These photos show the thunderous celebrations that marked the 21st anniversary of Southend Airport operating since the war.
They were taken on a Sunday afternoon in March of 1968 – a day that you can clearly see from the photos in our gallery – that the airport laid on a mammoth celebration to mark the landmark birthday.
Organisers laid on one of the best aerial displays the country had seen for many years at the airport, which drew in 50,000 spectators from across Essex, London and the Home Counties.
Highlights of the event including a Battle of Britain Spitfire flypast as well as the deafening arrival of an RAF camouflaged Victor B.2 V-Bomber which touched down on the runway with landing lights blazing.
Spectators were able to peruse hundreds planes of all shapes and sizes and at least 1,000 people got to experience joy flights in light planes.
There was also an amazing parachute display by the RAF Falcons.
So many people turned up to the show that it caused traffic mayhem. At least 5,000 vehicles parked at the car park and at one point traffic jams stretched from the airport down Manners Way to St Mary’s Church in Prittlewell.
Southend council bosses hailed the event as a huge success but suggested lessons needed to be learned for future air shows of this kind when it came to crowd control and parking issues.
Scroll through our gallery of photos below to see all the fun of the show
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here