With this year’s Clacton Classic Airshow just a week away, organisers have unveiled an exciting programme of ground events – including an impressive replica of a Chinook helicopter.
Airshow organisers have already announced that a host of heritage aircraft will be taking to the skies for the high-flying event on Thursday and Friday next week (22 and 23 August).
There will be a diverse range of exciting events on the West Greensward Airshow site, as well as a community fair, run by Community Voluntary Service Tendring, on the Town Square on the Thursday from 10am to 5pm.
The Royal Air Force will be well represented at the airshow site with RAF Careers, the RAF Tutor stand, RAF Memorabilia and flight fans can even climb onboard a replica Chinook helicopter.
The Clacton branch of the Royal British Legion will be hosting a 1940s utility vehicle on the Town Square alongside re-enactors in Second World War uniform as part of a tribute to this year’s 80th anniversary commemorations of D-Day, the launch of Allied operations to liberate Europe during the Second World War.
Clacton Classic Airshow will also feature a variety of exhibitors and food concessions ranging from Thorpe-le-Soken’s Lifehouse Spa, which is sponsoring the Rolls-Royce heritage flight, to Manningtree-based Ragmarsh Farm, which will be serving up delicious produce from the farm, including homemade burgers and chips made from its own potatoes.
In the skies, the impressive Grumman Wildcat FM2, a carrier-based fighter aircraft built for the US Navy in 1945, is a late addition to the flying programme. This aircraft replaces the Corsair which is no longer able to take part.
Ivan Henderson, Cabinet Member for Economic Growth, Regeneration and Tourism at Tendring District Council, which runs the event, said there is always a great atmosphere at the airshow site in West Greensward.
“As well as the fantastic flight display, there’ll be a whole host of things to see and do on the ground at this year’s Clacton Classic Airshow,” Councillor Henderson said.
“The replica Chinook will be one of the highlights, giving flight fans and families a real sense of what it is like to be on board a military helicopter.”
The flight programme for this year’s event includes aeroplanes from the First and Second World Wars and the post-war period, as well as a specially commissioned D-Day Formation.
The British Army’s world-famous Red Devils parachute team will also be jumping into action at the show for the first time as part of the twilight display programme on the first day of the two-day spectacle.
Clacton Airshow Flight Director David Walton, of TSA Consulting, said: “It’s really exciting to be doing something different this year at Clacton and it allows us to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of D-Day and also the history and development of aviation over the last 100 years.
“We will have aircraft representing the early days of aviation in the First World War, through to the Second World War and also some of the vintage aircraft of the Cold War period.
“There will also be some really interesting mixed formations of aircraft that have not been seen in Clacton before whilst also retaining the much-loved twilight display on the Thursday evening lighting the sky with spectacular pyrotechnics.”
Our official Clacton Airshow programmes, which provide flight times, facts about the aircraft and teams, and everything you could possibly need to know to enjoy the airshow, will be available from the Visitors’ Information Centre at Clacton Town Hall from Monday, priced at £5.
They will also be available from the mobile Ground Crew for the duration of the event.
For updates and more information on the 2024 Clacton Classic Airshow people should visit www.clactonairshow.com, follow @clactonairshow on Twitter, or go to the official Facebook event.