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The Southend Festival of the Air, formerly known as the Southend Airshow, attracts approximately three-quarter of a million visitors to the seafront to witness some of the world's most famous aircraft and display teams.

Southend's skies will roar to the sound of planes

With the Red Arrows, World War Two bombers and wing walkers all taking to the skies, the logistics behind the event are quite mind-blowing, with each of the flight teams having to arrive safely and on time.

The man tasked with juggling all of this is Flying Display Director, David Walton. His job is to co-ordinate planes flying in from bases as near as Southend Airport, to as far a-field Cyprus.

Despite the stresses of the event, David can't hide his enthusiasm for the Festival.

"The Red Arrows are always a highlight and they'll be flying straight into the Festival of the Air from Cyprus. They'll wake up in Cyprus and then end the day in Southend," says David.

"The highlight, apart from that, has to be the Harrier, which hasn't been around for a couple of years on the display circuit. It's only doing about five shows and Southend is the first.

"I just hope everybody gets to fly this year," adds David, alluding to the poor weather which has hindered past shows.

David Walton is in charge of directing the show

"It's so frustrating. I woke up last year at 4 o'clock in the morning with the rain beating on the hotel window and you despair, because you have to start [the planning] all over again.

"It's quite morale sapping when you get to the afternoon and it is still raining."