Beags
My experience was similar to yours, airshows in the late 50s and early 60s which I or Mum had to pay for, followed by a run of freebies.
'67 courtesy of fiancee's Dad, who worked there as a 'boffin' - he worked on trials with,among other things, the V Force moving map (Green Satin?),HUD and Laser Bomb technique.
'70 as the nav on the Red Arrows support Herc, brought the ground crew and stuff from the Cologne/Bonn show into Farnborough. the Red's boss was Dennis Hazell,sadly killed a couple of years later.
'72 as the nav on the lead Herc in the display.
'82 an ATC freebie
'90 a freebie via my wife's job
and lastly last Saturday a freebie from No1 son, taking part in his first session on the display committee.
Having not been for years I was disappointed with the size of the exhibition and of the flying display, obviously the weather had a part to play in the latter. There seemed to be far too many rip-off drinks and food outlets that gave the whole show a somewhat seedy air. The highlight for me was the A380, and grandson and I managed to be shown around it after it landed, with him promising to email the pilots a copy of a photo he had taken showing the machine producing it's own clouds.
Amusing sequel to my tale from No2 son who was on duty as a NATS London Terminal ATCO on Saturday afternoon. He had just returned from a break to be told that the guy he had relieved had refused a request from Farnborough to 'up the airspace'. He rang them and said 'Of course you can have the airspace,my Dad and brother are there!'.