Tornado strike jets, a Second World War Spitfire and the new Eurofighter Typhoon jet were on display at the RAF's Spirit of Adventure airshow at Abingdon airfield on Saturday.

Thousands of people descended on the former RAF base at Dalton Barracks to see famous planes from the past and state-of-the-art superjets swoop across the airfield.

Members of the RAF's world-famous aerobatics display team, the Red Arrows, arrived by helicopter to give young and old fans a rare chance to speak to the magnificent men in their flying machines.

Later the flying aces caught a helicopter back to Brize Norton to board their planes and perform daredevil stunts in the sky over Abingdon.

Flight Lieutenant Andrew Keith, 32, said: "If you're joining the RAF to have a flying career, this is one of the top jobs you can have.

"It's the best flying you could ever do. It's a real challenge and it's something you can work towards and hopefully aspire to. It's the best job in the world, I think."

A few may have awoken with stiff necks as thousands of pairs of eyes looked skyward to see first the Tucano, the Hawk and then the Spitfire rocket past.

One of the highlights was the incredible - and extremely noisy - Typhoon, or the Eurofighter, as it is more commonly known.

It is the most expensive fighter jet ever built - £86m per plane - and travels at a staggering 1,320 mph.

Low cloud cover and high winds speeds meant that RAF Falcons, the world's best parachute regiment, were unable to jump from 12,000ft as planned.

However, the nine-man team of parachute instructors from RAF Brize Norton were still able to leap from 3,500ft.

They lined up in a complicated stack formation, with distinctive smoke trails, before landing in quick succession in a 30m sq area.

A staged attack on mainland Britain by a group calling itself New World Order proved to be a spectacular show of sound and colour, with live news feeds on big screens giving details of how the RAF was responding to the attack across the country.

In the air, a Sentry tracking plane observed what was going on in the mocked-up attack and Tornados patrolled the skies.

On the ground, RAF Regiment soldiers ran to position to defend the airbase from the aerial assault and a pyrotechnic display illustrated the missile attacks.

Group Captain Andrew Turner explained the aim behind the event: "The concept was to get out to the general public, a little bit away from the air show audience, and explain what the RAF does."

Heavy rain and low cloud today forced the cancellation of the second day of the Spirit of Adventure show.

Following advice from the Met Office, the RAF took the decision at 7.30am to give plenty of notice.

Those people who bought tickets before the event will be able to get a full refund from the point of purchase, or can exchange tickets for ones allowing them entrance to a Spirit of Adventure show near Edinburgh during the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Ticketholders needing further clarification can call 07768 697069 and 0208 789 6111 from Tuesday.