You can find links to web pages about particular military aircraft on the
Aircraft Links page.
"Swifts"
Russian air force demonstration team
|
This
is the official website of the Russian air force "Strizhi" (Swifts)
demonstration team, with sections in Russian and in English.
It's surprisingly lowbrow and conversational, with pilot biographies and
birthdays, and month-by-month computer wallpaper calendars.
Last visited in January of 2007.
|
|
MAKS
|
The
official website of the Moscow Aviation and Kosmos Salon contains basic
information about the bi-annual show held at Zhukovsky airfield outside
Moscow. Last visited in January of 2007.
|
|
Beriev
design bureau
|
The
official website of the Beriev design bureau is simple but contains useful
information about the
company's aircraft and history.
Last visited in January of 2007.
|
|
Gidroaviasalon
|
This
is the official website for the
annual "hydro-aviation exhibition" at the Beriev test facility at Gelendzhik,
on the Russian Shore of the Black Sea. It's in Russian and
English, unfortunately the website is about 50% fact and 50% fantasy, around
half of the list aircraft don't turn up, and the minute-by-minute schedule
doesn't have too much correspondence with reality either. Last
visited in January of 2007.
|
|
Royal
International Air Tattoo |
Billed
as the world's biggest military airshow, the Royal International Air Tattoo
is held at Fairford, west of London, and includes participants from the
RAF, the United States military, European military forces and elsewhere
(including New Zealand). The website is straightforward and
useful, without being unnecessarily flashy.
|
|
Flying
Legends airshow at Duxford
|
This
airshow, close to the historic university town of Cambridge, is dedicated
to world war two aircraft. Unfortunately, when I visited the
website 6 or 7 weeks before the show date, it didn't even have a preliminary
list of the aircraft expected to perform at the show.
|
|
Battle
of Britain Memorial Flight
|
The
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is a group of aircraft commemorating
the Battle of Britain. As well as aircraft like spitfire and
hurricane fighters which actually fought in the Battle of Britain, the
Flight also includes a Lancaster bomber and a DC-3 Dakota transport.
The website doesn't have too much information, but there is a good wallpaper
page.
|
|
Planes of Fame at Chino
|
Chino volunteer Britt Dietz does an extraordinary job with this website, which
combines excellent graphic design with complete information about the annual
airshow, all updated frequently with photos taken by Britt, including many
air-to-air photos of aircraft at the museum which will be appearing in
the show. Last visited in June of 2006.
|
|
United States Air Force
|
The official USAF website includes information about the
Thunderbirds display team,
as well as a much flashier but separate USAF
Thunderbirds website
which includes their show schedule. Most of the main USAF website is pretty dull, but the
pages of photographs
more than make up for it!
|
|
Blue Angels
|
The
official website of the US Navy Blue Angels display team. Parts
of the website are slightly poorly put together and the thumbnails on the
photo gallery page are too small, but the photographs themselves are pretty
good.
|
| Nellis
AFB "Aviation Nation" airshow |
The
Aviation Nation website is well laid out, with information about military
participation as well as civilian operated warbirds and other demonstrations. |
|
Commemorative
Air Force Midland Airsho |
Yes,
they really spell "airsho" without the "w"! Quirky it might be,
but this airshow is one of the three best warbirds shows in America, with
excellent light for photography and an extremely wide range of aircraft
flying, mostly world war two, but also Vietnam era and a few modern jets
thrown in just for the hell of it! The website is basic but
very usable, though sometimes it can be hard to tell if they're expecting
particular aircraft to fly or not. Last visited in October
of 2008. |
| Yankee
Air Museum "Thunder Over Michigan" Airshow |
The
Thunder
Over Michigan airshow held each year at the historic Willow Run
airfield near Detroit has been going from strength to strength over the
last few years, gathering large numbers of a single aircraft type together
each time, including no fewer than eight B-17 Flying Fortresses for the
2005 show. The airshow page is basic but contains all of the
information you need, including a regularly updated list of the aircraft
which are expected. Last visited in July of 2005. |
| Wings
Over Gillespie Airshow |
This
is a medium sized airshow hosted by the Commemorative Air Force at Gillespie
Air Field in El Cajon on the eastern edge of San Diego. The
website is fairly basic but contains all of the information you'll need
such as directions and a list of which aircraft are flying.
|
|
Commemorative Air Force B-29/B-24 Squadron
|
The
Commemorative Air Force (formerly called the Confederate Air Force) operates
the world's last flying B-29 Superfortress and LB-30 Liberator.
As well as information about these aircraft, the website includes a schedule
of the places they'll be flying. Last visited in May of
2006.
|
|
Patriots jet display team
|
The Patriots are America's best civilian jet display team, doing very tight formations with colored smoke, and
some cool tricks that the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds don't do, like tail slides. The name is a bit of a misnomer,
considering that they fly four Soviet jet trainers! Their website is very heavy on Flash, so it loads very slowly
and then it crams music down your throat. The information on the website is
only moderately well done. Last visited in January of 2011.
|
|
Yuma Airshow
|
The
annual airshow at MCAS Yuma in the very south-west corner of Arizona
is a pleasant little event with an excellent static display and a worthwhile
amount of modern military participation. It's almost certain
that you'll see one of the base's AV-8B Harriers perform, and if you're
lucky then their aggressor F-5 Freedom Fighters will fly. The
2009 show had a pass by a pair of B-1 Lancer bombers and a pair of F-5s
broke the sound barrier, presumably inadvertently. Last visited
in March of 2009.
|
|
Riverside airshow
|
Riverside
airshow in the eastern Los Angeles basin is a good show for warbird enthusiasts,
with a good selection of modern types as well. The website
is adequate, but doesn't provide a list of the classic or modern military
types that are expected at the show. Last visited in July of
2007. |
|
Oshkosh Airshow
|
The Oshkosh Airshow, hosted by the Experimental Aircraft Association, is America's
largest "fly in", combining aerobatics, experimental aircraft, as well
as displays by warbirds from World War Two to the present day.
Unfortunately there's next to no information on the website about what
aircraft will be flying at the show, which you'd think is the main reason
why most people visit.
|
