THOUSANDS of aviation enthusiasts are counting down the days to this year’s Abingdon Air and Country Show.

The event, which will feature a three-hour flying display, will take place at Abingdon Airfield on Sunday, May 14.

Big crowds will gather at the base and in previous years – particularly when the sun came out – there have been up to 20,000 spectators.

One of the main attractions will be a performance from the Great War Display Team, featuring a Sopwith Camel and a Fokker triplane.

The show was born in 2000 after Neil Porter, the main organiser, came up with the idea.

He said: "We hope the day is a big success with lots of fine weather.

"People need to remember we are all a small unpaid volunteer run show."

Highlights of the display also include an RAF Memorial Flight Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster, the Jump4Heroes Parachute display team, and the de Havilland Sea Vixen 1950s fighter jet.

Also on show will be a UH-1 Huey helicopter, which was one of the main battle helicopters during the Vietnam War.

Mr Porter added: "The ground attractions are just as important as the air show, with a varied selection on offer including Abingdon's very own Rock Choir, morris dancers, steam engines, classic cars, falconry, singing by both Abingdon-based Radio Days and Lincoln-based Ellie Mae and a contestant from TV show Britain's Got Talent. "

Static displays will include more than 45 differing types such as a Mk 26B Spitfire, Gazelle, RAF Tucano and an RAF Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.

Mr Porter added that the show would continue for as long as it was 'financially viable'.

He added: "In two years time we will stage our 20th event, which given the fact I thought it may last only five years originally from its inception is pretty good going."

The 2000 event started out as a small fete but the show is now a major event on the region’s calendar.

Chosen charity Thames Valley & Chiltern Air Ambulance Trust received £8,000 last year, with a total of £68,095.70 raised for the charity since 2007.

New tougher safety regulations were brought in by air show bosses following the Shoreham Airshow tragedy in West Sussex in 2015, when a 1950s Hawker Hunter crashed during a display, killing 11 people and injuring 16 others.

For more information visit abingdonairandcountry.co.uk