airshow here) |
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| The Thursday of the show last year |
Rolls Royce Heritage Trust Spitfire & Mustang
The Rolls Royce Heritage Trust are once more sending their Spitfire & Mustang to perform in formation. We're lucky enough to have had them practice along the seafront a couple of times already this year (typically I never have the camera handy 😂). Here they are at the show last year.
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| Mustang |
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| Spitfire |
Here they are with the BBMF and other warbirds last year -
The Tigers are coming all 4 days of the show and are always impressive, especially their 3 man 'stack'. Plus anyone who's prepared to throw themselves out of a perfectly serviceable plane deserves a round of applause!
The Chinook display is a pretty rare sight at airshows this year so Airbourne have done well to secure it for the show on Friday. It's always a crowd pleaser with the way such a large craft is thrown around the sky as if it was a glider.
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| Flying with The Blades last year |
Rich Goodwin's Jett Pitts is always fantastic, I never tire of watching his displays from literally sliding onto the display line to throwing his aircraft over and over into the air. You'll definitely need a sit down after his display and probably a strong cup of tea or coffee.
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| A patriotic paint job for last year's show |
The Strikemaster is the military version of the Jet Provost trainer (also seen at Airbourne over the years), don't be fooled by it being a relatively quiet jet it packs a real punch with it's rapid climb rate.
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| At Headcorn airshow this year, one of the two will be appearing at the weekend. |
The Norwegian Historical Squadron have always been great supporters of Airbourne with visits from their MIG15 last year and T33 Shooting Star back in 2019. This year they're sending this beautiful Vampire.
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| Taken against grey skies at Duxford last summer, hopefully it'll be greeted by blue skies to show it off nicely. |
Here it is at the 2014 show -
Team Raven last appeared at the show in 2017 against blue skies. They're always really impressive and well worth a watch.
Last but of course not least is the mighty Typhoon. The Typhoon will be disrupting everyone's peace and quiet on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I've seen the display at RIAT last month and it's fast, furious and most importantly noisy! I'm hoping that the 'Blackjack' union jack painted jet will be available for each of the days because it just adds a little something 'extra' to the display. And yes I am considering adding a tattoo of Blackjack to my Red Arrows tattoo .....
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| Kicking up vapour on Saturday |
This year promises to be extra special as, after the success of last year's Typhoon/Spitfire formation with the BBMF's Spitfire, the Typhoon will be flying with the BBMF's Lancaster to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Dambusters Mission which promises to be a beautiful, emotional and noisy sight.
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| With the BBMF Spitfire last year |
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