Last updated at 08:52, Friday, 24 July 2009

AN annual airshow is set to be bigger and better than ever when it goes ahead this weekend with a Second World War theme.

Thousands of spectators are expected to gather for the ninth Windermere Airshow over Bowness Bay from 10am on Saturday and Sunday.

Organisers at the Rotary Club of Windermere have booked about twice as many flights for this year’s programme as they normally book.

Visitors can expect to be taken back to the 1940s with displays from all manner of aircraft that took on the Germans, between 1939 and 1945.

There will be a Mustang P-51, a single-seat fighter aircraft as used by America in the conflict, and a Spitfire, another single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries during the Second World War.

There will also be displays of the Dakota and Hurricane, plus a variety of Second World War vehicles.

There will be a tent devoted to the Dam Busters too.

An Avro Vulcan, a jet bomber used by the Royal Air Force from 1953 until 1984, is sure to be a crowd-puller.

The aircraft, popularly known as the Vulcan Bomber and with a 34-metre wingspan, has created a stir on this year’s UK airshow circuit.

Organisers promise it will be a marvellous sight when it soars over Bowness.

The world famous Red Arrows will also make an appearance and there are several other aerobatic displays lined up.

Four Russian-built Yakovlevs and their display team are back by popular demand and, for the first time, the spectacular Guinot Wing Walkers are in town.

Martin Withers is putting on an eight-minute display in the Vulcan Bomber.

He was the Vulcan pilot who flew the first and last of the Black Buck missions to successfully bomb the runway at Port Stanley during the Falklands War in 1982 – the longest bombing raid in history at that time.

Mr Withers said: “This Vulcan cost the Vulcan Trust £25,000 and an extra £100,000 for a mountain of spares and needs approximately £1.7m per year to operate.

“There are even never-used engines wrapped up and in boxes.”

Alan Katz, Windermere Rotary Club president said: “With the wing walkers, several aerobatic displays and all the other aircraft including four from the Second World War, this will surely be the biggest airshow Cumbria has ever seen.”

Collections on the day will go to charity, including the Pride of Cumbria Air Ambulance.

Flights begin at 1pm

The best position to see the displays with commentary is at the official viewing area on The Glebe in Bowness.

First published at 13:10, Thursday, 23 July 2009
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk