I know the title may seem a little odd, but wait, I can tie it all together. One of the great opportunities for me at BlogWorld was the chance to meet some of our readers face to face. Among these was the man many of you know as CF, aka The Cranky Flyer. His blog is linked from our LUVLinks section, but if you haven't visited it yet,
click here, especially if you are a fan of "things with wings."
I also enjoyed traveling with the Southwest Airlines Blog Team, folks like my blog compatriot, Paula Berg, and Christi Day, Linda Hochster (who manages our
Adopt-A-Pilot blog), Steve Heaser (who does our internal podcasts), Chris Ronan, the founder of RD2, which designed our blog, and Bill Owen, one of our most read bloggers.
Like me, both Bill and CF are "certifiable" commercial aviation enthusiasts, so we had some interesting conversations. Those conversations got me to thinking about airshows, and my favorite venues. I went to my first airshow in 1963, and it was at the Pt. Magu Naval Air Station in Southern California. The Blue Angels performed in Grumman Tigers. I have also been to
Abbotsford, just across the Washington border in British Columbia. Back when B-52s were stationed at Carswell Air Force base in Fort Worth, I was able to go up inside the cramped cockpit during their show. We even used to have an annual airshow here at Love Field. After we got home on from BlogWorld in Las Vegas on Saturday, I found out that Nellis Air Force Base, just outside the city, was holding an airshow the same day. I do have three favorites among airshows, however. Third on the list is
Oshkosh, just for its sheer size and the number of aircraft. It usually has a sizeable participation of airliners. Then tied for first are two English shows, the
International Air Tattoo (IAT) and
Farnborough. The IAT has almost every precision team from Europe, along with special displays. If you love "metal" screaming off the runway with afterburners all day long, the IAT is where you need to be. The other favorite, Farnborough, is where you can find the latest creations from the world's airframe manufacturers.
Let's hear what your favorite airshows are and why.
