Airbourne, Eastbourne International Airshow 2026
The Eastbourne International Airshow, often known as Airbourne, returned in mid-August over a weekend of very warm weather. Eastbourne is one of the largest ‘free’ seafront airshows in the UK and enjoys good support from the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and British Army. However, this year the event had to endure the last-minute cancellation of the Red Arrows which had been unable to return from their US tour in time due to weather and operational challenges. Despite that misfortune, this was perhaps one of the best line-ups Eastbourne has fielded for many years.
Paul Johnson/Flightline UK reports. All photography by the author. Video by AeroView.TV.
Eastbourne has faced many challenges over than more than 30 years of Airbourne. The short notice cancellation of the Red Arrows may seem trivial to enthusiasts, but it did rob the event of the big headline act that features front and centre of the event’s publicity. Many will travel to a show just to see the team so potentially there is an impact on the success of the event. Also, in these times of social media, it always seems to be the show that takes the initial blame for the cancellation and receive a lot of unwarranted criticism (and abuse) for something that is completely beyond their control.
It is therefore much to the credit of Eastbourne & Lewes Borough Council and flying display management company TSA Consulting Ltd that they managed at short notice to add two very exciting, and relatively rare substitute acts to boast the flying line-up. The result was perhaps one of the most exciting Eastbourne line-ups for many years with the usual military displays augmented with a truly international line-up of historic and aerobatic displays.
Further complications arose on the first day of the event when a train derailed just north of Lewes. This closed the main London-Eastbourne rail connection for the rest of the weekend. Then another rail connection between Eastbourne and Brighton was closed the following day due to a landslip. If people had to use rail connections to reach Eastbourne from the north, then they ended up all having to head to Hastings and then joining the south-coast line to Eastbourne. Local buses also helped accepting Rail tickets to Eastbourne. Despite this, the favourable weather clearly helped to persuade people to visit the airshow as on all four days the beaches and promenades did look busy. Many people would have used the various car parks for the event whose charges help fund the event. However, the prolonged dry weather the UK has experiences did have a sting in the tail for Eastbourne as the traditional fireworks finale on the Sunday was cancelled as a precaution due to the tinder dry vegetation and timber structures in the vicinity of the seafront.
Airbourne runs over four days and is very much a festival on the seafront. Though this is a ‘free’ event, it does need to raise its own funding each year which on top of the car parking it does through the sales of grandstand seating, hospitality, merchandise and programme sales plus voluntary donations. The main showground area is hosted on a green space known as the Western Lawns where there is a military village with plenty of contributions from all three arms of the UK military. There is also plenty of traders on the Western Lawns and spread along much of the promenade. In the evening, the limelight switches to some Eastbourne’s other attractions such as the town’s two theatres and live music from the bandstand.
Spearheading the Royal Air Force contributions to the flying display over all four days were the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight with the Douglas Dakota III, Supermarine Spitfire Vb AB910 and Spitfire XVIe TE31. Though the flight appeared throughout Airbourne, Spitfire TE311 was absent on Friday and Saturday while the flight’s engineers resolved some issues. Further RAF support came in the form of a fine aerobatic display by Flt Lt Rich Tomala in the Grob Tutor T1 and from Friday onwards, the unmissable Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 piloted by Flt Lt Tom Nation. While the Typhoon is always impressive, Tom’s Saturday display really stood out with the hot, humid conditions producing spectacular flash vapour all over the airframe almost constantly during the display.
The military contributions did not end with the Royal Air Force. Military parachuting returned to Eastbourne for the first time in two years with the Red Devils Army Parachute Display Team. Over the Saturday and Sunday, they dropped from a Summit Air Shorts Skyvan into the water not only flying the Union Flag but also demonstrating some canopy formation work.
The Royal Navy also made a welcome return to the Eastbourne flying display with the solo Leonardo Wildcat HMA2 from the Black Cats Helicopter Display Team flying on all four days. Unfortunately plans for fly in formation with the NavyWings Heritage Flight’s Westland Wasp HAS1 fell through due to delays getting away from Shoreham on Thursday and the Wasp falling foul of technical issues on the Friday. However, on all four days the Black Cats performed their usual punchy display in the maritime helicopter, even finding time to give the Typhoon Display Team’s mascot, Dave the Dragon, an experience of their display on Saturday.
Joining the military displays were a colourful and eclectic range of civilian displays. The Stampe Formation Team are a local act to Eastbourne with their aircraft based out of Redhill and Headcorn, yet they only made their Airbourne debut last year. They returned for 2026 flying on the Thursday and the Friday. Their display of formations, tail chasing and solo aerobatics with their four multi-coloured Stampe SV4s suits the holiday vibe at Eastbourne so well. Thursday and Friday also saw the return of the Firebirds Aerobatic Team in their Vans RV4s. Nigel Reid and John Dodd flew a fast-paced display combining close formation flying and synchronised aerobatics along the full length of Eastbourne’s promenade.
