Southport Air show 2019 - Part 1

2 days and 1 night of amazing avionic displays took place in the sky over Merseyside's Southport Beach, over 6 September to 8 September 2019. This event might not have had the Red Arrows this year; this show still had some amazing acrobatics.

For our editor the highlight was Friday night. For those attending on Friday, not only did you get flying, but also fireworks at the same time! What a show!

Friday, night was for many though the most unusual and interesting, as well as providing some of the best photograpic opportunities, with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flying into the sunset and the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 lighting up the sky with its afterburners; it was the fireworks that provided the best photos. Otto the helicopter, laden with pyrotechnics and glowing with LEDs made for a dazzling display, at the hands of Roger Buis. It was definitely worth braving the elements to watch it!

If you missed it, you missed 1 of the most unusual and best displays on the air show calendar in the UK.

Despite not having the Red Arrows, the event attracted lots of media attention not only due to the Blades Aerobatic Team's last display with their current aircraft, but also for the Tucano T1 performing its last public display. But we think the show stoppers for many of the families and aviation enthusiasts, on both Saturday and Sunday, had to have been the jets.... Do you agree?

Anyway with the Red Arrows being in America, and with it being the final farewell to the RAF Tucano T1 along with the final display of the The Blades Aerobatic Team, in their current aircraft, you knew you would still see some amazing acrobatics. This was definitely the case. Plus it was fantastic to see both the Tucano Display Team and The Blades Aerobatic Team flying in a close formation for a fly past, on both Saturday and Sunday, to support the life changing charity work that is being carried out by The RAF Benevolent Fund, marking the charity's centenary year in the process.

If you do not know, the Tucano is being retiring from RAF service after 30 years in service, training pilots and navigators and is due to be replaced with the Texan II. The connection to the Blades, as they are not a RAF team, might not stand out to many on the ground, but when you hear that the Blades are formed from ex-Red Arrows Pilots, things start to add up. In fact 3 of the Blades team members have flown the Tucano in their early careers within the RAF, so they jumped at the chance to perform with this iconic aircraft and this provided a unique photograpic opportunity with them flying in formation flight on both the Saturday and Sunday. Interestingly, after the displays, many of those attending said they hope to see the replacement aircraft, the Texan II, in the Air Show for 2020. Will this happen? Let’s hope so!

Before the show started on Sunday, we conducted a quick interview with Andy Evans, aka Blade 1 about the display and the teams involvement, that you can play now via our YouTube Channel, or via the player on this page.

Not to be out done, on the ground, well along the beach and on the sea wall, the event had lots to see and do, throughout the weekend.

If you attended we would love to know what you thought of this event. Please email us to:- News24@SouthportReporter.Com and do let us know.

The Southport Air Show is widely considered 1 of the best air shows in the UK and you can see why if you go to it! So if you missed this year’s display, check out:- VisitSouthport.Com for all the latest news about the show in 2020.

Take note… Do not miss the British Musical Firework Championships that take place over 27 September to 29 September 2019. If you attended on Friday, at the air show, you would have seen a quick display at the end as a taste of what will be seen at these year’s championships... Again, please go to Visit Southport for more information and ticket bookings!

We will have even more photos from this show in next weeks edition... But for now... We have 5 pages packed full of photos taken by us at this event for you to take a look at...  So please enjoy and click on...

We hope you liked the photos, but please, don't copy them.  Please help us to keep our copyright intact and help us to keep this online  newspaper live. Click on here to find out how you can order copies of these photos.

This report has been dedicated to Martyn Snape...