Well, as I mentioned yesterday, I did indeed get it together and go to the airshow, along with whay was probably a couple of hundred thousand other people. Like me, a lot of those people got there on the Metro, which was running perfectly, with extra trains, and (very important this) lots of staff on hand at Seaburn station to make sure everyone was safe.

Anyway, I decided to go fairly early, as I knew the Red Arrows were going to be on at 12:00, and I wanted a good vantage point. Lots of other people had the same idea, so I had to stand all the way, but as it’s a quite short journey, I didn’t really mind. Then I had the usual walk to the seafront and a bit of a wander until I found a space close to the commentary box[1].

There was a bit of a wait, but then the Reds came on and did a full show, which amongst many other things included this rather nice rolling manoeuvre:

And thanks to the mostly clear sky, this vertical break:

Other highlights included a Spitfire and Hurricane from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight:

And a personal favourite, a display by the Blades, a seriously impressive team. The fact that all their pilots are former members of the Red Arrows might have something to do with both the skill and the choice of manoeuvres.

There was a lot more on show, and I’ll post more pictures over the next few days…

[1] I figured that they’d have placed that in a good viewing position…