Thinking of visiting a number of Southern airshows this year - anyone else interesting in doing the same?

Morning

As above: my initial potential hit list (can't afford to go to all of them !) is from the following - and, this year, most of the big ones are Advance Ticket purchase ONLY (i.e. no pay on the gate! ) and so pre-planning is essential if you actually want to attend!
- 1st May - Abingdon - Air & Country Show (very cheap!)
- 28/29 May - Duxford - American Air Museum being re-opened and with a general American Air Force theme
- 11th June - Biggin Hill Festival of Flight
- 19th June - Cosford Air Show
- 3rd July - Shuttleworth - Military Pageant Airshow (might also go to several others there on other dates)
- 8th-10th July - RIAT - Fairford
- 9th-10th - Duxford - Flying Legends
- 15th-17th - Farnborough International Airshow
- 7th Aug - Shuttleworth Edwardian Pageant (this is generally very good as they fly the very old/reproduction aircraft at the end of the day when the wind is light)

- & etc., etc. from then on

Full lists of likely shows are here and here .

Any thoughts?

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K-3 II, K-3 and a K-70 from SRS (having now relegated the K-30 /"K-50" to a backup body), & some Sigma and Pentax lenses (and a lot of old 35mm gear!)

I'll probably be at the Clacton Air show both days - entry is free & it's only 10 miles from home, so it's just a case of arranging holidays to fit.
I'd like to attend RIAT &/or The Flying Legends but I'm not sure if family commitments will allow it

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Mike
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Keep missing out on Cosford, I'd love to see the museum again.

RIAT and Farnborough are certainly on my horizon this year. never done Fairford yet, but did do Farnborough in 2014. Been a while since I've been to Flying Legends, I love the old warbirds, but having seen the sad incident at Shoreham last year I am a bit nervous..

Carfest and Dunsfold seem to cater for those who want to see Clarkson and Evans et al....exit arrangements for Dunsfold are horrendous.

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AKA Welshwizard/PWynneJ
Assorted Pentax/Nikon/Mamiya stuff

cosford a coach from nantwich and airshow £25 looking foreward to it

Going to RIAT on the Saturday, hopefully the F-35 will turn up this time.

Some tips on access/egress
- Cosford - arrive along the back roads (the "Yellows" on the OS maps ) on the South side of the airfield and not via the M54 or anywhere on the North side - we got in that way from the place we were staying in Ironbridge to the entrance on the Sunday morning in 2014 in around 35mins!!!
- Farnborough - approach from Junction 4A, NOT Junction 4, of the M3, and head South and then West around the Western side of the airfield. I did that in 2014 and was in the carpark on the Western end of the field in around 30mins from the M3. Same on the exit, but follow the same route (in reverse!) back to the M3 - ignore the official signs on the route North or you will trek through Harley Wintney!
- Dunsfold (Wings & Wheels) - approach up/down the A283 to the West of the airfield, NOT the A281 to the East, and then cut through the side roads from around Chiddingfold and use the Western entrance to the airfield. On the Saturday last year I was parked at the Western end of the airfield within about 90mins of leaving my home near Heathrow - similarly, when I left, it took about an hour to get to the Western exit, but it was plain sailing after that and I was home inside another hour.
- Duxford - approach from the South or South West sides and come up/leave down the A505 from Royston, NOT from ANYWHERE in the direction of Cambridge city! Usually takes me about 90-100 mins from the Heathrow area to the carpark at the South end of the airfield. OTOH, in 2013 it took us nearly 2hrs from Cambridge to the car park!

More details if anyone wants them!

RIAT at Fairford is however another thing - no shortcuts that I know of (at least from the South side) because the Police block off and man a lot of roadblocks/diversions all around the area for 5-10 miles out!

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K-3 II, K-3 and a K-70 from SRS (having now relegated the K-30 /"K-50" to a backup body), & some Sigma and Pentax lenses (and a lot of old 35mm gear!)

Ahhh Ironbridge - that's another place I want to visit. Had a great day there in 1992.

Farnborough - close enough for me to travel in by train - wasn't painful even on a weekend.

Fairford - only 90 mins for me (I pass it from time to time)

Dunsfold - thought it was overrated, I only went to see Vera and Thumper

Duxford - would come up the A505, never have any problems

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AKA Welshwizard/PWynneJ
Assorted Pentax/Nikon/Mamiya stuff

Separate reply - Goodwood Revival is fantastic for aerial displays and motor racing. I am regular Revivaler (but I don't dress up)

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AKA Welshwizard/PWynneJ
Assorted Pentax/Nikon/Mamiya stuff

Glad to hear you have your travel arrangements sorted!

