Wales National Airshow, 2011

Apologies for the non-nature post, but I was itching to put my big lens into action for the first time in a while, and yesterday's airshow over Swansea Bay provided the perfect opportunity. The only previous one I'd attended, two years ago, was washed out due to bad weather, so I headed down the short distance to Swansea Beach, and found a comfortable viewing point in the sand dunes near the university.

The first plane that flew over, at 12.05 p.m., was a Lancaster Bomber:

Followed quickly by the Breitling Wingwalkers:



The Meridian Tower is visible here to the right of the planes:



Then came the Royal Navy Merlin helicopter:

Tutor:

Tucano ZF378:



Upside down:

Hawk:

Search and Rescue Sea King helicopter:



Team Osprey:

Royal Navy Black Cats helicopter display team:

The R.A.F. Falcons parachute display team:

The penultimate act was The Blades aerobatic team:



Finally, the event which many seemed to have been waiting for, the famous Red Arrows:

A final flourish over the Mumbles, and they were off:

The five-hour show went amazingly quickly, and was definitely worth getting sunburnt for. I might even go back for more on Sunday!