Author: Alex Bradley
Alex Bradley is a UK-based aviation writer and airshow circuit regular who has spent years attending displays from RIAT at Fairford and the Biggin Hill Festival of Flight to small fly-ins that drew two hundred people and a hot dog van, and values both for entirely different reasons. He is not a pilot. He is not a PR man for the aviation industry. He is the person in the crowd who has been coming long enough to notice when something has quietly changed, when an organiser is papering over a problem, and when a display is genuinely worth the drive. His writing on Redhill Airshow covers the British airshow circuit, safety, display team politics, CAA regulations, and the quiet contraction of grass airfield culture that nobody in the industry wants to discuss plainly. He has stood at Redhill Aerodrome in every kind of English summer weather, watched Tiger Moths bank low over Surrey farmland, and carries strong opinions about what this country is slowly losing one cancelled event at a time.
I was at Redhill last week. The usual Tuesday quiet, a PA-28 doing circuits, someone’s thermos cooling on the bonnet of a Land Rover. I found myself trying to work out what was overhead at Fairford at the same moment. The answer, based on publicly available tracking data, was probably a B-52H on preflight. That is not a calculation I ever expected to make from a grass strip in Surrey. Fairford is currently a working USAF strategic bomber base, and has been since early March. Operation Epic Fury, the US-led air campaign against Iran, began on the 28th of February.…
Something happened at Ragley Hall two years ago that I have not managed to fully dismiss. I was standing near the treeline at the estate’s eastern end when a Spitfire came over. It was low enough that I heard the rivet pattern against the airflow before I heard the Merlin. Nobody around me seemed to register it. They were watching a stage act. That image has stayed with me as the most accurate description of what the Midlands Air Festival actually is. It is a serious flying display running inside a music and food festival, and the two things coexist…
The airshow in Oshkosh 2026 — officially EAA AirVenture Oshkosh — takes place from Monday 20 to Sunday 26 July at Wittman Regional Airport, Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The 73rd EAA fly-in convention features 9 air shows over 7 days, including 2 night air shows on 22 and 25 July. The event attracts more than 600,000 people and 10,000 aircraft each July, making it the world’s largest aviation gathering.What Is EAA AirVenture Oshkosh?EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is the world’s largest annual fly-in convention, organised by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). The event generates an estimated economic impact of $257 million for the Fox Valley region.…
The first time I stood on the Paignton seafront and watched something fast come in low over the bay, I understood something about why coastal shows have outlasted most of their inland rivals. There is a quality to an aircraft over open water that you cannot reproduce over a grass strip or a runway. The sea provides a backdrop that makes the aircraft look small and the sky look enormous, which is the right proportion for display flying. The English Riviera Airshow turns ten this year, which sounds like a modest milestone until you consider how many shows have not…
The Paignton Airshow 2026 — officially named the English Riviera Airshow — is a 3-day free coastal aviation event held from Friday 29 May to Sunday 31 May 2026 at Paignton Green, Torbay, Devon. The 2026 edition marks the 10th anniversary of the first Torbay Airshow in 2016 and is expected to attract 200,000 visitors across the 3 days.What Is the Paignton Airshow?The Paignton Airshow — known officially as the English Riviera Airshow — is the UK’s first major free coastal airshow of the calendar year. It is held annually over the late May Bank Holiday weekend at Paignton Green, on the seafront of Torbay’s natural…
The Shoreham Airshow disaster occurred on 22 August 2015, when a vintage Hawker Hunter T7 jet aircraft crashed onto the A27 road in West Sussex during an aerial display, killing 11 people and injuring 16 others. It was the deadliest airshow accident in the United Kingdom since the 1952 Farnborough Airshow crash, which killed 31 people. This article covers the sequence of events, the official investigation findings, the legal proceedings, and the regulatory changes introduced as a result.For official aviation safety context, see the UK Civil Aviation Authority. For the previous guide in this series, see Shuttleworth Airshow 2026: 7…
I was standing at Redhill last summer when someone mentioned that Thunder Over the Boardwalk had simply stopped in 2025. No announcement that explained it properly, just a gap where twenty-three years of Atlantic City display history had been. Then the 2026 news arrived, and the name was gone along with the August dates. The rebranding to Soar & Shore Festival presented by Visit Atlantic City tells you something precise. This is not primarily an airshow that a city hosts. It is a tourism product that uses an airshow as one of its central components. That distinction is not trivial.…
The Shuttleworth airshow 2026 season features 7 themed shows running from May to October at Old Warden Aerodrome, Bedfordshire. Building on a record-breaking 2025 season with more than 30,000 visitors, the 2026 programme includes a fresh theme, expanded attractions, and the return of much-loved favourites. Every show is held at Old Warden Aerodrome, near Biggleswade, home of the world-famous Shuttleworth Collection.For official aviation safety context, see the UK Civil Aviation Authority. For the previous guide in this series, see Paris Airshow 2026: 5 Key Facts, 2025 Results, and the Next Show Date.What Is the Shuttleworth Airshow?The Shuttleworth airshow is a series…
I was at Farnborough in 2022, standing in the public enclosure on the Tuesday, when I understood for the first time what the event actually is. The flying was excellent, the static display substantial, and the crowd thin in a way that felt structurally intentional. Farnborough is not thin because it is not popular. It is thin because the public is not really the point. RIAT at Fairford draws around a hundred and seventy thousand visitors across three days. The feeling on the ground there is different from any other airshow I attend. The damp grass underfoot after overnight rain,…
The Paris Airshow does not take place in 2026. The International Paris Air Show — officially the Salon International de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (SIAE) — is held exclusively in odd-numbered years at Paris-Le Bourget Airport, France. The most recent edition was the 55th show in June 2025. The next edition is the 56th show, scheduled for 14–20 June 2027.What Is the Paris Air Show?The Paris Air Show is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in France. It is the largest air show and aerospace industry exhibition event in the world, measured by number…
