Multiple planes have taken to the skies in California to lampoon US presidential hopeful Donald Trump in a series of skywriting messages, including: "America is great! Trump is disgusting."

Six skywriting planes were used in the anti-Trump stunt above the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena.

Other messages hitting out at Mr Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for the White House, included: "Anybody but Trump," "Trump loves to hate" and "Trump is delusional."

Skywriting company AirSign claimed credit for the stunt, and CBS News said an Alabama businessman, Stan Pate, was behind the airborne protest.

A CBS reporter interviewed Mr Pate after the parade, who said he considered the billionaire candidate to be despicable, and that "this is just the start".

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Mr Pate said he had paid for anti-Trump messages at the recent Cotton Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl college football games.

"Other candidates can't get in the gutter with him," Mr Pate said.

"I can and I will if that's where he wants to continue to go."

CBS reported Mr Pate, who like Mr Trump is a real estate developer, has donated to Democratic and Republican candidates in the past.

In the current primary campaign leading up to the November 2016 presidential election, he has contributed to the campaign of Republican White House hopeful Marco Rubio.

The images have proved popular on social media, with one user tweeting the messages were "the greatest use of skywriting ever at the Rose Parade" and saying that witnesses were cheering.

Another wrote: "Early 2016 MVP candidate: whoever's behind the 'Trump is a fascist' and 'Trump is disgusting' Rose Parade skywriting."

The Rose Parade is part of a new year's celebration held in Pasadena, including flower-covered floats, marching bands, and is followed by the Rose Bowl college football game.

Mr Trump, whose controversial run for the White House has seen him call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, did not make any immediate response.

The billionaire real-estate tycoon and reality TV star, who has said that Mexico is sending rapists and other criminals into the US, greeted the 2016 election year by proclaiming on Facebook: "2015 was a very special year, and I am grateful for your support!



ABC/Reuters