The 2015 Bournemouth Air Festival couldn't have got off to a worse start as the entire flying programme for the first day was cancelled due to bad weather. After that, anxious eyes were being kept on the forecasts for the weekend in the hope that the whole event wasn't going to be a wash-out, but the elements eventually fell in our favour and we were treated to some excellent flying conditions by day four.
It was the Sunday that interested me the most as it was the last time I would ever see the Avro Vulcan display anywhere. Sadly, this is the last season that she will ever fly, after which the delta wing Cold War bomber will be grounded permanantly.
As always, the RAF Aerobatic Team, aka, The Red Arrows, put in three days of displaying, and is a guaranteed crowd pleaser. However, on this occasion they were in danger of being upstaged by the Vulcan.
Over the 8 years of the festival in its current format a number of other aircraft and displays, both vintage and modern, have also become firm favourites with the public, such as Sally B, Flying Fortress (above); the Eurofighter Typhoon (below), as well as the The Tigers Parachute Display Team of the Princesse's of Wales Regiment.
300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR Nikkor, hand held and on a monopod
© 2015
