Bournemouth Air Festival
For many in the UK air display community, a highlight of the display season is the Bournemouth Air Festival which in 2024 was in its 16th year. It is a standout event for the UK military engagement teams who have supported it since the very beginning and a bucket list display venue for many of the civilian display teams. Sadly however, the future of the Air Festival is very uncertain as the pressures on council budgets increase. 2024 saw the Air Festival shortened by a day and it was also the last year that BCP Council have said they will put money into the event. Despite that uncertainty the Air Festival still more than delivered with some superb action in the skies over the three days and a very full programme of ground entertainment.
Paul Johnson/Flightline UK reports. All photography by the author. Videos by Aeroview.tv
For the last few seasons, the Bournemouth Air Festival has been a highlight of the summer season for myself and many others. Even when it clashed with other major events I’ve always made the effort to try and attend for at least a couple of days, if not the full four day weekend. Why? Well back in 2008 when it was first announced I was just as sceptical as many others – how did Bournemouth think they were going to stand out in what was then quite a crowded summer holiday season of seafront airshows? Was this four-day event just going to be a carbon-copy of Eastbourne’s Airbourne plonked down 70 miles west of the East Sussex resort. To my shame, other commitments meant I did not attend the first Air Festival and I soon regretted it after getting a barrage of ‘you need to go to Bournemouth’ messages during the weekend.
The next year I did head down for the opening day just to see what was going on. Much like Eastbourne, the Thursday display was the shortest display of the weekend but that did allow for more time to explore the Festival site. The first thing that struck me was the display venue – it may look south but is one of the very best in the UK. The curved beach is bookended by the Isle of Wight to the east and the Purbeck hills to west creates an incredible amphitheatre for flying displays. But perhaps the biggest revelation was the ‘buzz’ around the display site – everyone just seemed to buy into the event which I’m not sure any other seafront venue I’ve yet experienced has ever matched. The combination of flying, military displays, ground entertainment and the town all just clicked.
But there has been another reason why Bournemouth has really stood out in my mind and those around the display circuit – Innovation. There has been constantly evolution in the ground entertainment and the way the Air Festival was presented – some more successful than others. Bournemouth went for a world record in 2009 with ‘Roar on the shore’ trying to set off the most fireworks in one display within five minutes. That they did, but there was so much cross-ignition they all went off in a few seconds and a blinding flash! However, it was Night Air that was perhaps Bournemouth’s biggest success. It all started in 2010 as almost an experiment on a windswept Thursday night. The permissions for the aircraft to carry pyrotechnics were only signed off a matter of hours before the event and then the weather threatened to scupper the plans. However, from the moment Pete Wells arrived out of the inky black sky barrel rolling with streams of sparks from the wingtips of his Twister, Bournemouth never looked back expanding the Night Air concept into one of the most special ‘experiences’ on the UK display circuit.
Night Air is just part of Bournemouth’s legacy of flying display excellent. They also very quickly got noticed in Europe too and over the 16 years attracted some notable international military displays – the Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16 Demo Team, the Swiss Air Force Super Puma Demo, the United States Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon and the USAF Boeing B-52H Stratofortress. Then there were the Breitling Jet Team in 2018. They were a popular addition throughout the weekend but it was their Night Air appearance on the Saturday that will live long in the memory – if ever there a better-timed display in better weather I’m yet to find it as the visuals were just perfection – take a bow Flying Display Director Ian Sheeley!
If individual displays were not enough, Bournemouth also soon started creating some iconic moments with formations featuring classic jets, marrying the Fireflies/Firebirds with the Rolls Royce Spitfire and perhaps my favourite – the Ultimate Fighters teamed together with the Blades Aerobatic Team.
Key to all these big moments have been the people behind Air Festival, the events team at BCP Council and formally Bournemouth Tourism. Led for nearly every Festival by Jon Weaver, it is their professional and enthusiastic approach that really has made the Air Festival such a wonderful event to attend and support. They have also made it incredibly successful and post-event research has found the Festival generates at least £30million per year for the local tourism and hospitality industry. They have also dealt with more than their fair share of challenges from World War Two bombs being found on the beach during the event, flooding of the Lower Gardens and parts of the town on the opening day, concert stages being destroyed by high tides and winds and the ditching of one of the Wingwalker’s Boeing Stearmans in Poole Harbour. But probably their most public and challenging situation was the loss of Flt Lt Jon Egging while the Red Arrows were recovering to Bournemouth Airport following their display at the seafront. It was international news and there was also a huge outpouring of emotion from the general public. The Air Festival was immediately under intense scrutiny but they handled the situation very well and sensitively and were quite rightly recognised by the British Air Display Association for their response.
To their absolute credit, the BCP Council events team approached the 2024 Air Festival in the same spirit as all the fifteen events beforehand despite the cloud of uncertainty which hung over the event. There was no way it was just going to fizzle out. The East Overcliff and Beach were once again buzzing with activity and the seafront hotels seemed to enjoy a bumper three days. There were the usual military villages, beating the retreat, outdoor cinema, Royal Marines unarmed combat demonstrations and the very impressive STEM marquee which this year was given a more prominent position at the centre of the beach. Add in some very good pop-up restaurants and street food outlets and that Air Festival buzz was very much back!
