By James HoreMORE than 50,000 people flocked to the coast for a second day of a resorts' annual air spectacular. The Clacton Air Show, now in its 14th year, has gone from strength to strength and the young and old were out in force yesterday along the town's West Greensward to watch the displays.

By James Hore

MORE than 50,000 people flocked to the coast for a second day of a resorts' annual air spectacular.

The Clacton Air Show, now in its 14th year, has gone from strength to strength and the young and old were out in force yesterday along the town's West Greensward to watch the displays.

For the first time in the event's history the world-famous Red Arrows appeared on both days, wowing the crowd with their death-defying manoeuvres.

Their dazzling display was followed by the RAF Falcons parachute display team, recognised as one of the best in world.

Their dramatic aerial display with smoke trails was an awesome site over the Essex coast, which was enjoying better weather yesterday after Thursday's heavy downpours.

Next came the Royal Navy's Lynx helicopter, followed by the Sukhoi 26, a plane designed for stunt flying and maximum manoeuvrability for such events.

Clacton beach provided an ideal vantage point to enjoy the action and for the second day in succession the Utterly Butterly Wingwalkers were many people's favourites, pulling off some of the more extreme moves seen.

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight brought wartime memories flooding back for the older members of the crowd in the 65th anniversary year of the conflict that changed the shape of the 20th century.

The tribute to all the members of the RAF who lost their lives in during the Second World War was as poignant as ever with the rumble of the Hurricane, Spitfire, Dakota and Lancaster engines.

Among the other highlights were the popular Tornado GR4 making an impressive appearance, followed by the final act of a magical two days when the RAF Harrier took to the skies.

n Essex Ambulance Service had a relatively quiet day at the air show treating 13 patients, down from Thursday's figure of 24.

Alan Whitehead, incident commander, said: “Everything has run very smoothly and we have not had to deal with anything out of the ordinary.”

james.hore@eadt.co.uk