THOUSANDS of spectators packed out the seafront this evening for a display of aerial skill which, at times, appeared to defy gravity.
The Prince of Wales Royal Regiment parachute display team, The Tigers, got the proceedings underway with a dazzling formation which had the crowd roaring.
The airborne soldiers, making their Bournemouth debut last year, have been fine-tuning their latest display at the British National Parachute Championships and the World Parachute Championships.
Then - in what has turned out to be the only dusk display of the 2011 festival - Brendan O’Brien’s Flying Circus, the Glider FX and the SWIP Team Twister Duo raised the bar for the rest of the weekend.
In an acrobatic series of twists, death-defying manoeuvres and pyrotechnics these highly skilled airmen had the crowd collectively gasping.
The SWIP team, consisting of pilots Peter Wells and Guy Westgate, stole the show in their SA1100 Silence Twister aircraft.
Peter’s company designed and built the aircraft specifically to withstand the extreme g-force exerted by their display, which included plenty of flares and ended with their smoke trails etching a huge love heart above Bournemouth beach
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