The Strikemaster pair in 2019
The 2021 Southport Air Show will not take place this year due to continued uncertainty over large scale events.
Sefton Council has made the difficult decision to cancel the popular Southport Air Show, which was set to take place in July, despite months of hard work and planning by the authorityโs Tourism team and partners.
While this decision has not been taken lightly, we know that thousands of people visit to see our air show and Sefton Council continues to put the safety and wellbeing of our communities and visitors first throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Owing to the large scale of planning and preparations required for an event as large as Southport Air Show, work began in late 2020 with the aim of delivering the spectacular and jaw dropping weekend of aerial displays that is an icon of Southportโs events calendar.
Southport, Merseyside, is on the coast of the Irish sea, not far from Liverpool. There is a very deep expanse of sand. As well as the sand, another backdrop for the displays is the very old but modernised Southport Pier, the second longest pleasure pier in Great Britain.
Southport is unusual in three respects. Firstly, because the beach is so deep there are displays over the sand, whereas at other seaside shows the aircraft would always be over water. The second novel feature is that Southport charges, so you have to buy tickets to get the best views. Southport has managed to make this work, unlike unsuccessful charging experiments at seaside shows elsewhere. Thirdly, some light aircraft land on the beach before the main displays, so there are ground aircraft movements, whereas at other seaside shows all displays would fly in and fly out.
A number of factors have been considered in the decision, including safety of visitors and staff as well as the availability and quality of aircraft available.
๐๐ฏ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ.
A spokesperson for Sefton Council said: โThe decision to cancel The Air Show has not been taken lightly.
โKeeping our visitors, communities, staff and partners safe remains paramount and is just one of a number of factors being at the forefront of this decision.
โAt this time there is no certainty that the event would be allowed to take place on the scale that such an iconic event deserves.
โWe have also taken the decision to delay the Southport Food & Drink Festival until later this year and will confirm a new date as soon as we can.
โWhile this is disappointing news to us all, we continue to do everything we can to bring incredible and amazing events back to our borough and we are working hard towards hosting the British Musical Fireworks Championship (September 24 to September 26) and a rearranged Southport Food and Drink Festival at Victoria Park, Southport.โ
Beach explosions during a joint display by the MiG-15 and Vampire pair
The Southport Airshow moved from its traditional September slot to the early summer for 2018.
There were no fewer than seven displays on Friday late afternoon and going into dusk, starting with the Red Arrows and ending with the Tigers Parachute Display Team, the Fireflies and Brendan OโBrien lighting the skies with pyrotechnics.
Over the weekend there was a balanced mix of civilian and military aircraft, with an emphasis on classic aircraft. Very unusually, the MiG-15 and Vampire pair displayed together in a routine with explosions on the beach.
Southport, Merseyside, is on the coast of the Irish sea, not far from Liverpool. There is a very deep expanse of sand. As well as the sand, another backdrop for the displays is the very old but modernised Southport Pier, the second longest pleasure pier in Great Britain.
Southport is unusual in three respects. Firstly, because the beach is so deep there are displays over the sand, whereas at other seaside shows the aircraft would always be over water. The second novel feature is that Southport charges, so you have to buy tickets to get the best views. Southport has managed to make this work, unlike unsuccessful charging experiments at seaside shows elsewhere. Thirdly, some light aircraft land on the beach before the main displays, so there are ground aircraft movements, whereas at other seaside shows all displays would fly in and fly out.
| Aircraft | |
|---|---|
| Flying | |
| Red Arrows (Friday - opened the show at 19.30) | |
| Typhoon (Sunday only) | |
| Lancaster, Spitfire, Hurricane (BBMF) (Friday) | |
| Grob Tutor (RAF) (Sat & Sun) | |
| Spitfire pair. Paul Bonhomme and Steve Jones (Sat & Sun) | |
| Matadors (Sat & Sun) | |
| Team Raven | |
| P-51D Mustang 'Tall in the Saddle' (Fri, Sat & Sun ) | |
| Blades (Fri, Sat & Sun) | |
| Aerosuperbatics Wingwalkers (Sat & Sun) | |
| Otto the helicopter - Brendan O'Brien (Fri, Sat & Sun) | |
| Fireflies (Fri, Sat & Sun) | |
| Brendan O'Brien's Piper Cub (Friday only) | |
| Turbulent Display Team (Sat & Sun) | |
| MiG-15 (Sat & Sun) | |
| Vampire pair (Sat & Sun) | |
| Tigers Parachute Display Team (Fri, Sat & Sun) | |
| Bronco (Sat & Sun) | |
| Strikemaster (Sat & Sun) | |
| CAP232 pair (Sat & Sun) | |
| Bristol Blenheim (Sat & Sun) | |
| Avro Anson (Sunday only) | |
The Strikemaster pair are due to display on Saturday and Sunday
The Southport Airshow moves back to its September slot for 2019 after trying a July date in 2018. Flying at dusk on Friday will include the Royal Navy Black Cats, who will also display during the daytime over the weekend.
