THERE must be days when David Smith wishes his father had been a truck driver or a butcher or even a hairdresser. Anything but a human cannonball.

For when Dave decided to follow in the family tradition, he knew it meant loading himself into a huge 12ft long tube and being launched the best part of 180ft through the air - which is about the width of a full sized football pitch.

Twice a day, he will perform his death-defying feat at the Three Counties Show, knowing full well that 30 of his fellow human cannonballs have been killed trying exactly the same thing.

Indeed, his sister Stephanie was seriously injured last September at the Royal Adelaide Show in Australia and underwent spinal surgery after overshooting her landing airbag.

During his flight through the air, Dave will reach speeds of up to 70mph, so understandably, he wears a crash helmet.

The Smith fascination with human cannonballs began with his father, also called David - they're known as David Cannonball' Smith Snr and David The Bullet' Smith Jnr - who holds the world distance record of 185ft 10ins, which he achieved on May 29, 1998 at West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.

At the same event, also performing at as a competition called Duelling Cannons for the Guinness Book of World records, his son reached 181ft 1ins.

As well as the two men, the Smith family includes three girl human cannonballs, Rebecca, Jennifer and Kimberley.