The Red Arrows display team were blazing a colourful trail over Eastbourne today as the annual Airbourne air show gets into full swing.

Thousands had their eyes fixed on the skies during yesterday's launch and organisers are already predicting their biggest and best year yet.

Enthusiasts crammed on to the seafront and Western Lawns as the opening aerobatics display by the Royal Jordanian Falcons drew gasps.

Today marked one of the highlights of Airbourne 2003 with the return of the world's most famous aerobatic team.

The Red Arrows were bringing their famed blue, red and white smoke trails to Eastbourne's skies after displays by the Utterly Butterly wingwalkers, the Tornado F3, the Nimrod MR2 and the Belgian Air Force.

The show led to drama yesterday when a pilot returning from a display was forced to make an emergency landing when his plane's wheels would not release.

Lance Nicol was preparing to land at Shoreham Airport after performing in his Yak 50 Russian aerobatic plane with the Yakovlevs Display Team.

The undercarriage would not come down and Mr Nicol prepared to land without the wheels on the grass runway at around 3.50pm.

Fire crews from Shoreham and Worthing were at the scene but Mr Nicol, whose team is based in Salisbury, turned off the engine and fuel before touching down. He landed safely, although the plane suffered damage to the fuselage and propeller.

Mr Nicol said he has been flying for 20 years and has never experienced the problem before. But he said: "Everything was fine, I am still here. I have been doing this for a long time.

"There was a lot of emergency checks to do prior to landing so you do not really have time to get scared. There are lots of things to keep your mind occupied."

More than 70 aerial displays by the world's elite pilots will be performing throughout Airbourne 2003.

In total, more than 500,000 visitors are expected to be drawn to Eastbourne before the fireworks finale on Sunday evening.

Tourism bosses, hoteliers and business leaders are hoping for a bumper weekend.

An event spokesman said today: "With good weather and a fantastic programme planned, we could well hit some new visitor records."