THOUSANDS of people flocked to Bournemouth on Friday as the sun returned to get the air festival back on track.

The Red Arrows let off their frustrations of not being able to fully display last year by wowing the crowds with a full-on 24-minute display.

The Hawk jets glistened in the sun and were greeted with rapturous applause as they completed their performance.

Earlier, the sun emerged from behind the clouds at The Tigers parachute team got the afternoon underway, leaping from on high to land on the beach, complete with flags and flares, to the applause of thousands on the sand.

An afternoon of flying included the Royal Navy Merlin helicopter, the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, aerobatics from Gerald Cooper, who pulled off seemingly-impossible twists and turns and the Breitling Wingwalkers.

The Blades kept the thrills coming with formation aerobatics before the afternoon's climax - two fast jets.

The Miss Demeanour Hunter Jet boomed into view in a blaze of noise and colour and then gave the crowd a surprise treat by performing flypasts with the Bournemouth-based Sea Vixen, which topped off the afternoon with a solo display accompanied by the deafening noise of its engines.