Southend Airshow 2004 - 30th-31st May 2004

After a somewhat faultering start for the 2004 airshow season in May, Southend marked the start of the airshow season proper. With many of the RAF and civilian displays making their first UK display this year, Paul Johnson/Flightline UK took the trip to the Essex Coast.

The omens weren't good for Southend. Throughout the days leading up to the event, the weather forecast was questionable at best. Seafront airshow weather is more critical than that of airfield events. If the weather is bad, nothing flies and no-one goes to the seaside where at least at airfields, you can view the aircraft on the ground. Sunday dawned and to the relief of the organisers the weather forecasters were proved wrong. Both days remained

dry, though we must thank whoever was praying for Southend on Sunday, as all the countries rain seemed to pass by over Kent to the south missing the display area by just a few miles.

The event itself takes place along the promenade at Southend over the Thames Estuary. The ground show is typical of any seaside based airshow with the military and government orgainsations putting on a creditable exhibtion area surrounded by stalls for all the family.

Much of the airshow itself is staged out of the local airport, which itself opens up to the public over the weekend allowing people to learn more it's role as well as view the aircraft at close quarters. Despite not being a normal "enthusiasts" show, the lack of any other major shows in May meant that many attended to end their own personal airshow "drought." The pre show participation list was also another reason to dust off the cameras. Not only was Plane Sailiing's Consolidated Catalina making it's UK debut, but also there was the first foreign military participation of the year in the form of a USAF MH-53M Pave Low IV from RAF Mildenhall. With so much luck with the weather, something had to give! The MH-53 became the first cancellation of the weekend with technical problems on Sunday, and a burst tyre on Monday! Another victim of bad luck was Jonathon Whalley's Hawker Hunter F58A Miss Demeanour  which after a typically polished routine on Sunday made a hard landing on it's jet pipe skid returning to Southend puncturing the jet pipe. The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight too didn't escape either. During the dying moments of their Sunday display the Spitfire PR19 was seen to be leaking fluid and the Lancaster had difficulties with one engine. All the flight made it safely back to Southend Airport and landed where the Hurricane felt left out and quickly gained it's own engine fault soon after touvh down! The Royal Navy's Black Cats pair of Westland Lynx also suffered technical difficulties and ended up displaying a solo Lynx.

All of the RAF's main display teams were on show bar the air defence Tornado. Being close to the sea it was particularly apt to see a Sea King HAR3 SAR demo in conjunction with the local lifeboat crews. Making a public debut and a welcome return to the display scene on the Monday was a Chinook HC2 from 18sqn based at RAF Odiham. The RAF main solo Harrier GR7 role demo will once again be flown by 20(R) Squadron from RAF Wittering. They have once again decorated the fin of the aircraft with some special markings for the season. Nos 1(F) and 4(AC) squadrons also will provide their own role demos for a number of shows as the operational requirement on the Harrier force dictates.

The show also included a number of classic jets apart from the Hunter. Opening the show was De Havilland Aviation's Sea Vixen D3 once again sponsored by Red Bull Energy drinks. No less colourful was Golden Apple's T-33A Silver Star which was well highlighted against the threatening skies over the estuary.

Civilian sports flying was also well represented at the show with the Aerostars and their gaggle of Yakovlev Yak-50/52s, the Xtreme Team's pair of Extras and the gravity defying Will Curtis in his Sukhoi Su-26M2 competition aerobatics aircraft.

Southend produce a good family airshow which any major airfield based event would be more than grateful for, and those events you have to pay for! The line up was well varied with some exciting participants for all the family and enthusiasts. The Catalina in particular drew enthusiasts as it's been sol long since we've seen the type display in the UK.

 copyright Flightline UK 2004