The Red Arrows are regulars at Southport but they will not display in 2019 as they will be on tour in the USA and Canada at the time of the show.
The show is, nevertheless, turning out to be quite a stunner with some unusual and very exciting displays including both the Viggen and the Tunnan from the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight, the T-33 'Shooting Star' from the Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron, the Strikemaster pair, Richard Goodwin and a generous contribution from the RAF comprising the Typhoon, Tutor and Tucano and the BBMF Dakota, Spitfire and Hurricane. The Royal Navy Black Cat solo display will also be at Southport, one of only six shows in the UK to have their display in 2019. The flying displays are summarised in the table.
As well as the flying programme, there will be plenty of things to do on the ground including flight simulators, static aircraft, wall-climbing, assault courses and a diving tank.
| Expected Times | |
|---|---|
| Friday | |
| 19.00 | BBMF |
| 19.20 | Tucano |
| 19:30 | Black Cats |
| 19:38 | Typhoon |
| 19:49 | Tigers |
| 20:07 | Fireflies |
| 20:20 | OTTO |
| Saturday | |
| 13:00 | Tigers Army Parachute Display Team |
| 13:25 | Richard Goodwin Pitts |
| 13:38 | Black Cats |
| 13:47 | Strikemaster Pair |
| 14:01 | Fireflies Aerobatic Team |
| 14:13 | The Blades |
| 14:31 | Otto The Helicopter |
| 14:42 | Aerosuperbatics Wingwalkers |
| 15:00 | BBMF |
| 15:20 | Tutor |
| 15:29 | Tucano |
| 15:39 | Gazelle Squadron |
| 15:51 | T-33 Shooting Star |
| 16:01 | Saab Tunnan |
| 16:11 | Saab Viggen |
| 16:21 | P-47 Thunderbolt |
| 16:34 | Typhoon |
| Sunday | |
| 13:00 | Tigers Army Parachute Display Team |
| 13:27 | Richard Goodwin Pitts |
| 13:40 | OTTO The Helicopter |
| 13:50 | P-47 Thunderbolt |
| 14:00 | BBMF |
| 14:20 | Fireflies Aerobatic Team |
| 14:32 | The Blades |
| 14:50 | Black Cats |
| 14:59 | Saab Tunnan |
| 15:09 | Saab Viggen |
| 15:19 | Aerosuperbatics Wingwalkers |
| 15:36 | Tutor |
| 15:45 | Tucano |
| 15:55 | Gazelle Squadron |
| 16:07 | T-33 Shooting Star |
| 16:17 | Strikemaster Pair |
| 16:30 | Typhoon |
| All appearances are subject to technical, weather and other constraints | |
| Aircraft | |
|---|---|
| Flying | |
| Eurofighter Typhoon (RAF) (Fri, Sat, Sun) | |
| Dakota (BBMF) (Fri, Sat, Sun) | |
| Spitfire & Hurricane (BBMF) (Fri, Sat, Sun) | |
| Black Cat (solo) (RN) (Fri, Sat, Sun) | |
| Grob Tutor (RAF) (Sat & Sun) | |
| RAF Tucano (Fri, Sat, Sun) | |
| BBMF Spitfire & Hurricane (Fri, Sat, Sun) | |
| The Blades (Sat, Sun) | |
| Strikemaster pair, G-SOAF and G-RSAF (Sat, Sun) | |
| T-33 Shooting Star (Norwegian Air Force Historical Squadron) | |
| Fireflies (Fri, Sat, Sun) | |
| Saab J35 Draken (Swedish Air Force Historic Flight) (Sat & Sun) Cancelled | |
| Saab J29 Tunnan (Swedish Air Force Historic Flight) (Sat & Sun) (replaces Draken) | |
| SAAB AJS37 Viggen (Swedish Air Force Historic Flight) (Sat & Sun) | |
| Tigers Parachute Display Team (Fri, Sat & Sun) | |
| Gazelle Helicopter pair (Sat & Sun) | |
 | Republic P47 Thunderbolt 'Nellie' (Sat & Sun) |
| Aerosuperbatics Wingwalkers (Sat & Sun) | |
| Brendan O'Brien & Otto the helicopter (Fri, Sat & Sun) | |
| All appearances are subject to technical, weather and other constraints | |
The Buchรณn will fly in formation with The Old Flying Machine Company's Spitfire
This will be the 26th Southport Airshow, which has been an annual event since 1991. The displays represent the normal seaside mix of military and civilian aircraft including warbirds, light aircraft, aerobatics and jets. On the ground enjoy static aircraft, children's entertainment, simulators, trade and military displays.
