Air Festival ceremony opens with a big bang!
A breath-taking historic flypast, commando crushing Royal Marines, daring Black Cat display, Royal Marine buglers and Army canon announced the fantastic opening of the much anticipated 2015 Bournemouth Air Festival, sponsored by Kier.
The ceremony, announcing the start of the UK’s Tourism Event of the Year, was attended by Major General Martin Smith, RAF Group Captain Sanger-Davies, Brigadier Bennett and the Mayor of Bournemouth Councillor John Adams with guests treated to first class performances by all participating forces.
Bringing a host of land, sea and air assets including a stunning flotilla of ships and hosting the first Proms on the Beach, Major General Martin Smith said; “I’m delighted that we are able to support this year’s Bournemouth Air Festival. It presents a marvellous opportunity for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines to demonstrate some of our capabilities to such a huge audience.”
He added; “I hope you will take time to speak to our sailors and marines, both regular and reserve, and find out more about the Royal Navy. We want you to hear the roar of our helicopters and feel the salt spray from our landing craft as the Royal Marines storm ashore. We belong to you and we are very proud to be able to show you what we get up to when we are protecting UK interests worldwide.”
The RAF, ever present with a stunning line-up of full allocation of aircraft at the festival including the new Hawk T2 Role Demo Team, Typhoon and world famous Red Arrows, welcomed the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Hurricane and Spitfire to the launch ceremony. Group Captain Sanger-Davies said; “The Air Festival is one of our annual flagship events. Its sheer size and scale makes it a fantastic stage for us to showcase what the RAF does on a day-to-day basis and hopefully entertain you with some incredible aerial displays. There’s a fantastic allocation of RAF assets here and we look forward to showing you what we can do in the air and on the ground. For those considering career options or ready to make the commitment, there’s a great opportunity to find out more about the exciting range of careers available in the Royal Air Force, both full-time and spare-time. ”
The ceremony was also an opportunity for guests to watch the Royal Marines Commando Recruiting Team perform their unarmed combat demonstrations. Dale Wood, Kier partnership director for Bournemouth and Air Festival Partner sponsor said; “It’s incredibly exciting to be sponsoring this year’s Air Festival and we’re looking forward to enjoying the displays with residents and visitors. We’re now in our third year of sponsoring the event and are very proud to be helping to bring value to the town through the festival and ultimately boosting local economic growth.”
Councillor Lawrence Williams, Tourism Portfolio Holder added; “To have such superb support and ongoing commitment from the Armed Forces, and to be welcoming back the First Sea Lord, really shows how far we have come over the last seven years. We are the National Tourism Event of the year and I can’t wait for the next four days!”
Tags: 2015, August, Bournemouth Air Festival, News