The flying displays were once again a healthy mix of heritage, family favourites and the modern. The Royal Air Force have always been great supporters of the Air Festival but were without their headline act, the Red Arrows, who were on tour in Canada. However, the RAF still grabbed the headlines with day and dusk performances by Flt Lt David ‘Turbo’ Turnball in the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4. Particularly at Dusk, Turbo’s display routine really comes alive at a venue like Bournemouth with the reheat lighting up the sky. He was supported by the excellent aerobatic routine from Flt Lt Bob Dewes in the Grob Tutor T1 and the magnificent Avro Lancaster B1 from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
Stealing some of the RAF’s thunder was the Royal Navy with the rather lovely ‘Taranto Formation.’ The Navy once dominated the Air Festival opening the weekend shows with a major role demonstration featuring aircraft, ships in Poole Bay and the Royal Marines Commandos. They have also supported the ground entertainment with the Unarmed Combat displays and the famous ‘Dive Tank.’ Taranto Formation however brought together the pair of Leonardo Wildcat HMA2s of the Black Cats Helicopter Display Team with the NavyWings Heritage Flight’s Fairey Swordfish and Westland Wasp HAS1. The formation itself was tremendous, but so were the separate displays by the different elements – BZ to all involved.
Despite the disbandment of Air Festival regulars, the Tigers Parachute Team, the British Army were still able to be part of the festivities with the Parachute Regiment’s Red Devils Army Parachute Display Team dropping in on all three days. On the Friday they even managed to continue Bournemouth tradition of including ‘firsts’ in the display. During their daytime display they flew their giant 5,000 square foot union flag while in the evening the presented their chain of pyrotechnics drop for the first time in public.
There was of course a fine selection of thrilling aerobatic displays throughout the three days. The Firebirds Aerobatic Team of Nigel Reid and John Dodd flew during both day and night shows demonstrating some graceful formation aerobatics with their Vans RV4s. Much more punchy aerobatics came from Rich Goodwin in his amazing Jet Pitts and the Starlings Aerobatic Team of Tom Cassells and Michael Pickin with their Extra NGs. Adding lots of colour and explosive bangs to the Night Air displays was OTTO the Helicopter, a Schweizer S300C flown by Alex Garman and Brendan O’Brien.
But once again it was the heritage aviation that really stood out at the 2024 Air Festival. With both their Fury and Tempest unavailable, Fighter Aviation Engineering sent a wonderful pair of early Second World War Fighters – the Supermarine Spitfire Vc and the Hawker Hurricane I. Gabriel Barton and Mark Levy flew a very smooth and graceful routine of formation and solo aerobatics set to the music from the Battle of Britain movie. More Spitfires came courtesy of the Rolls Royce Heritage Fighter. Their P-51D Mustang is currently undergoing maintenance so that was substituted with the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar’s Supermarine Spitfire IX. It joined Rolls Royce’s own Spitfire PRXIX for a display that contrasted both the performance and sounds of two very different generation of the iconic fighter aircraft. Saturday’s daytime flying was brought to a close by another very popular warbird – Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress Sally-B. The B-17 has appeared on many occasions at Bournemouth Air Festival and has always been very popular with the audience here. If this was the last Air Festival, it was a very appropriate way to end the main air display.
Further historic rotary action came from the Gazelle Squadron and their four Westland Gazelle HT2/3s. This was the team’s debut at Bournemouth and they gave a superb display covering the long display line along the sandy beaches between Boscombe and Bournemouth piers.
Thursday and Friday’s crowds were treated to some international classic jet flying thanks to the efforts of the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight. This was their second Air Festival appearance after their debut in 2019 with the SAAB J35J Draken. For their second appearance the J35J returned in company with the Sk37E Viggen. It perhaps wasn’t quite the same spectacle as the dramatic solo Draken display in 2019 with some very gentle formation passes and solo displays. Unfortunately, due to other commitments for the pilots, they were unable to stay for the whole three days. However, this was still a very rare and welcome mainland UK appearance by the flight and its extraordinary looking aircraft.
So what of the future for the Bournemouth Air Festival? BCP Council say they are in talks with commercial organisations with a view to taking over the Air Festival. Councillor Millie Earl, Leader of BCP Council, said; “A potential future operator could decide to pause the production of an air festival in 2025 to allow time to plan and refresh the event for 2026. We will update residents, businesses and visitors as soon as we can.” For any future operators, there will be huge challenges without the corporate knowledge of BCP Council’s events team and their supporting organisations. Also questionable is quite how a commercial operator make such an event work financially while retaining the support of local businesses and population – something that has been vital to the success of 16 Air Festivals.
In writing this review, I cannot help but think back to Saturday’s final Night Air display. It all seemed rather melancholy despite the upbeat music. It took place under rather flat, gloomy grey skies after the rather brighter two evenings beforehand. As Brendan O’Brien’s display came to an end, he addressed the audience live from the cockpit thanking them for their support and wishing them a very good evening. Brendan was a commentator at the first Air Festival in 2008 alongside the current voice of the event, George Bacon. The whole evening then just felt like one big goodbye with the Air Festival slipping away into the murk as OTTO flew away into the distant – the LEDs still blazing against the dark skies. If the Air Festival does not return it will be missed hugely by the UK and European air display community, but I think it will be Bournemouth that will miss it far more.
