THE stage is set for not one, not two, but three great comebacks.

The More Bus Bournemouth Air Festival will provide the perfect setting for three amazing aircraft to make their spectacular return to the skies.

The Folland Gnat, the Sea Vixen and the Vulcan bomber have all been the subject of massive restoration projects to return them to flying condition.

And at the forthcoming air festival, which runs from Thursday, August 28, to Sunday, August 31, hundreds of thousands of people will be able to see the results for themselves.

The Foland Gnat T1, known as Gnaty, is a former Red Arrow lead plane which last displayed with the formation in 1976.

She was sold to a UK businessman who brought her down to Bournemouth with the aim of getting her flying again.

But the project stalled and, after her owner passed away, Gnaty was housed in Bournemouth Aviation Museum as a static display. It wasn't until 2005 that a new consortium led by Julian Jones made a fresh attempt to get Gnaty flying again.

The restoration project took three years but Gnaty is now back in full flying condition and will be one of the stars of the show at the air festival, flying both with the Red Arrows and solo.

Also looking to impress the crowds will be the Sea Vixen, whose £3 million restoration has been described as one of the most complex ever undertaken on an ex-military jet.

The plane is the second biggest aircraft on the air show circuit after the Vulcan and the only one in the world that actually flies.

She was operated by the Royal Navy until 1971, when she was put in storage for a decade.

In 1996, she was about to be sold for scrap but was bought and lovingly restored before being permitted to fly once again.

Her amazing speed - she takes little more than two seconds to roar to 140mph - should thrill air festival visitors.

The third plane celebrating a return to the sky is the Avro Vulcan, which was last seen in Bournemouth in 1991.

The vintage bomber has only returned to the air show circuit this year after a massive fundraising effort - which began in Dorset, incidentally - and thousands of hours of painstaking restoration work.

  • Eyes to the sky - your indispensible guide

BOURNEMOUTH'S first air festival is set to be the biggest event in the town's history.

You won't want to miss a moment of it - so make sure you pick up a copy of the official air festival programme, which has been produced by the Daily Echo.

Priced at just £5, the brochure tells you everything you need to know about the four-day event taking place between Bournemouth and Boscombe piers.

It includes a map of all the action, a full timetable of all the adrenalin-charged displays, information on all the participating display teams, planes and helicopters and details of all the other entertainment that is set to make the event a big success.

With so many display teams taking part, including a record three appearances by the Red Arrows, planning ahead is the only way to keep abreast of the action.

Programmes are currently being sold at the Daily Echo offices at Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, and at the Dolphin Centre, Poole. They are also available from Bournemouth's Visitor Information Centre in Westover Road and from Borders book shop in the Square.

  • Come fly with us...

     THE Daily Echo will offer unrivalled coverage of the air festival, with four pages of reports and photographs in the newspaper every day, plus a video on our website.

Our talented team of photographers will be on hand to capture all the action, with all our photos available to view and buy online or in our Richmond Hill office.

We also want to see your photos and we will be running a competition to find the best photograph taken by a reader during the four-day event.

Daily Echo sellers will be stationed in Bournemouth Square and on the seafront throughout the air festival, offering readers the chance to buy a special souvenir poster with their paper.

They will also be selling the official air festival programme, which has been produced by the Daily Echo.