Forum menu
Had a great day out with my son at IWM Duxford yesterday, and it occurred to me that he's not been to an airshow yet, and I've not been to one since the early 90s. I grew up in Middlesbrough and ended up in Doncaster so I was a regular at Teeside shows and caught the end of Finningley, both no more. Waddington would seem the obvious one to go for, but are any of the others hugely better, don't mind making a weekend of it.
Flying Legends at Duxford if props rather than jets are your thing.
+1 for Flying Legends
Waddington didn't impress me last year.
Spent several hours in a queue south of the airfield - great watching the Red Arrows from 3 miles away. When we finally got parked, we must have been almost a mile from the flightline.
Food - one lot of "chips with everything" and a 2 hour queue to get served
Southport in September is a good one if the weather's good, but can be as awful as the weather...
Elvington (York) - last one about 3 years ago - when it's on, is a good size, but yet not so big that you end up in a Waddington style queue for most of it
The Windermere one's supposed to be quite good, as is Sunderland
Dawlish Airshow, its in august, its free, sit on the beach, bring ear defenders for the kids. When the eurofighter exploded into view over the hill behind the beach, went on to full reheat and just effed off into the distance everyone under 10 was in tears. Brilliant. When it came back and did loads of huge roaring carving turns up and down the beach that was quite good too..
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
what, like this you mean?
[img] 
[/img]
Yeah or this, although I did only have my 70mm lense..
[img] 
[/img]
This was the actual moment it appeared, fluke I was ready with the camera and got a sequence..
[img] 
[/img]
If you like the up to date military hardware, and fast jet pilots with ego's bigger than an A380 then Paris is excellent, and closer to home Farnborough.
Bournemouth airshow is worth turning up to as well - free too.
Newtownards airshow FTW.
Is Mildenhall still going? that used to be ace as a kid, got the autograph of the SR-71 pilots, Apache helicopters before we brought them, A10's all painted up with shark teeth across the front, BBQ's everywhere and always a scorching day.
Lowestoft Air Show isn't bad, over 2 days, as it's free, and you get a decent view from the sea front.
And when you see a sunburned guy with a charity bucket, with his back to it, missing it all, then do him a favour and drop a single quid or two in the bucket, don't sneer like a chav as you march to the beach with 24 carlings under your arm and say "I already paid" as I;ve heard it 53498 times already, or avoid me like I have plague. Its free, but whats a quid when it brings 40k people to your town, with all that tourist income?
You really do see the best, and worst in people. Generally the single mums all pay, and pay extra, setting an example to the kids, as to the pensioners. Its that male 15-29 chav demographic who really get on my tits.
is Elvington mothballed...I went about 5yrs ago and thought it was great.\ very close to the runway when a phantom (or similar) took off at full (sounded that way anyway) tilt then proceeded to climb for about a mile vertically. hairs on neck moment!
Went to bentwood park airshow today ... Small yet reall good fun!
Go Caroline grace!!
RIAT at Fairford is way way the best for Military stuff. Huge display lines and great displays. Will be ging again this year to see the Raptor F-22's and hopefully this beauty - the Vulcan.
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
RIAT it was the mutts when i went!
Went to RAF Cosford airshow yesterday, i loved it, the Red Arrows were there, totally stunning display 😛 Tornado, jaguar and F15 too.
The traffic wasn't too bad either.
I used to really like Mildenhall when they still did it. Unfortunately after 9-11 they stopped doing them for "security reasons" and the fact they were actively engaged after that.
Personally I can't stand airshows. Causes a major headache trying to separate everything, throw in a few non-transponder or even non-radio equipped aircraft trundling through my airspace and it just gets worse.
But for those that do like them this is one of the best there is, complete with some awesome riding nearby.
[url= http://www.warbirdsoverwanaka.com/ ]Warbirds[/url]
May be a little too far for you to travel though
That warbirds over wanaka does look good, is it a bit chilly in the mountains in april for riding? Like is there any snow?
Jaguar flying yesterday at Cosford, are you sure?
is it a bit chilly in the mountains in april for riding? Like is there any snow?
Not a huge amount of snow in April, ski season doesn't start till June. There will be some snow up the tops but there always is. All the biking trails should still be well below the snow line at that time of year.
+20 for RIAT went last year, alwyas wanted to go to an airshow, the weather was crap and low cloud.
the hiighlight for me was obviously the vulcan and the Italian version of the red arrows, they were totally mental, they played the cockit radio over the main tannoy.
There is a certain bike event on the same weekend as the Bournemouth airshow. The bike event is under the flight path near the runway. Yes, the Big Bike Bash includes a free airshow!
Last year we had a vulcan open the show and the Red Arrows fly over during prize givingh
Used to go to Staverton air show when I was a nipper. Happy days.
[url=
of air show[/url]
When the eurofighter exploded into view over the hill behind the beach, went on to full reheat and just effed off into the distance everyone under 10 was in tears. Brilliant. When it came back and did loads of huge roaring carving turns up and down the beach that was quite good too..
Never been to an airshow but saw a Eurofighter display at Goodwood FoS last summer. Mind-bendingly awesome... Not sure what my contribution to the whole project was as a taxpayer, but that 10 minutes made it absolutely worth every penny.
I went to Leuchars Airshow last year with my gf. She was a bit hesitant at first but she'd enjoyed the Vulcan and red arrows at Windermere earlier that year so she came along. She was amazed when she saw the size of it. 50,000 spectators (thankfully, we got the train rather than attempting to drive - NEVER drive to an airshow if at all possible!).
We both loved it, fantastic day out. Battle of Britain Flight, Vulcan, Blades aerobatic team, the only letdown was the Chinook display being cancelled due to a mechanical fault - we had seen it earlier doing the RAF Falcons parachute team drop though.