2008

IT had been two-and-a-half-years in the making, but the very first Bournemouth Air Festival took off in style in 2008.

Wartime memories flooded back when the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight opened the four-day festival in nostalgic style, the distinctive drone of the engines of a Lancaster bomber, Spitfire and Hurricane captivating thousands of spectators who had lined the cliff-top and promenade below.

The Red Arrows wowed the crowds with three visits during the weekend, displaying their trademark aerobatics including a victory roll over Bournemouth Pier.

An awe-inspiring demonstration of the laws of physics came courtesy of the Eurofighter Typhoon, the twin-engined fighter jet which tore across the Bournemouth skyline in what appeared to be serene silence, followed by an ear-splitting roar moments later.

The De Havilland Sea Vixen lifted its twin-boom tail above the East Cliff with consummate ease and a brilliant display from the army's Blue Eagles helicopter display team proved that inverted flight, vertical drops and “controlled chaos” are not the sole domain of the fixed-wing flyers.

Other highlights included the Black Cats, Yakovlevs, the Sea Hawk, Navy Lynx, Catalina and RAF Falcons.

The event was voted a spectacular success, with council chiefs promising the day after it finished to come back bigger and better in 2008.

More than three quarters of a million people visited Bournemouth over the four days, with 380,000 people packing out the beaches and Overcliff on Saturday alone.

Incredibly, after one of the wettest Augusts on record, the rain held off for the entire four days of the festival - until a return visit by the Eurofighter Typhoon in the event's last few minutes.

See all our pictures from 2008 in our archive gallery!

Now see the round-up and videos for 2009