incorporating UKAirshows
and EnglishAirshows

Southend

This was the last of a series of shows until, after a five year break, the Air Festival returned in 2009.

At the time, in 2004, Southend claimed their Bank Holiday show was "Europe's largest free airshow". Free it may have been. The largest it was not. Nevertheless, the two day Bank Holiday show provided a fair variety, with one or two treats most years, although the rest could be a bit sameish.

The treats in 2004 were the Sea Vixen, resplendent in its controversial, but jolly, Red Bull livery, and the Catalina, making its UK debut after a trek from Canada.

Unfortunately, the low tide prevented a sea landing but the Catalina did spend a lot of time pleasuring the crowds. You can tell when an aircraft catches the imagination of the public. Usually, most younger folk at family shows such as this carry on inspecting their tombola tickets for the elusive odd number as our flying heritage roars past. Occasionally even the teenies look up, usually to follow the Falcons on their descent or the always-spectacular Red Arrows. The circling Catalina from the Plane Sailing Consortium presented such a distraction for Southend's visitors.

Other delights included the T-33A Shooting Star (or Silver Star as it is known in Canada) in it's silver and dayglow orange livery, and the Utterlys performing as a foursome instead of the more common pairing.

The Red Arrows closed the weekend with their infallible display of aerial balletics and synchronised flying. This was the first public display of their 40th season and introduced new formations to the admiring public. It had to be the last display of the weekend. Who could follow that?

Aircraft displaying at Southend this year suffered an unusually high rate of mishap. Most noticeable to the crowds was a puff of smoke from the BBMF Spitfire during its display on Sunday, followed by a hazy trail as it performed its final pass. This developed into a stream of smoke that caused the BBMF to abandon their display and hurry back to Southend airport. The Spitfire engine was found to have lost most of its oil and needed a complete rebuild: the Hurricane's radiator failed after the landing and the Lancaster also had a minor problem to one of its engines.

Thankfully, the Lanc was back in the air for Monday when it performed a lone display in the absence of its mates.

Other mishaps were a serious fault with a Navy Lynx, which caused the Black Cats to display as a solo Black Cat, a fault with the American MH-53, which had to cancel its Sunday appearance, and a landing incident after the Hunter's Sunday outing which needed a quick repair at Southend and further attention later on.