Well, we went yesterday. I bought an Armani suit specially, but nobody seemed to take us seriously, possibly because we had the smallest baby in Farnborough strapped to the front of it, and milk-stains down the back. All the arms dealers were queueing up to Coochi-Coo him.
Saw disappointingly little of the display stands - by the time we'd looked at half the stuff outside it was time for the flying displays. I did get the impression though that members of the public outnumbered traders. I had figured that the 'public on trade day' special was probably intended to cover otherwise sparse attendance.
Enjoyed the GAPAN stall, some of the space stalls, and the university drones and demonstrators, but somehow managed to come home without any samples of anything and generally got the impression that a lot of the stands were pretty unimaginative. Why sprinkle simulators around if you don't let people have a go on them? Spaceship 2 would be a case in point - the best they could do was to dress up every child who went through in a Richard Branson beard and moustache, before trying to sell them internet packages. There were no cockpits or cabins you could sit in. No simulators to crash. No technical or construction details. They didn't even make the information brochures look like airline tickets.
Enjoyed the flying displays, particularly the Vulcan, A380 and the piston aerobatics. Not so much the fast jets - I had my fingers in baby's ears and there were none left for my own. Besides, there's not so much you can do in a fast jet with a low cloudbase other than sharp turns. Not that it bothered baby who slept through the lot.
Anyway, home - shattered, and to bed where I woke baby with my snoring.