It’s been many years since I had the chance to just sit and watch the Southport Air Show in its entirety.
I’ve been guilty before of just watching whatever I could see from my backyard a mile away, or meandering down to the front but staying outside of the spectator’s area and watching half of the Red Arrows.
The return of the Air Show this year was an important event for the tourism arm of Sefton Council. It’s been difficult to promote tourism for Southport while the country has been locked away at home for two summers. Tickets for the 2021 Air Show were sold before being cancelled due to the pandemic. The first flagship event post lockdown, The British Musical Fireworks Championships, suffered from unavoidable technical issues on one night – slightly dampening the experience. It was important that the event was a return to form.
So given all of the above, I hopped on the OTS pushbike, and headed down to the beach.
On entry, it was immediately striking how well organised the event and spectators’ area were. No queues, although I was early, and seamless entry showing a QR ticket. The event programme was a reasonable £3 (I’d braced myself for £6-7), informative, and with a nice glossy finish.
Away from the main displays, there’s a decent area of stalls with plenty to do. The crafts fair seemed busy, and nearby there is no shortage of military stalls to check out – dummy weapons, army jobs, military vehicles (including a full-size Spitfire – a replica with genuine parts used in restoration where possible – I did ask) and a flight simulator. I didn’t even get round to the area on the beach, where a large inflatable was in view.
Advanced scrutiny of the main lineup showed genuine promise. It’s fantastic to have the Red Arrows back, of course it is, and they were brilliant, but there was so much on the bill that the whole day was a fantastic watch. The Typhoon is always massively exciting, seeing the Lancaster is always a privilege, and I’ve never had chance to see a MiG.
Settling down on the pier, I watched the model aircraft close the warmup before the Tigers Army Parachute Display Team were first up, serving Army personnel ditching out of a plane at 1,000ft in not unconsiderable wind.
It’s around this point I became aware of the excellent announcer accompanying the display and unfortunately, I did not catch his name, nor have my enquiries brought full confirmation. Joining with the Sandgrounder Radio team was a fantastic display narrator who added hugely to the quality of the displays. Rigging up a tannoy system that can actually be heard in an event of this nature is no easy feat either, kudos.
The real start to the flying though came from Richard Goodwin’s Muscle Biplane Pitts Special, and what an incredible start it was. Making a dramatic entrance from the Blackpool end of the beach, the display was a strong start, one of the best of the day. Rich is a serving airline pilot (Boeings), a former RAF pilot who modified his display plane himself and the flying was electric. You name it, he did it – barrel rolls, loops, the lots, but the true drama was watching the plane hang almost still and lifeless 1,500 ft in the air at the end of a move he calls “the tower of power”. As a piece of aerobatic flying, it was stellar and thoroughly enjoyable.
The MiG flying in, again from the right, made me genuinely call out ‘wow’ from my seat. Fast, small, agile, the crowd were treated to a fairly acrobatic display enhanced again by the announcement team highlighting the Cold War history of the aircraft, explaining that its Norweigan owner brings it to the UK for a few months every year to display. We appreciate it.
I’d now moved to the beach front for a closer view and better photos and was surprised how few people had also taken advantage of better proximity to the displays. While thousands perched on the sea wall, a short walk away were fully unrestricted views of every angle. Halfway through the day, I’d decided that the event was easily worth a tenner (kids free, by the way) and I don’t think I’ll ever watch from my backyard again.
I can’t, sadly, give a blow-by-blow account of every display but there was merit in all of them. We were treated to a range of aircraft from single-seater planes, the Gyro helicopter, the Mustang and the Spitfire.
There was plenty of buzz about the Republic of Korea Black Eagles Display Team (essentially the South Korean Red Arrows) making their debut, with some mystery and expectation behind it. The enthusiasts (plenty – with camera lenses worth more than your car) didn’t quite know what to expect.
Occasionally the display teams brought their own narrators, and the Black Eagles were no exception. Captain Kim was introduced to the crowd before the planes could be seen overhead and boy did he contribute to the show. The Korean Jets roared into view to the background music of niche back-catalogue Queen (please do let me know if you recognise the song…) narrated by an incredibly enthusiastic and entertaining Captain Kim. It actually added to the display brilliantly and the almost indescribable announcing will stay with me for life. Though sadly, some of the enthusiasts were a bit disappointed by the display itself.
The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight saw the famous Lancaster bomber (piloted today by local pilot Neil Farrell) flanked by a Spitfire and a Hurricane, while the crowd were invited to remember the contribution and sacrifices made by British and International pilots in defending the country during WW2, which segued beautiful into an appearance from the Typhoon fighter jet, accompanied as well by the Spitfire.
The day, of course, ended with an excellent display from the Red Arrows, entering the display area from behind the crowd, swooping overhead dramatically. You know what to expect with the Red Arrows, quality and precision and thrills, and their effort today was no different. Even if you’ve seen the Red Arrows before, even multiple times, seeing two aircraft drop off and fly at each other at 600mph, avoiding each other by inches is jaw-dropping stuff.
Inside, as it seemed to me, the event was a complete success. The displays were top quality, it was well organised and there was plenty to do. That said, there was a lot of comment (and OTS received several messages) regarding traffic arrangements surrounding the event and Town Centre disruption. Also paying £3.50 for a sausage barm that was a pair of 20p sausages chucked in between base bread without even any butter from the Pier outlet was a bit disappointing but not at the expense of the rest of the day. Essentially for £10, the Air Show is a must-watch, and it’s brilliant to see Southport’s flagship tourism events return to form.
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