Reports about the Farnborough Air Show which has been taking place in Hampshire this past week brought back some fond memories. Every summer in the 1950s and most of the 60s I would stay at my grandmother's home in the village of Cove, which backs onto Farnborough airfield.
In the weeks before the airshow, it was really terrific as I would see all the new planes and some of the old ones preparing for the show. If you looked up, you would always witness some kind of plane doing tricks in the sky. In effect, it was a free air show on a daily basis.
The highlight used to be the Black Arrows (later Red Arrows) formation team and their Hawker Hunter jets as the nine planes would swoop low over the house, day after day. It was the loudest noise I had ever heard and I thought it was absolutely fantastic.
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