Airbourne 2003, Eastbourne Seafront, East Sussex - 14th-17th August

August generally sees slightly fewer airshows than the other summer months, mainly because so many people are on holiday at the time, including the pilots! Therefore enthusiasts have a hard time generally in satisfying ther hunger for air displays, particularly in mid August. The biggest show during this period is the four days of displays held off Eastbourne Seafront as part of Airbourne 2003. With organisation help from the RIAT team, the show has steadily increased it's status as a major European airshow with a number of acts visiting from Foriegn nations. 2003 was perhaps the best yet with participant from the Belgian Armed Forces ( Fouga Magister and Dassault Alpha Jet), the French Space Knights team of Rutan Vari-Eze kit planes and the Royal Jordanian Falcons. The show also enjoys excellent support from our own Royal Air Force with most of the usual solo display teams taking part along with some unusal performances. Highlight of this years show was once again a demo by the Boeing Chinook HC2, this time presenting a combat search and rescue demostration with the local lifeboats. The centernary of flight was marked by a flypast of the 56sqn Tornado F3 with ARCo's Spitfire MkXIV flown by John Romain. Add to all that the cream of civilian performers from the UK and you have a recipe for a great air display for all the family. The traffic and ground organisation is excellent too. The traffic is handled well and the ground exhibts are of very high quality, not least the RAF's contribution which is all geared to recruitment. Well done to everyone involved in Airbourne 2003!

 copyright Flightline UK 2003