Airbourne: Eastbourne International Airshow 2024 - Review

I returned to the Eastbourne international Airshow last weekend, following a turbulent few months wherein I suffered acute Kidney failure which left me hospitalised for two weeks, and indeed, I am lucky to still be alive - and it is thanks to the medical team which were looking after me that I am, and that I got to experience and attend my yearly local airshow. Big, big shoutout to everyone at the Kidney ward in Brighton Hospital for all they did. It was humbling to be sat at the seafront in Eastbourne when at some points it felt like I may not be able to do so again. Saying all of that, I have done many shows at Eastbourne over the last 28 years, during the lofty highs and the soberingly low, and this review will highlight the good and the bad of this year’s show. 

Eastbourne Airshow has long been the aspirational line in the sand of the council run shows, through its early to mid-2000 shows where it was not uncommon (and was expected) that the best of the European display teams (and beyond!) would pay the seaside resort a visit. Who could forget the United States Air Force Rockwell B.1 Lancer blasting through in 2005? Or the fast jet visitors from Europe, with the Belgian Air Force and Royal Netherlands Air Force Lockheed Martin F-16AM displays who became local favourites in their own right. Plus, civilian highlights from the likes of the Dassault Flamant pair in 2013 from France, to the greatly missed Avro Vulcan XH558 in 2015 - Eastbourne has been a show of firsts, of highlights and showstopping, jaw-dropping displays, in its absolute pomp, "RIAT by the sea" was an airshow which easily held strong as the world’s biggest seafront airshow. 

As the years have passed though, the show has slowly faded into line with other seaside shows as the pool of acts being booked became more and more similar and budgets began to be squeezed more intensely, so It was hoped for the 30th Anniversary show at Eastbourne, they would, perhaps, encourage some past acts back, whilst attracting some of their overseas partners to attend this last bastion of the four day airshows. The expectation was very much there for them to do so, unfortunately the show was both the best and worst of modern seafront airshows, coupled with a healthy dollop of bad luck. 

Starting at the beginning of the weekend with the near washout Thursday, which was touted by the organisers as the big opener to the 30th Anniversary show with the last UK display of the Red Arrows before they departed on overseas duties in Canada. The Reds did indeed open the show, limited to their flat routine due to the cloud, gave a familiar routine which felt like a cosy hug, with all the formations which audiences have come to know the Reds for - although the 60 shape in the sky was a nice touch as the team celebrate their own anniversary of 60 years since their formation. 

Unfortunately, the rest of the opening day was anything but exceptional with the weather and technical issues decimating what was already a threadbare schedule, as acts cancelled, and issues arose. Following the Reds was the beautiful Jet Provost XW324, which gave a curtailed display due to fuel limitations - but at least it made it. Due to the winds, the Avro Lancaster was kept safely on the ground at RAF Coningsby, whilst the Aerosuperbatics Wingwalkers were unable to attend due to a few gremlins keeping any of their aircraft from attending the first two days. Further technical issues came from the Rolls Royce Heritage Flight with the Spitfire Mk.XIX on the ground at East Midlands with an issue, and the P-51D Mustang getting to Sussex skies before a technical issue struck, and it retreated to Biggin Hill to be on the safe side. 

However, the biggest disappointment of the day was the Saab Draken being unable to attend because of a weather front moving in at its weekend base at Bournemouth. This one stung for many because it was only announced to the crowds right before it was due to display in a rather jokingly way, made worse by the fact that had the airshow organisers not insisted on the pointless "tea break" for an hour in midafternoon, and everything run back-to-back from the 2pm start time, arguably, the issue would have been avoided because the jet would have missed this weather front moving in. I do hope the organisers abandon the break in the flying schedule if the show is to continue next year - It is a deeply unpopular and needless addition to flesh out the afternoon, and poorly ruins the flow of the airshow - either start the show later, or book more acts to fill the afternoon, please. 

Whilst critical of some of these aspects, the actual flying displays all weekend were of the highest quality with some of the best pilots in Europe putting the aircraft through their paces. Led, in my opinion, by Richard Goodwin in his (jet less due to one of the turbines failing) Pitts Special and Tony De Bruyn in his North American/Rockwell OV10B Bronco, who were both there all four days and displayed exceptional routines of unlimited aerobatics in the former, and a dynamic and descriptive role demonstration in the latter. Based out of Brighton City Airport in Shoreham, although Tony did have to divert to Lydd on Thursday afternoon due to the weather. 

