LITTLE stirs the soul at the Bournemouth Air Festival more than the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Featuring the Lancaster bomber and Spitfire and Hurricane fighters as always, this year the flight will also involve the Dakota, which will follow the main display.

See our pictures here

The Spitfire needs little introduction, of course.

A hero of World War Two, over 12 years there were 22 versions - not including the Royal navy variants - and more than 20,000 examples were built.

The fighter was borne out of the Supermarine seaplane, designed by RJ Mitchell in Southampton to win the Schneider trophy.

But it was for the dogfights over the south of England during the Battle of Britain that earned the Spit its place in history.

There are five survivors being operated by the BBMF. One of them, P7350, is the oldest flying Spitfire in the world and it survived a crash-landing during the Battle of Britain.

The Hurricane, meanwhile, is probably unfairly overshadowed by the Spit.

It is one of the classic fighters of all time, having been designed and built for war, and it played a huge part in victory in World War Two.

In fact, more Hurricanes were used during the Battle of Britain than Spitfires and they matched its combat kills.

They were used on every day of the war operationally and were still on the front line in the Far East at the end of the conflict.

Lancaster bomber PA474 heads back to its home county for the air festival.

Built it in 1945, she was headed for the Far East but Japan surrendered before that happened.

She was used as a reconnaissance plane in Africa before being loaned to Flight Refuelling Ltd at Tarrant Rushton.

She is one of only two airworthy Lancasters in the world - the other being the Canadian example that is heading to Bournemouth for the first time this year.

The first Lancaster flew in 1941 the fleet operated the British night-time bombing raids over Germany.

Almost half of those delivered during the war - 3,345 out of 7,373 - were lost on operations, along with more than 21,000 crew.

The Douglas C-47 Dakota is one of the most successful aircraft designs of all time.

In military guise it was widely used during World War Two by the Allies and later by air forces worldwide, as well as in civilian use.

The C-47 is the military variant of the DC-3 airliner, which first took to the air in 1935.

The military version got more powerful engines, a stronger load-bearing floor and large loading doors.

More than 2,000 made their way to the UK and were known as Dakotas in RAF service.

It reinvigorated the RAF's transport capabilities, which until then had been obsolete bombers and general-purpose aircraft.

They served in every theatre of war, including in Burma, during the D-Day landings and the airborne assault on Arnhem in 1944.

They were used to carry troops and freight, air dropping supplies and paratroops, towing gliders and for casualty evacuation.