THE success of the Air Festival is partly down to a small band of pioneers based at Bournemouth Airport.

And the story of the work at Jet Heritage has now been told for the first time in a new book.

It was the first company in the UK to specialise in restoring old military planes for use in civilian flight.

Founded by enthusiasts in 1981, it was based at Hangar 600 close to where the terminal stands today.

One of the first planes they worked on was a Hawker Hunter – a British fighter of the 1950s and 60s.

“The company was unique at the time – they were pioneers,” said Mike Phipp, 65, a West Moors resident and co-author of Hunter One: The Jet Heritage Story.

“The guys were reliving their 20s and 30s. Flying the old planes again might sound a bit hairy but they were taken apart and everything checked over.

“It cost a fair bit to operate the things – you were talking around £100,000 to buy a Hunter in the early 1990s.”

The other planes they worked on sound like a roll call of British post war jets – the Gloucester Meteor, De Haviland Vampire, De Haviland Venom and Folland Gnat.

The book’s co author Eric Hayward, 85, of Ferndown, was the chief engineer for restoring the aircraft.

The company went into receivership in 1999 and part of the collection became Bournemouth Aviation Museum, while other planes were sold to other operators.

One was a surviving North American F-86 Sabre – the dog fighting king of the Korean War – and the same plane appeared at this year’s air festival.

Hunter One: The Jet Heritage Story is available from Amberley Publishing.