As an air-mad 'baby boomer' of the 1950s, the Farnborough Air Show was one of the very few aviation events shown on the 2-channel 405-line TV of the day and was keenly anticipated. The voice of Raymond Baxter describing each BRITISH aircraft was always to be heard...
I then went there in 1966 as a guest of the Fleet Air Arm. In the coal-hole of an 892 Sqn Sea Vixen F(AW)Mk2, thanks to the kindness of their Boss! I recall lots of 'g' during the 'rocket attcak' and being rather airsick as we held waiting for the run-in, but it didn't dent my enthusiasm for a career as a military pilot.
At Valley, we were all expecting to watch the Farnborough Air Show one Sunday when BBC Druidvision announced that they would be showing a Welsh classical music programme instead...the TV only just escaped destruction! "Dim Ffrnbryw" indeed!
In the early 1980s, I went on a sqn push from Wattisham and the displays were still pretty good. Then in the mid-80s, I went a couple of times while IAM still existed; you could park there (if you knew a mate), have coffee in the OM, then stroll down through the gate to 'do' the exhibitions and blag the odd G&T from people such as Flight International or Flight Refuelling. Apart from flying the press in a VC10K to film the MiG 29s arriving in 1988, the next time I went was when I manged to win the 'squadron ticket' in 1992, which allowed me to escape UAS Summer Camp QFI-ing for a day.
Then I went as a guest on 25 July 2000. Well looked-after; the hosting company was very generous and grateful for the VC10K flypasts I'd managed to have approved, so watching the display from their chalet was very enjoyable. But as I drove home, the news came in of the AF4590 Concorde crash which had occurred just as I'd left the show.....
A couple of years ago the weather was very hot and the walk from the car park at Gate I seemed endless. The exhibitions were quite well attended and the display included A400M, A380, Typhoon and the like. Quite an extensive static display too. BŁoody annoying to have to go through that 'airport security' nonsense at the entrance though.
But this year, the weather was awful even on the best weather trade day. Fortunately I was there to meet people with aeroplanes large enough to keep the rain off! Including the A400M 'Atlas', which any trucky lucky enough to fly will simply adore. Exhibition halls virtually empty (and a very poor guide to the locations of exhibitors) and the flying display was very brief indeed. MV-22 excellent and I want a Gripen for Christmas! I was warned that the car parks were swamp-like, so took the train - but the organisers hadn't rigged up any bus shelters for people waiting for the shuttle back to North Camp. Why ever not? Hardly rocket science after 3 days of pouring rain to work out that some scaffolding and an awning or two might be a good idea? Took ages to get back to North Camp - then a piddling little 3 coach train turned up, so it was sardine class all the way to Reading.
Farnborough most certainly is a mere shadow of its former self, when it was THE airshow of the year. Was it worth Ł30 to attend? No, it most certainly was not. But I'll probably go again....