Taking over the formation flying slot at the weekend were the Starling Aerobatic Team of Tom Cassells and Michael Pickin. They fly the very modern Extra NG aerobatic aircraft. Developed from the Extra 330 range, the NG offers its occupants some more comforts over the dedicated competition aircraft while retaining much of excellent aerobatic qualities of other Extra aircraft. Tom and Michael’s routine starts in very close coupled formation with a series of loops, rolls and wingovers before the aircraft split to perform individual aerobatic displays full of gyroscopic tumbles and flick rolls.
On all four days, Rich Goodwin displayed his Jet Pitts over Eastbourne. The noise of his two jet engines coupled with the lycoming piston engine is an instant attention grabber as he powered away from the water into a display full of manoeuvres only made possible by power and agility of his modified aircraft.
Another display always popular at Eastbourne is the Aerosuperbatic Wingwalkers. They took part on all four days with a solo display by Dave Barrell and Emma Broadbent on the Thursday and Friday, and a duo display over the weekend with Brian Cornes and Kirsten Pobjoy flying in the second aircraft.
Airbourne has always featured some very exciting historic aircraft and for 2026 had almost an entirely new line-up of warbirds and classic military aircraft. The Spitfire Company participated for the first time at Eastbourne with two different Spitfires. On Thursday, Mark Bennett flew his unique early Supermarine Spitfire IX LZ842 to open the event while for the remaining three days, Spitfire IX TA805 ‘Spirit of Kent’ represented the Biggin Hill based organisation. On the last day, it was Andrew Monk flying TA805, but on Friday and Saturday Anna Walker was at the controls. This meant that on those two days both the solo warbird displays were flown by female pilots as Isabel Rutland was making her own Eastbourne debut flying her stunning North American P-51D Mustang ‘Marinell.’ While it may well have been a coincidence, it was a reminder that women did fly both types during the war as part of the Air Transport Auxillary (ATA) in the UK and the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) organisation in the United States.
A major highlight of Airbourne over the first three days was WSK(PZL)-Mielec Lim-5 Fresco-C from FUBAR Aviation based in Poland. The Lim-5 is a Polish licence-built Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F and this aircraft was returned to flight earlier this year following extensive restoration by FUBAR. It has been on tour in the UK for much of the summer and Eastbourne marked only its second seafront appearance after Blackpool where the team could perform their full aerobatic show. It was based out of Lydd for its displays, though on the Thursday and Saturday its display flights also included transits from and returning to Duxford where it has been based for much of the summer. That did mean that Friday’s display did feel a little longer than the other days with more opportunity to catch the rather lively flame from the Lim-5’s reheat!
However, it was the two late additions to the flying programme announced after the Red Arrows withdrew from the event that really caught the eye. Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress ‘Sally-B’ displayed from Friday through to Sunday. Though this was not the first time she had appeared at Eastbourne, it has been a good few years since her previous appearance over the Sussex coastline. Her appearance was particularly appreciated by the crowd on all three days, and it is always poignant seeing a big four engined bomber display so majestically close to Beachy Head which was often a significant landmark for bomber crews returning from missions over occupied Europe and is now home to a memorial to Bomber Command.
The star of the weekend though was the Conair S-2FT Turbo Firecat from Amicale Alençonnaise des Avions Anciens (A3A). Based on the Grumman S-2 Tracker, several aircraft were converted to firefighting aircraft in Canada by Conair. This aircraft was operated by the French Securite Civile flying alongside the big Canadair amphibians in southern France. They have only recently been retired from service and A3A’s ‘Tracker 15’ is one of two examples kept in airworthy condition in France. Given the drought conditions in the south-east which have led to wildfires, the appearance of a firefighting aircraft seemed quite apt. Pilots Hervé Verdet and Nikash Coffin operated from London Biggin Hill Airport for Airbourne and thanks to the airport’s fire crews, were able to demonstrate two water drops each day dropping some 3,200 litres! Once the water was released, Hervé and Nikash were able to highlight the Firecat’s agility with tight turns and graceful wingovers complemented by a new smoke systems fitted to each engine.
It may have not been the show that the Eastbourne organisers envisaged when they were planning the four-day festival, but I think of the most recent editions of Airbourne, 2026 will go down as one of the best. Despite the transport challenges, it seems the chance to enjoy some entertainment while sat in some cooler, coastal air was worth the extra effort for many. They were rewarded with a superb flying display with plenty of new and unusual items despite the loss of the Red Arrows. Hopefully they will be back in 2027 for another superb edition of Airbourne.
