Last weekend was the Royal International Air Tattoo for 2006 (read, great big military airshow), and courtesy of my parents, I attended. Things I forgot to bring: spare camera battery, wide-brimmed hat. Things I remembered to bring: KM 5D, 3.5 GB of memory cards, myself. We arrived just before 9 AM, and found ourselves a spot just west of the grandstand area, which is where we usually end up. The wind was out of the East at about 12 knots, so the aircraft would be going left-right across the runway in front of us for takeoff and landing (other than helicopters and one mad Russian pilot).
The show kicked off at 10 A.M. with a display from a Pilatus PC-7 training craft demonstrating how agile a turbo-prop craft can be. The show then rolled steadily onwards, with appearances of a Canberra PR-9, F/A-18C Hornet, BAe Harrier GR7A (a staple of UK airshows I think), Mi-24V Hind, F-16AM Falcon, two Westland Lynxes, B-1B Lancer, B52-H Stratofortress, MV-22B Osprey, MiG-29M OVT, F/A-18F Super Hornet, F-15C Eagle, P-51C Mustang, Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire and much more. Yes, that list was only about half of the flying craft. There was also the static display, with approximately 100 fighters, tankers, helicopters and support craft on display.
(That image plays with Lightbox 2, just to see if I like the effect in the blog.)