Entertainment for all ages at three-day Bournemouth Air Festival

DAREDEVIL air acrobatics, live music and firework displays are just some of the attractions at Bournemouth Air Festival next week.

Organisers BCP Council say the three-day aeronautical extravaganza, starting on Thursday 29th August, will feature entertainment for visitors of all ages along one-and-a-half miles of coastline.

This year’s event will mark the first English appearance of two Swedish jet fighters, the Saab Draken and the Saab Viggen, flying together.

Other highlights include elite parachute team the Red Devils, the B17 Sally B Flying Fortress, and the RAF’s Typhoon Display Team, recently repainted to the commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

After debuting last year the Starlings Aerobatic Display are also set to return on Friday and Saturday. Other confirmed additions to the festival programme include the RAF Tutor Display Team, the AeroSuperBatics WingWalker, and the Firebirds.

There will also be fairground rides, trade stands, fireworks and vintage vehicles, alongside army and navy demonstrations and night-time aerial displays.

Organisers also hope to inspire budding engineers with an enhanced STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) village on the beach. The area has been designed to inspire the next generation of engineers and will feature a team of pupils from Bournemouth School for Girls.

This year’s event will also include military band performances, the return of the popular Royal Navy dive tank and a beach cinema showing classic films such as Grease, Mamma Mia! and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Last year the air festival attracted more than 600,000 visitors. New for 2024 is a premier parking scheme, which allows visitors arriving by car to book a spot close to all the action. For more information visit bournemouthair.co.uk