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Blackpool Air Show 1977
1977 saw the first of several air shows. Blackpool had been a pioneer of air displays and the shows were quite spectacular with displays by the Red Arrows and aircraft going back to World War II.
The Lancaster bomber was used for both night and daytime operations during the war, including the famous Dam Busters operation by 619 Squadron.
The Fairy Swordfish was one of the last of the fabric-covered biplanes used by the RAF. It served as an aide to the convoys, carrying a single torpedo under the fuselage. One such can be seen here.

Thanks Charlie! - I originally labelled it a Gloster Gladiator! Whoops...
The Spitfire is a must at any British air show.

On this day there were two - the last Spit capable of aerobatic flying and a second Spit that, with the Lancaster and Hawker Hurricane, made up the Battle of Britain Flight, commemorating the famous battle of 1940 in the skies above London and the south of England.
There is something about the shape and even the sound of a Spitfire that makes it a beautiful aircraft and it is easy to forget the life or death struggle that was carried out in the cockpits of these machines.

Below: the scheduled flight from the Isle of Man temporarily halts the show and reminds the visitors that Blackpool's is a working airport!
Far right: the sun came out for a while, allowing the sky to turn deep blue and showing off the sleek lines of the RAF's early jet-engined aircraft, the Vampire and the Meteor.
Another veteran of many an air show - the De Havilland Tiger Moth. Used extensively by the RAF as trainers, they were bought by many ex RAF pilots for use in barn storming shows.

There are still Tiger Moths in use today and there are one-day courses culminating in a chance to fly one of these open-cockpit aircraft.

The Rapide was one of the early passenger airliners.

Travelling by air in the 1930s was not as comfortable as it is in the present day and cabin food was likely to be a sandwich cobbled together hastily!

The Rapide on display was said to be the last flying example. If so it was either still flying in 1998 or another has been restored to flying condition as a company was then offering flights as executive days out.

The James Bond autogyro from You Only Live Twice made an appearance at the show.

Meanwhile the little girl at the bottom of the photograph, right, was clearly unimpressed by the aeroplanes, having found something else to train her binoculars at!