Canada's largest Airshow attracts more than a hundred thousand visitors

The skies above the Canadian city of Abbotsford in the outskirts of Vancouver came alive on Sunday as super-sonic metal birds ripped through the air at the Abbotsford International Airshow.

The three-day annual event which began on Friday has become the largest show of its kind in Canada and attracts more than 125,000 people to see some of the world's historic and most famous planes in full flight.

Among the aviation fans on Sunday was Jerry Vernon, who has attended the show for more than 50 years.

"It's great now, well with digital for one thing. You can take thousands of shots now as opposed to the old days of taking it with film. And just take a lot of pictures and hope you get some good ones," Vernon told Xinhua.

The airshow first took flight in 1962, launched by a local flying club to draw attention and business to the town's airport. It later became one of the most important aviation shows in North America, drawing top pilots and airplanes from around Canada, the United States and Europe.

Jadene Mah, Abbotsford Air Show spokeswoman, said the air show has built a great reputation over the past half century.

"We've seen a lot of firsts here at the Abbotsford International Air Show. And this is the only place where you can see an F-35, and a Boeing Super Hornet on the ramp side-by-side and we are very excited that we were the first place in Canada to display an F-35," she said.

Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet has been in the Canadian headlines in recent years, as the government had been mulling a purchase of the stealth fighter as a replacement for its aging CF-18 fleet.

The show organizers say the event has become a major showcase for the aviation industry to introduce their latest models to the government and the air force. Endi