Eastbourne Airbourne

Mrs C and I went to the coast yesterday to Eastbourne to see the annual air show called 'Eastbourne Airborne' which is one of the few free air displays still going strong. Although we have lived in East Sussex for eight years this is the first time that we have managed to visit this show and it was well worth the effort.

When we arrived in town we decided to get something to eat so I suggested that we do the traditional sea side thing.

"Why don't we have fish and chips and eat them as we walk along the prom"

Mrs C replied "I'm not doing that we'll get attacked by penguins"

"I'd pay money to see that" I said "As they live in the antarctic"

"Not penguins, I mean sea gulls" she retorted as we both fell about laughing.

So instead we had an excellent lunch at 'Bills' sitting outside on a pavement table watching a constant stream of people heading for the beach equipped with camp chairs, binoculars and cameras with very large lenses.

After lunch we made our way to the promenade where we eventually found a place to watch the display from, standing room only at this stage. We arrived just as the RAF typhoon Eurofighter was showing off it's speed and agility and I was thinking that I would not want to be on the receiving end of it's payload of weaponry. In complete contrast the next aircraft to pass was a spitfire the iconic plane from the Battle of Britain which was well received by the spectators who waved as it finished it's display.

For me though the highlight of the show was the Vulcan Bomber a relic of the cold war of the nineteen-sixties and seventies. This was the only one of it's kind still flying and  Eastbourne Airborne was to be one of it's last air displays as soon it would be grounded due to there being a lack of spare parts to keep it air worthy.The last time that a Vulcan was flown in anger was during the Falklands war when a single aircraft flew non stop from the UK undergoing several air to air refuelling's to bomb the runway at Port Stanley which was occupied by the Argentinian forces.

A very nice lady standing next to us made me smile with a story that she related to us about an incident that she had just witnessed a little further along the prom towards Beachy Head. It occurred at a section of beach that was taped off as a sterile area for parachutists to land safely after their display. Apparently a rather arrogant man decided to go swimming from this area and refused to leave the water when challenged by the life guards. A spectator seeing this altercation picked up the swimmers pile of clothes and towel and threw them into the sea to much applause from the rest of the spectators. This got the swimmer out of the water pretty quickly and although I can't condone the actions of the spectator it does seem like a kind of poetic justice.

We had a great day out at Eastbourne starting with a delicious lunch followed by  the brilliant Air show and on the way home we called in at Mrs C's mother for afternoon tea. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.