The Aerosuperbatics Wingwalkers did make it on the weekend days, first with a solo routine on Saturday, followed by their signature pairs display on Sunday. The Wingwalkers have been such a mainstay of seafront airshows for many years, branded with the likes of Utterly Butterly and Breitling, now flown as their own wing walking company offering passenger flights. The crowds on Sunday definitely enjoyed seeing them, with plenty of people waving to the girls on the wings. It surely wouldn't be an Eastbourne Airshow without the Wingwalkers - nor the timeless phrase: "wave those hats, coats and umbrellas!". 

Further aerobatics came from Eastbourne newbies, The Starlings, on both the Saturday and Sunday. Flown skilfully by Tom Cassells and Michael Pickin in a routine of tight formation flying and solo unlimited aerobatics in their Extra 330NG aircraft. The use of the "dotty smoke" during portions of the routine added a bit of fun and conversation for those watching. Based out of Headcorn in Kent, they have become a popular display amongst a competitive formation aerobatics scene. 

The Rolls Royce Heritage Flight were once again on show from the Friday, following their technical hiccups, with the North American P-51D Mustang, flown by chief pilot of the flight, Allister "Steg" Williams, and the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIX in the hands of Jim Schofield for the weekend. The aircraft representing the aviation history of Rolls Royce with the link being the powerplants up front, the Merlin in the Mustang, with the Griffon in the Spitfire. Kudos to the flight for some great formation flying over the weekend. 

Further warbird participation came from the Aircraft Restoration Company with the Bristol Blenheim Mk.IF piloted by John Romain, flanked by a pair of their Spitfires - PR.IX 'PL983' and 'PV202', as part of a commemorative D-Day formation routine lasting about twenty minutes as a formation, solo and pairs routine with the Spitfires. Supermarine Spitfire IXT 'PV202' has links itself with Eastbourne Airshow, being that it was flown by John in a unique formation with the Royal Netherlands Air Force back in 2009, when it joined their F-16 Fighting Falcon for a few flybys along the seafront, as well as subsequent solo routines over the years since. For this year, the Spitfire honours were given to Jon Gowdy and Mike Collett. 

The star of the historic aircraft was undoubtedly the Avro Lancaster B.1 from the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight, though. The team based at RAF Coningsby have had a well-documented, but torrid time in 2024 and have only recently returned to airshows with the Lancaster Bomber as a solo act. For Eastbourne, the Lancaster put on a stunning display, entering from behind the crowds, the stately warbird flew over the town before giving a mighty Merlin performance across the seafront for the crowds. Following its display on Friday, the crowd broke into applause as the Lancaster departed towards Pevensey Bay, testament to the endearing legacy that the BBMF and the Lancaster still provides. 

The RAF also sent the diminutive Grob Tutor T.1 from RAF Wittering to display across three days of the show, basing out of Brighton City Airport, as many of the smaller aircraft did, the long-standing Tutor display may be eaten up in the big Eastbourne skies, but it was nonetheless a polished routine with some standard aerobatics which showcased the Tutor.  

The Royal Air Force further supported the show with the ever-popular Eurofighter Typhoon FGR.4 over three of the days this year. The slightly controversially named 'Moggy', unlike its predecessor, 'Blackjack' was on show all three of those days in the hands of Flt. Lt. David "Turbo" Turnball, who turned up the noise and the afterburners, and whilst not seemingly the crowd-puller that the Red Arrows are, did a great job as the headliner for the show weekend. 

Credit must be given to the Red Arrows for turning up at all for Eastbourne this year, given the tight schedule to fly to Canada for long-planned events over there to celebrate 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Whilst their schedule only allowed for a solitary Thursday visit to the show, and a flat display at that, the crowds were swollen along the seafront to see the Reds in action, such is, despite the naysayers, the draw that the national aerobatic team and public face of the RAF has, 60 years on. I do question the exhaustive, unimaginative and frankly, frustratingly repetitive use of the phrase "world famous" by Red 10 to describe many of the formations, to describe the team, and even the red, white and blue smoke, however. Perhaps the good folks at RAF Waddington could invest in a dictionary for next season. 

