So where would make for the perfect airshow?

Wattisham, great but ATZ problems

8,000 is plenty.

Moggy

So where are Southport, Waddington and Sunderland?

Elvington and give us up North less traveling distance rather than to the south most times.

You have a real dislike of them haven’t you, Trump? John Blake, Raymond Baxter and a bit later Roger Hoefling all enhanced the airshows, for me. And I really enjoy Melvin (of this parish) and Brendan O’Brien at Dunsfold, Ben Dunnell and others.

Anywhere where the commentators can be turned off.

isn’t Woodbridge an AAC base plus Royal Engineers??

its home to RHQ, 12 HQ Squadron RE, 9 Parachute Squadron RE, 51 Parachute Squadron RE, 61 Field Squadron (EOD) (part of 33 Engineer Regiment based in Wimbish) and 23 Eng Regt REME Wksp.

Goodwood is the perfect venue IMO – large grass airfield, lovely backdrop, long runway(s), ample parking off-site, has the infrastructure in place to deal with massive crowds (it services something like 120,000+ over three days for the Revival, and I’d imagine a similar number for the Festival of Speed, each year without any issue) and the roads are pretty good. Certainly, the traffic’s never that bad and the car parks/access roads are spread out to avoid too congestion in one area. You’d be shooting into the sun, which people would moan about, but it’s a small price to pay for an airshow at such a lovely venue. You could even have a curve in the crowd, if you wanted to. If only Lord March was as big an aviation enthusiasts as he is a car enthusiast…

Headcorn would be ace for a smaller scale vintage show – something along the lines of Little Gransden. Parking never seems too bad at their larger events either, although local roads may suffer and I’d imagine the Headcorn town residents kicking up a fuss over the noise…

Charlie, I know some covert stuff goes on but thought it was private companies

What about Alconbury, always was a good venue

The runway is rather full of cars and containers these days!! And isn’t Woodbridge an AAC base plus Royal Engineers??

Google earth Woodbridge airbase right by Rendlesham Forest

THATS THE PLACE FOR AN AIRSHOW !!!!

yer but the local London-iets don’t like aircraft and god forbid if the concert hall gets noise polluted by aircraft !!! I was told once by someone who worked there that it used to be a designated emergency runway for the space shuttle due to its length how true i don’t know but its a long runway. More importantly i could go by cycle and free load in the naughty woods !!!!!!!!!:rolleyes::rolleyes:

What about Alconbury, always was a good venue

Google earth Woodbridge airbase right by Rendlesham Forest

THATS THE PLACE FOR AN AIRSHOW !!!!

Manston – for purely selfish reasons!! And if it is ever saved…..

Definitely price per car.

Otherwise you have pretty spelled out the key criteria, with which few could argue!:)

North Weald, to small, great access but no parking and of course Stansted and London ATZ.

Wattisham, great but ATZ problems
Must be an old Suffolk?Norfolk bomber base that could be reactivated but then again vehicle access would be a pain and costs prohibitive.

Biggin, same ATZ problems

I remember the old Great Warbirds at West Malling, sort of perfect really and I bet the locals would now swap the two days a years disturbance than the 364 they have now

Is it Location, Location, Location?
Ease of access.
no corporate tents on the flightline
of course participants
an ideal price to get in
Price per car
Price per occupant
………etc..

Cant add much to that, other than a north facing flightline.
Price per car or occupant ? Tricky one that, depending if you have the opportunity to take someone else or not.
As well as how much they are charging.
Plenty of car parks, with multiple entrances and exits. With marshalls at the end of the show, rather than just at the start.

I agree about stepladders as well as windbreaks, picnic tables etc.

As to actual location ?, again tricky. With an active base, it’s unlikely any would tick all of the boxes.
Or more to the point, I doubt the organizers would want to tick all of the boxes.

Just hold it La Ferte Alais, which ticks most of the boxes! 🙂