Festival of Flight at Blenheim Palace.

Sunday, 14 August 2005. To commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the end of world war two, Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, is hosting a spectacular one-day festival. The main feature of the day is a three-hour air display with over 40 vintage planes. The skies over the palace will come alive with Spitfires, Lancasters, Hurricanes and many other historic aircraft engaged in mock dogfights and synchronized flying displays. The famous Royal Air Force Red Arrows will perform a full display at 100 meters above the Column of Victory. Accompanying the displays, the soundtrack of classic war movies will be played over the latest in surround-sound systems. The day starts at 9.00 when the gates open to visitors who will be greeted by sand-bagged checkpoints and the sound of Churchills voice crackling over the loudspeakers. The festival aims to reproduce the sights and sounds of wartime England as closely as possible and there are a host of activities and exhibitions to involve the visitor. After the air display, at 18.00 the John Miller Orchestra will give a swing to the evening, playing music to jitterbug to, while swing dance champions put on a dazzling performance for those unwilling to step onto the dance floor themselves. Finally at 19.15 the songs of Vera Lynne will echo around the Palace grounds, and orderlies from the mess tents will hand out cups of hot Ovaltine and bacon butties as a fitting close to a day spent reliving memories of the 1940s. Admission prices for tickets at the gate: adults 35, children 5.