In 2023, heavy criticism was laid at the organiser's door for rinse and repeating acts from 2022, so it was good to see that for this year there was some improvements to that, either with "new" acts or acts not seen at the show for a number of years. One of these was the wonderfully immaculate BAC Jet Provost XW324, flown by Phil Bird and David John-Gibbs over the four days. This aircraft was a popular display goer for many years, before it was taken out of action for refurbishment, and thus, following that made a triumphant return this year, including back at Eastbourne where it has been a popular show item in the past. 

Richard Goodwin was undoubtedly one of the stars of the show this year, flying his extensively modified Pitts Special in a routine of sheer madness and creative flying which highlighted not only the aircraft, and all its high G performance, but also, just what a skilful pilot Rich is at the helm. Minus its specifically designed jet turbines because of some technical issues before the weekend in Eastbourne, those not being present didn’t stop the gasps from the crowds as the aircraft near hovered high in the Sussex skies. Fantastic to see. 

The show has always been of an international flavour, as stated earlier on in this review, and two nations had aerial representation this year, one new, one with deep-rooted ties to Eastbourne Airshow. The new was in the form of the Swedish Air Force Historical Flight with their double delta Draken. Missing the Thursday due to weather, a lot of anticipation was on the Friday routine by the Saab SK35J, and I think many were left asking "was that it?". It was fantastic to see such an unusual, rare, loud jet, even briefly, but the routine was tame, fairly distant, and higher than practically everything else flying that weekend. It would have been nice, if the routine wasn't able to be done to its fullest due to restrictions, that a couple more flypasts may have been possible? Alas it felt a little lacklustre when all was said and done. 

The second of the international participants this year came from Belgium, where so many great displays have come to support Eastbourne Airshow over so many years, and this year it was, what was in my opinion the highlight of the show, Tony De Bruyn, orange flight suit and all, strafing the seafront in his North American/Rockwell OV10B Bronco. The Bronco Demo Team are no strangers to UK displays, but the four displays at Eastbourne felt like they had an ounce more zing than Ive seen before. Such was the humidity on the Friday, the Bronco sliced a few vapour trails in the air - something not seen very often with such an aircraft and made for some great photos. Tony was kind enough to speak to us after the show; 

‘Displaying at Eastbourne’s Airbourne show is always great and rewarding, the beautiful town and amazing crowds along the beachy seafront really stand out and always make for memorable displays. We were lucky to display all four days in brilliant weather, save for during day one that got somewhat curtailed by an incoming weather system – we, did, happily managed to get our display in that day. During the Bronco demo on day two we could actually deliver a first: vapour trails coming off of the wingtips of the Bronco, due to the prevalent, relatively humid air. We were honoured to take part in the special 30th anniversary edition of the Eastbourne Airshow’.

It is a true joy to see an airshow such as the one held in Eastbourne last for 30 years, and I have had many joyful moments on the seafront, on the sunshine coast watching the displays as a child, as an adult, as a budding photographer, right up to writing articles jointly with the show, working with the Belgian Air Force, and even doing photo shoots with them both. Many, many happy memories were made, and my passion for aviation was sparked at Eastbourne, during their international airshow. I don’t think the 2024 edition of the show was a classic, the organisers got their unfair share of bad luck on the Thursday which set a bad tone, both with the weather and mechanical issues with aircraft - but I maintain that some organisational decisions were questionable, such as the hour long planned breaks, the social media prioritised updates (where no one at the site could get a Internet signal), and the reluctance to make any major changes to sustain the airshow, including taking a long, hard look at the current, four day format when it’s becoming glaringly obvious that the financial pressures are hitting the ability to bulk out a four day flying programme. 

If the show is to run in 2025, I sincerely hope the organisers stop ignoring the need for change and take the leap to adjust the event to fit the times. Perhaps a two-day event with a Friday evening night air element? A more on the pulse commentary setup which gets information out to the crowds, rather than posting on social media where no one can access it would be a welcome addition as well, and please, please drop the hour or so break periods. 

Thank you for 30 years of airshows, Eastbourne, and I hope we will get a few more yet. 2024 showed the depth of airshow displays we are so lucky to see, whilst spitefully giving us typical British weather and a dose of bad luck to balance it out. From bucking Broncos to Swedish Dragons, to a fluffy Moggy, let’s hope we see it all again next year. 

Words by Matt Silvaire.

Photos by Matt Silvaire, with Thanks to Rob Laker for the archival photography.

Special Thanks to Tony De Bruyn, Bronco Demo Team.