Red Arrows, Swedish Draken and D-Day 80 display wows crowds at Eastbourne Airshow

Prior to departing the UK for their Canadian tour, the RAF Red Arrows performed on Thursday to mark their diamond anniversary season with a magical display – a highlight of which included painting a giant ‘60’ in the sky to the delight of fans.

The Saab Draken, from the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight, opened Friday’s show making its Eastbourne debut. The jet – which was the first Western European built aircraft to break the sound barrier - is a rare sight in the UK.

On Saturday and Sunday The Starlings made their Eastbourne debut and a stunning D-Day 80th anniversary display included the world’s only flying Blenheim bomber flying alongside two spitfires.

Other highlights included the RAF Typhoon, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s Lancaster, Tutor, Jet Provost, Rich Goodwin Pitts Special, AeroSuperBatics Wingwalkers, the Belgian OV-10 Bronco and the Rolls-Royce Heritage Flight’s Mustang and Spitfire.

Visitors were able to enjoy a range of RAF and Army displays showcasing military careers, particularly in STEM subjects, with a giant Chinook walk-through, virtual reality experiences, a climbing wall, cooking demonstrations and the RAF Jazz Band among some of the highlights. The OHM Energy zone also returned to exhibit the latest in renewable energy and local training opportunities in engineering.

Water refill stations, all-electric pilot transportation, hydro-treated vegetable oil-powered generators and recycling stations managed by Environment First all supported the event’s sustainability aims, with no rubbish going to landfill.

This year the show significantly expanded its hospitality and seating areas. The newest hospitality experience proved incredibly popular, with The Airfield’s informal, family-friendly viewing and dining enclosure selling out on Saturday.

On Sunday night the event was rounded off with a glittering firework finale featuring green and gold displays for the show’s 30th anniversary, alongside specially designed red, white and blue strobing cakes, candles and shells for the Red Arrows diamond anniversary and a red and gold waterfall sequence to mark D-Day 80, in a display sponsored by the Eastbourne Hospitality Association, Frontier Fireworks and Elite Medical.

Councillor Margaret Bannister, Eastbourne Borough Council’s Lead Member for Tourism, Leisure, Accessibility & Community Safety said, “We were thrilled to see so many visitors supporting our 30th anniversary year. The seafront was incredibly busy, particularly over the weekend, and despite a few weather issues on Thursday impacting a couple of the displays, the show ran very smoothly in this milestone year.

“Thank you to our sponsors, emergency services and volunteers who have so generously given up their time and resources to support the event. I’d also like to pay special thanks to those volunteers joining our brand new Wayfinders scheme, supporting the hundreds of thousands of visitors arriving each day with information, guidance and a warm welcome.

“However Airbourne still needs to generate enough donations if it is to continue, so please do donate if you can, and for those who have donated already, bought a programme, joined the Supporter’s Club or supported the event financially – we thank you!”