Author: Alex Bradley
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.
It was Fairford, the year they had the full Carrier Air Wing package on the static line, and I remember standing close enough to an EA-18G Growler to read
The Southend Airshow 2026 is not confirmed. As of May 2026, no airshow is scheduled at Southend-on-Sea. Southend City Council confirmed in May 2025 that it intends to revive the event, but revival talks remain conditional on London Southend Airport meeting its post-Covid growth objectives.For official aviation safety context, see the UK Civil Aviation Authority. For the previous guide in this series, see Little Gransden Airshow 2026: Dates, Aircraft Displays, Charity, and 5 Key Facts.What Was the Southend Airshow?The Southend Airshow, officially named the Southend Festival of the Air, was the longest-running seafront airshow in the UK and the largest…
There is a particular quality of silence that follows something going wrong in the air. I’ve experienced it twice at displays — once at a small grass strip
The first time I understood that a display could be two entirely different events happening simultaneously, I was standing at Fairford watching an F-15E wo
The programme said the display would start at half past two. By three o’clock the commentator was explaining, with the particular strained cheerfulness tha
There was a moment at Biggin Hill, maybe four or five years ago now, when I overheard two men behind me having a conversation I wasn’t meant to hear. One o
I was standing at Fairford in 2003 when a B-1B Lancer came through on a pass so low you could feel the pressure change in your chest before the sound arriv
The Little Gransden Air & Car Show 2026 is a 1-day charity aviation and vehicle event held on Sunday 30 August 2026 at Little Gransden Airfield, Fullers Hill Farm, Little Gransden, Cambridgeshire, SG19 3BP. It is the highest fundraiser in the East of England for the BBC Children in Need Appeal.For official aviation safety context, see the UK Civil Aviation Authority. For the previous guide in this series, see Biggin Hill Airshow 2026: Heritage Hangar, History, and What to Expect.What Is the Little Gransden Air & Car Show?The Little Gransden Air & Car Show is Cambridgeshire’s annual charity aviation and classic vehicle…
Biggin Hill Airshow 2026: Heritage Hangar, History, and What to ExpectThe Biggin Hill airshow, officially known as the Festival of Flight, is London’s only airshow, held at London Biggin Hill Airport in Bromley, Kent. The Biggin Hill International Air Fair was one of the largest civilian airshows in the world and the largest privately organised air show in Europe, running from 1963 to 2010. It was succeeded by a smaller-scale event titled the Festival of Flight, launched in June 2014. For the previous guide in this series, see Teignmouth Airshow 2026: Why It Is Cancelled and 3 Devon Alternatives to Attend.As…
The Kids Who Already Know the Aircraft Names There is a particular type of child you see at airshows near active military stations, and once you have notic