My first but sadly not my last air show fatality that unfolded before my eyes, Don Bullock Biggin Hill 1980. I was with my fiancée, now my wife, when the Invader came hurtling down the runway at very low level, pulling up into a barrel roll that went horribly wrong. It looked to me like the wings not half way round, had deformed into a u shape and I turned to my fiancée and said "he is never going to make it". I was so shocked by what I was seeing, I was rooted motionless to the spot and I did not mange to get my camera up to my eye to take a photo. He disappeared from sight into the valley below the road still inverted. There was silence and I hoped that he had managed to complete the roll and somehow fly down the valley. Sadly he did not and a large black cloud of smoke rose into view of those on the airfield. The Invader crashed into the rising ground on the other side of the valley. The following week a friend of mine who was a local copper, was tasked with helping the AAIB find the remains of the crew and passengers, who were on board the aircraft.
Both the fatal accidents I witnessed were at Biggin Hill.
Edited to say I do have good memories of air shows especially at Biggin Hill in the RAF VR enclosure with my Dad in the 60's. 1968 Harrier, Phantom and a Chocolate and Custard coloured Hercules
