THIS year’s International Air Show went ahead in spite of the rain, rising fuel costs and fears of a lack of funding.

It was, as usual, a triumph – and what a delight to see so many Islanders and visitors enjoying the aerial spectacle over St Aubin’s Bay, even when the heavens opened.

Now the organisers face the uphill task of raising more than a quarter of a million pounds to stage the show again next September. It would a be a crying shame if the event were to come to an end, especially if such an affluent society as ours cannot produce private sponsorship.

For the finance industry – on which our economy depends – £250,000 is petty cash, and in terms of the public sector there are a number of States departments that have overspent far greater amounts.

There are those who fail to understand the attraction of military aircraft performing aerobatics at such a high cost when charities are facing funding crisis and there are children starving in Africa. But if the air display was no more, there is no guarantee that the money would go to such deserving causes.

We should be proud that we have one of the best air displays in Europe, and such a fantastic setting as St Aubin’s Bay to form a natural panoramic amphitheatre. What’s more, it is free, and the organisers make no attempt to collect money from the public for the cost of staging the event – rather it is the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund that benefits, through the worthy endeavours of the Jersey branch of the Royal Air Forces Association.

The air display is more than an asset to Jersey’s visitor economy, generating greater visitor numbers and income than even the Battle of Flowers. Nor is it about the fastest and loudest fighter planes or daredevil antics such as wing walking. It is a tribute to the memory of the young men – average age of just 19 – who fought in the Battle of Britain. As Churchill so memorably said in his tribute to the fortitude of the outnumbered RAF: ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’

Following the fall of France and the evacuation of British forces from Dunkirk in June 1940, Britain stood alone against the all-conquering Nazi Blitzkrieg. If Hitler’s plans to force the British to capitulate through a concerted campaign of all-out aerial bombardment had succeeded, the world we live in today would have been moulded not by free demographic principles, but by the twisted ideology of National Socialism.

Overwhelmed by German manpower and resources, the Royal Air Force took to the sky day after day from July to September 1940 to win the first battle fought entirely in the air and to save Britain from invasion and occupation.
The Battle of Britain was Hitler’s first defeat and a turning point in a war that was to rage for another five years and cost tens of millions of lives. Nonetheless, it boosted morale after Dunkirk and changed public opinion in the United States.

While we remember the anniversaries of D-Day and VE (Victory in Europe) Day, how many outside the forces and ex-service organisations know that 15 September – a turning point in the four-month battle – is Battle of Britain Day? Shame on us as a nation for not giving it equal – and the aforementioned anniversaries – significance as Armistice Day.

The States already invest £100,000 in the annual air display, and good on ’em, at least they are doing something right! And, thanks to the altruism of David and Anne Crossland (who are such great supporters of Island charities and a shining example to other wealthy immigrants that altruism is a virtue) and private sponsorship, in recent times the event has gone from strength to strength.

Yet every year, organiser Mike Higgins has to warn that the end is nigh. It would be a catastrophe if one year he were proved right. Unfortunately, it is not just the air display that is strapped for cash – ditto the Battle of Flowers and other festivals, entertainment and annual events. Because of Jersey’s fiercely defended independence
and stubborn insistence to swim alone, the Island does not qualify for EU aid or Heritage Lottery funding.

Not for our attractions the billion-pound investment that has sparked a renaissance in Cornwall’s tourism economy. Unlike the Eden Project, which benefited from £80 million of public and European funding, Jersey’s attractions have to rely on the paltry amount of cash set aside in Tourism’s budget.

Or they have to raise the money themselves, as Durrell is now attempting to do, to turn the Zoo into a world-class attraction for the 21st century. The trust needs less than half what it cost to create the Eden Project and is having to cast its fund-raising net worldwide to do so, yet the name of Gerald Durrell is as synonymous with Jersey as cows, potatoes and Jim Bergerac.

For too long the States have been negligent of the infrastructure of the visitor economy. We have top-class attractions like the War Tunnels and Durrell because of private initiative. They may have taken £3 million from the public purse to spruce up Mont Orgueil, but many millions more are needed to bring other heritage sites up to scratch. One-off investments are pointless without an continuing commitment to reinvest on a year-by-year basis. That is common business sense.

As the patriotic and inspiring red, white and blue vapour trails fade in the sky and the Red Arrows, Battle of Britain Memorial Flight et al fly off for winter hibernation and preparation for the 2009 season, the burning question is, will they be back? I hope so. And if they are, much like the Battle of Britain, it will be because of the dedication of the few.