Nostalgia rules...
As the wind now whistles over Greenham's empty acres and echoes round the big open spaces so forlorn and neglected, it's impossible for those who were not present to know the magical qualities of the IATs once held there. Memory often flushes away the ordinary just leaving the exceptional but I don't think anything will ever come near to replicating the pleasure of those amazing air displays. For a couple of quid extra we used to sit all day in the stands right next to the runway and revel in all the sights, sounds and smells of those fantastic events. The noise was like the clap of doom, and with just a bag of sandwiches and a few cans of pop, we used to go home after eight hours or so of flying, with ears ringing. And the static lines were amazing, you could get so close and talk to the aircrews. Others have referred to the C130 Hercules and Hunter meets. Fantastic! The commercial side alone was worth the entrance fee, but often we just didn't have time to see that much of it. We tried Fairfird and Farnborough a couple of times later but they were never the same.