WALES AIRSHOW DAY 1: 100,000 pack Swansea’s seafront as planes and drones fill the skies

Swansea Bay filled up early on Saturday, and by the time the flying started the sand and the promenade were solid with people.

Council leader Rob Stewart said well over 100,000 turned out across the day, calling it Wales’ biggest free event.

The RAF Typhoon ran the length of the bay, low and loud, with Mumbles lighthouse sitting below it and a line of small boats moored off the head to watch it come past.

The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight brought its Dakota over the water — the wartime transport that carried paratroopers into Normandy, and one of the aircraft that made the trip worth a look for anyone who came for the history rather than the noise.

Then a Fairey Swordfish, all fabric and struts and invasion stripes, flying the coast at a pace that made everything else look hurried. It flew alongside a Royal Navy Wasp, a Cold War shipboard helicopter, the two of them pairing up over the bay in a formation that spanned three decades of naval aviation.

The Gazelle Squadron worked the crowd line as a pair.

And the AeroSuperBatics team did what they are paid to do, which is stand a wingwalker on the top wing of a Boeing Stearman several hundred feet above Swansea Bay and have her wave at the beach.

The show didn’t end at sunset, though. As the light went, the first Afterburn took to the skies over the bay.

The Firebirds came in low across the water, lit pink and blue, with Mumbles glowing behind them.

They threw pyrotechnic trails across the darkening sky, the Otto Helicopter flew its own pyro routine over the water, and the Typhoon’s afterburners lit the bay.

Then came the drones.

Two hundred of them welcomed the crowds in both languages — croeso above welcome, held over the water while the beach looked up.

Then Abertawe, above Swansea.

And then they started building the city itself.

First Jack — the dog that pulled swimmers out of the bay in the 1930s and gave the city’s people their nickname, picked out in lights above the water he worked in.

Then the Mumbles Train, in double-deck silhouette. The line carried the world’s first fare-paying railway passengers in 1807 and ran along the bay until 1960, and for a few seconds on Saturday it was back over the same stretch of water.

A red dragon, breathing fire over the shoreline.

The airshow’s own logo, held above the beach with searchlights beneath it.

And a formation of aircraft in red, white and blue, which looked a great deal like the Red Arrows — who are not on the bill this year.

Then came Dylan Thomas. The drones wrote his signature above the bay in a looping script.

Another of his lines, “Love the words”, had already gone up beside a heart earlier in the sequence. Now the drones spelled out “Ambition is critical” — the line of his most often thrown back at this city.

It ended the way it began, in two languages. Nos da, the drones said. Goodnight underneath.

Wales Airshow has posted footage of the full drone display.

Fireworks went up off the sand to finish.

Rob Stewart said the display had included a tribute to Bonnie Tyler, and thanked the council’s events team, the pilots and air support staff, and the local company behind the drone show.

Swansea Council, which runs the airshow, had said before the weekend that the free two-day event draws more than 200,000 visitors to the bay. The show moved to late July this year to avoid a clash with Swansea’s Ironman weekend.

Day two is on today, with flying from 10am to 6pm along the seafront. There is no second Afterburn — the night show was Saturday only.

Today’s line-up has changed. The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will no longer appear, so there is no Dakota, Hurricane or Spitfire from the flight over the bay today. Organisers say the rest of Sunday’s timetable is unchanged.

That leaves the RAF Typhoon and the RAF Tutor on the military bill, with the Rolls-Royce Spitfire, Jett Pitts, the Firebirds, the Gazelle Squadron and the Swordfish and Wasp pairing among the civilian displays. The Strike Master Pair and the Otto Helicopter are over the bay for the first time.

On the ground there are flight simulators, VR experiences, military displays, live music, a funfair, market stalls and food and drink along the front.

Buses across Swansea are free again today, part of the free weekend service running until the August bank holiday.

Road closures remain in place, including the westbound closure of Oystermouth Road between West Way and Brynmill Lane. Anyone travelling by train should check before setting off, with improvement works affecting the London Paddington to Swansea route across the weekend.