OTOH - the tips for the airfields I know - and maybe more from people who know the short-cuts for other airfields (feel free to contribute!) - might help other people to avoid getting snarled up in traffic during visits?

BTW: from where I live, the trains into/out of Paddington and to the West are quite good - anything else becomes cross-country involving several changes, and is virtually impossible unless you have masses of time and patience

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K-3 II, K-3 and a K-70 from SRS (having now relegated the K-30 /"K-50" to a backup body), & some Sigma and Pentax lenses (and a lot of old 35mm gear!)

F-22 Confirmed for RIAT , Might need to rent a 150-450 for the day.

Overall, that's going to result in one ginormous bill for the day (RIAT is NOT cheap to start with)!

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K-3 II, K-3 and a K-70 from SRS (having now relegated the K-30 /"K-50" to a backup body), & some Sigma and Pentax lenses (and a lot of old 35mm gear!)

Anyway, any other thoughts on my original questions/suggestions?

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K-3 II, K-3 and a K-70 from SRS (having now relegated the K-30 /"K-50" to a backup body), & some Sigma and Pentax lenses (and a lot of old 35mm gear!)

Update

Failed to get an Advance booking into the Shuttleworth show tomorrow - all sold out .

From what I am seeing from the other show websites, I/you all will have to buy advance tickets to virtually any decent big airshow in S.E England this Summer or you won't get in !

I'll be doing that over the next few days/weeks.

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K-3 II, K-3 and a K-70 from SRS (having now relegated the K-30 /"K-50" to a backup body), & some Sigma and Pentax lenses (and a lot of old 35mm gear!)

Been thinking a bit more about what I want to in view of the fact that my wife is often not well enough to come along on the day.

Coming to the conclusion that I will have to buy 2x tickets to each of the shows I want to visit (a list will follow) and then, if it looks like she won't be able to come, I'll post here and on the Fighter Control forum on the day before that I have a spare ticket for sale at the price I paid for it (+share of the booking fee where appropriate) - then first come first served and I will hand over the ticket on the day (which could prove difficult as it means that we will have to arrange a place to meet up before the show), and so, preferably, try to email the electronic ticket the night before to whoever showed up first to express their interest.

In either case, I will trust the prospective buyers to honour their commitment to purchasing, even if they then can't come along for any reason. Payment will normally be required by BT or Paypal Gift in the evening before , or cash on the day in extremis.

Does that sound sensible? Also, if anyone wants to "put their name down" for a particular show in advance, then please wait for my next post with the list. However, please remember that my wife has first call on it and thus that a ticket will only be available if she can't use it.

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K-3 II, K-3 and a K-70 from SRS (having now relegated the K-30 /"K-50" to a backup body), & some Sigma and Pentax lenses (and a lot of old 35mm gear!)

Here is the list:
May
14th/15th _ Stow Maries Vintage Flying Event (advance tickets only - booking today!) http://www.stowmaries.org.uk/calendar/60/5-Vintage-flying-event
• 29th May – Duxford American Airforce Day - already booked
June
[/u]• 6th June – Shuttleworth – Fly Navy – before 30th May for lower prices, http://www.shuttleworth.org/
• 11th June – Biggin Hill Festival of Flight (advance tickets only) http://www.bhfof.com - this is a "maybe"
• 19th June – RAF Cosford - advance tickets only - http://www.cosfordairshow.co.uk/intheair.php - this is a "maybe" but probably unlikely due to the distance from London
July
• 9th – RIAT Fairford - already booked
• 10th – Duxford Legends http://www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwm-duxford/airshows/2016/flying-legends-air-show - booking by the end of this week
• 17th – Farnborough Airshow http://www.farnborough.com/public/page.cfm/link=44
booking by the end of this week
August
• 7th – Shuttleworth – Edwardian Pageant http://www.shuttleworth.org/ - booking by mid-June
• 27th/28th – Dunsfold – Wings & Wheels http://www.wingsandwheels.net/
- booking by end of July, but could also depend on our holiday plans
September
• 10th – Duxford - Duxford Airshow - Meet The Fighters (the last Duxford show this year) http://www.iwm.org.uk/events/iwm-duxford/airshows/2016/the-duxford-air-show - booking by mid-August, but again could depend on holiday plans
October
• 2nd - Shuttleworth – Race Day & Roaring Twenties Finale http://www.shuttleworth.org/ - booking by mid-September

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K-3 II, K-3 and a K-70 from SRS (having now relegated the K-30 /"K-50" to a backup body), & some Sigma and Pentax lenses (and a lot of old 35mm gear!)