Now in its eighth year, the Bournemouth Air Festival has become a staple event of the UK’s airshow calendar, as well as being the largest in terms of people in attendance, over 750,000 people lining the beach and cliff-top along the South Coast on the Saturday of the show.
Due to the huge crowds, the Bournemouth Air Festival team always put together one of the most varied flying programs of the year, including large contributions from the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, who for 2015 were title sponsors and the Royal Marines and Commandos. A unique feature of the show is having large numbers of boats in the bay, from private boats with viewing public aboard, to Naval ships which also feature in the displays.
As has become traditional, the display opened with the Royal Marines and Royal Navy Commando assault demonstration, which showcases many elements which are used by the force to protect Britain’s interests around the world. For 2015, the demonstration included; a pair of new Royal Navy Agusta-Westland Wildcat’s, two soon-to-be-retired Royal Navy Sea King’s, frigate HMS Iron Duke, mine-counter-measure ship HMS Middleton and hospital and helicopter support ship, RFA Argus, as well as a number of smaller landing craft and ribbed boats used by the marines to storm a mock pirate strong-hold on Bournemouth Beach.
While the Attack Helicopter Display Team Apache’s were not present at Bournemouth, a rather different contribution came from the British Army, in the form of the Tigers Parachute Display Team. The team demonstrated landing on a target under canopy, as well as with Wing-Suits, increasing the speeds of the freefall, showing plenty of skill in conditions which were tricky at times.
The Royal Air Force’s contribution to the show, also highlighted the versatility and training ladder of the force. Starting with the Grob Tutor display, an act which is very underrated on the UK airshow scene, especially coming in to its own at smaller and seaside venues. Moving further in to training, one of the next types for fast-jet student pilots is the Hawk T.2, which features in the new for 2015 two-ship role demonstration, showing a mixture of maneuvers and skills which are taught to trainee pilots at this stage of their development. Sticking with the Hawk, one of the crowd favorites’ at Bournemouth are the RAF Aerobatic Team, the Red Arrows, who despite only flying with eight aircraft on the Saturday due to a technical issue for Red 4, put on a great show for the crowds above Bournemouth Bay.
Though the Chinook display has been back on the airshow scene for a number of years, 2015 has seen the debut of the HC.4 variant of the aircraft. The Chinook’s size and agility, as well as its renowned ‘Blade-slap’ sound from the large inter-meshing rotors, makes it one of the most impressive displays around and is certainly a spectacle from the East-Over Cliff.
One of the star RAF items from the 2015 season has been the RAF Typhoon display, which took to the skies towards the end of the day. Flight Lieutenant Jonny Dowen, flying the aircraft from 29(R) Squadron, has shown a marked improvement on the Typhoon Display for 2015, especially in comparison with other fast jet displays in Europe, pushing the capabilities of the swing role fighter further than in previous years.
Though not strictly warbirds, due to being on the UK military register, the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, had a Mk.2 Hawker Hurricane and a Supermarine Spitfire Mk.9 present at the Air Festival, in a year where they have been very unlucky with the serviceability of their aircraft, most notably the Avro Lancaster, which suffered an engine fire earlier in 2015. Another ‘warbird’ present at Bournemouth was Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress ‘Sally B’, which made a more than welcome appearance, representing the United States Army Air Force and their contribution to the Second World War.
A trio of civilian aerobatic teams were present at the show, each offering a different kind of display. The French Patrouille Reva team made their second appearance at the show, with their pair of unusual Rutan Acro-Ez’s and a single Rutan Long-Ez, made up of former Armee de L’Air pilots. Also flying with former military pilots were the Blades Display Team, flying their quartet of Extra 300/330’s, the team also celebrating their tenth display year in 2015. Having won the Red Bull Air Race World Championship round at Ascot the previous weekend, Paul Bonhomme, together with race director Steve Jones were in rather different roles at Bournemouth, flying a pair of XtremeAir XA-41’s as the Red Bull Matadors, putting on a tight and slick display.
The final trio of displays came under the classic jet banner, all three though very different aircraft in roles, shapes and sizes. Whilst appearing at a number of UK shows in 2015, an Air Festival debut came for the Norwegian Historical Squadrons MiG-15UTI. The small, Russian fighter represents the frequent opposition the Norwegian Air Force came up against during the Cold War, and is a very welcome addition to the European airshow circuit.
Having moved away from Bournemouth in late 2014 to return to her spiritual home at RNAS Yeovilton, the de Havilland Sea Vixen FAW.2 made a popular appearance at the show. Having been donated to the Fly Navy Heritage Flight last year, it is hoped that the aircraft can become more of a regular at shows in the UK, following previous difficulties with maintenance under private ownership.
Whilst not initially slated to fly on Saturday at Bournemouth Air Festival, due to popular demand Avro Vulcan XH558 made a final appearance at the show on both weekend days. While only due to be a single flypast, the aircraft, flown by Bournemouth native Phil O’Dell put on a short display, giving a quarter of a million people one of their last chances to see the aircraft in the air.
Whilst only a relatively young show, the Bournemouth Air Festival has established itself as one of the best seaside shows in the UK. Very few other events offer as much variety for free, in both the flying program or in other forms of entertainment, from military ground support, live music and fireworks displays. Moving forward, the only major issue with the show is the lack of additional organisation with transport suppliers. Many people, including myself travel by train from London, though no additional trains were organised in the evening to move people home after the show. The 2015 show was a successful four-days on the South Coast, here is to a 2016 addition which continues as it is meant.
James Hancock Aviation 