To paraphrase Bob Dylan ‘The times….they are a ‘changin’…”

As one of the older (in years) members who pops into this forum now and again, I was once resident in the thick of things in East Anglia. Local airfields, or those that were within easy reach by car included Coltishall, Honington, the ‘ Heath, the ‘Hall, and still within comfortable reach with a reasonably early start were Wattisham, Alconbury, and Duxford. My work involved working every other week-end so family commitments precluded me from volunteer work at Duxford, but regular trips there with the family were the norm to keep abreast of events.

My son and I were the ‘spotters’ and other trips, usually during a mid-week day- off,to a particular base when exercises were on were eagerly awaited , thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding with a great variety of military aircraft of many nationalities. I am now rather sad to have witnessed the decline in the types of aircraft from these busier times, and to see those types that passed us on the peri-tracks as we photographed from the crash gates, now in museums , really hammers home the passing of time, but it is gratifying that so much effort is put into preserving these aircraft and even more that so many are still being maintained as airworthy and are regularly flown at airshows.

It is sadly inevitable that rising costs of all aspects of such activities will affect all of us, one way or another : fuel costs must have a direct effect on such operations, insurance and safety considerations must also impinge, and I think very often that I may have seen airshows at their best. The important aspect of terrorism was almost unknown (was there ever any other threat then than the I.R.A?) when I was most active in enjoying the airshows and airfield visits, and at that time, believe it or not, on the days running up to a Mildenhall Air Fete in the early seventies, there might have been a score of other fellow-enthusiasts watching arrivals. Latterly the hundreds of cars on arrivals days ( not talking about the show days remember,) made parking, traffic handling and just finding a viewing area a nightmare with police and traffic wardens all over the place moving you on.

It is true to that the general enthusiasm for such aircraft has blossomed over the years, and although I’m beginning to sound like an old ‘un, the interest some twenty to thirty years ago was minimal to that of today, with the advances in digital photography, air band radios and scanners,and proliferation of specialist magazines. We do live in good times, but I think we had some of the best of better times, and my prognosis has to be rather gloomy for the future, unless circumstances, often worldwide, over which we seem to have no control, such as oil prices, poverty, continuing conflict and terrorism continue to affect us all, directly or indirectly, and are addressed successfully , we may see a massive downturn in airshow participation, and leave an impoverished legacy for the new generation of enthusiasts.:(
Brian