There is also due to be an evening programme on Friday 15th. The planned Friday dusk programme in 2016 had to be cancelled because of atrocious weather, so this will be a first for Southport.
The Red Arrows will not be able to display this year because they will be on an overseas tour but the RAF are otherwise attending in strength with the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Tutor display team, who have returned to the airshow circuit after a break in 2016. It was feared at one stage that the BBMF would not be able to display because of a problem with their Merlin-engined aircraft, but these, including the Lancaster, are now being returned to flight and the Lancaster is expected at the show.
Another highlight would have been the Sea Vixen but 'Foxy Lady' was damaged in a wheel-up landing at Yeovilton following a display at Duxford in May and is unlikely to fly again before 2019. Family favourites, a Breitling Wingwalker, will be there, however, and look out for spectacular night entertainment on Friday with the Tigers Parachute Display Team and aircraft lit with LEDs, releasing fireworks in flight.
| Aircraft due to fly (tap / hover over icon for more detail) | |
|---|---|
| Friday, Saturday and Sunday | |
| Typhoon | |
| BBMF Lancaster, Spitfire, Hurricane. | |
| Blades | |
| Fireflies | |
| Tigers | |
| Otto | |
| Saturday and Sunday | |
| Tutor | |
| B-17G 'Sally B' | |
| Wingwalker | |
| MiG-15 | |
| Vampire pair | |
| Turbulent Team | |
| Hispano Buchรณn and Spitfire in formation | |
| Huey | |
| Mustang 'Tall in the Saddle' (Hangar 11) | |
| Strikemaster | |
| Bronco | |
| Team Raven | |
| Cancelled or withdrawn | |
| Sea Vixen (damaged) | |
| All appearances are subject to technical, weather and other constraints | |
Use the postcode PR8 1RY until you get close enough to pick up the airshow direction signs. Follow the signs in preference to the sat nav once you see them, as there may be traffic diversions in place.
There are links to other route planners in the Travel Advice section.
Northern Rail operate direct services to Southport from Manchester city and airport, Bolton and Wigan. Merseyrail go direct to Liverpool airport and city. From Manchester and Liverpool there are connecting services nationwide.
It is best to book as far as possible in advance. This is not only because nearby hotels and guest houses tend get booked up well before the date of an airshow but also because prices can be better when you book early online.
There are plenty of booking agencies. We find that many of the well known ones are better at finding hotels from international or larger UK chains and may suggest hotels in main towns or cities quite a distance from the show site.
Premier Inn have one hotel in Southport itself, another just outside, in Ormskirk and more in Liverpool and Preston.
The International Hotels Group have Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels in Liverpool, Preston and Wigan, mostly between 14 and 18 miles from the show.
Travelodge have one hotel in Southport itself and more in Lytham St Annes and Blackpool.
Click any of the blue names to go to the corresponding web site. Most of the links already have the location built in, but please check, and change as necessary, the dates, number of rooms and number of guests.
A full 7 day Southport weather forecast from the UK Met Office
The Met office 7-day forecast includes actual and "feels like" temperatures, the likelihood of rain, wind speed, wind direction, wind gusts and visibility: the latter can have an impact on the viability of displays.
The BBC's 14-day forecast has overall conditions including and hourly estimate of temperature, wind direction, wind speed and UV range.
Click the blue-text link to go to the forecast. The location is already built into the links.
Cancelled
Sat Nav PR8 1RY
For links to other travel and route planning web sites, click the 'Getting there' tab
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