The Top 10 Air Shows

Officially known as the Salon International de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace Le Bourget (the show is held at Le Bourget airfield about 10 miles north of the center of Paris), the Paris Air Show is the world's largest aerospace trade fair. The biennial Paris show is held in late June in years that end with odd numbers, to alternate with the Farnborough Air Show in England in even-numbered years. At the Paris show, which is held on a sprawling site and is open to the general public for the last three days of its eight-day duration, amazing aerial displays of new fighters, commercial jets and helicopters alternate with nostalgia-invoking flights performed by historic aircraft such as the now-rare Lockheed Super Constellation.

The world's second-largest aerospace trade fair after Paris, the biennial Farnborough Air Show is held in July in even-numbered years. Coupled with the fact that the airfield is tucked away down the back streets of the town of Farnborough, its 40-mile-plus distance from London can make the show difficult to reach. However, the layout of the show site is more compact than Paris and makes the show easier to get around for the person doing business there. The display features lots of fast jets such as this MiG 29M OVT, though the proximity of the runway to the crowd in the rather narrow Farnborough airfield site means that the displays aren't always as spectacular as they could be.

In terms of aircraft numbers flying at and visiting the show, the annual Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture Convention at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wis. is by a very long way the world's largest air show. Held over the course of a week from late July to early August, it is so big in terms of aircraft present that the show needs an overflow airfield, East Central Wisconsin Airport. The 2007 show included 2,647 showplanes, 985 homebuilt aircraft, 1,014 vintage aircraft, 365 warbirds, 136 ultralights, 117 seaplanes, and 30 rotorcraft. Including visiting non-display aircraft, more than 10,000 aircraft descended upon Oshkosh for the 2007 EAA show. Overall attendance at the show was estimated at 560,000, up about 3.2 percent over 2006. Nearly 40,000 people camped out. If you were merely to walk past -- not down -- each row of aircraft present at the Oshkosh show, you'd cover about 5.2 miles.

Until now Asian Aerospace has been the largest aerospace trade fair in Asia. However, the future size of the biennial show is uncertain because of a disagreement between the show's organizers and the Singapore government, which traditionally has hosted the show at a site on the edge of Changi International Airport. The next Asian Aerospace show will be held at a new site at Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport, and in the future Singapore will hold its own competing trade show at the Changi location. But, given that both shows will be located at busy international airports, it seems fair to assume that -- as has been the case at the Changi show for years -- the show-related air displays will be interspersed with takeoffs and landings of scheduled airline flights.

Russia aims to make the fast-growing MAKS show, held at the Gromov LII flight research institute airfield at Zhukovsky near Moscow, as important an aerospace trade show in world terms as Paris or Farnborough. Russian manufacturers use MAKS to showcase their latest products, including the Sukhoi and MiG fighter jets that, as a result of thrust vectoring and excellent aerodynamic design, famously are capable of maneuvers that no other fighters have been able to match. In this photo, a trio of brightly colored MiG 29 fighters, painted in bright display-team colors, screams overhead in the MAKS 2007 show, held in the second half of August.

Dubai's hopes for its biennial trade air show match its boundless ambition in every other sphere of commercial, residential and tourism development. Held over five days in November, the 2007 Dubai Air Show is taking place from November 11 to November 15. The highlight of the last show, in 2005, was the stunning display put on by an Airbus A380 painted in the colors of Emirates Airlines, Dubai's national carrier and -- with some 55 A380s on order -- by far the largest customer for the superjumbo. Already the largest trade air fair in the Middle East, the Dubai Air Show's importance seems set to grow like Dubai's skyline -- which now boasts the highest building in the world -- as the tiny nation increasingly becomes a global hub for commerce and air transport.

Held annually in England on the third weekend in July, usually at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, the Royal International Air Tattoo is the world's largest military air show. Showcasing hundreds of fighting and transport aircraft operated by air forces from multitudes of countries worldwide, it often hosts "meets" of selected aircraft types such as the C-130 Hercules and always features displays by several of the world's best military formation-flying teams. Italy's famous Frecce Tricolori, flying Aermacchi MB.339 advanced jet trainers, is shown here displaying at the 2007 Royal International Air Tattoo. So important a show is the Tattoo that it featured the first display and landing of a B-2A Spirit stealth bomber outside the United States.

Canada's premier air show, the Abbotsford International Air Show in British Columbia celebrated its 45th birthday in 2007. Admitting more than 125,000 members of the general public over the August event's three-day run, Abbotsford features static and flying displays from Canadian Armed Forces and U.S. Air Force aircraft and display teams. It also features many displays by historic warbirds such as this team of World War II-era T-6 Texan advanced trainers, parachute teams, and civilian aerobatic aircraft, as well as ground displays by motorcycle teams and demonstration of military equipment.

The annual Planes of Fame Air Show is held on two days in May at the busy general aviation airport at Chino near Los Angeles. The show provides one of the world's best displays of veteran World War II and Korean War warbirds, as well as modern-day military aircraft. Its flight line features fabulous line-ups of classic military aircraft such as the P-51D, the Sea Fury, and the MiG 15, and flight displays include wing-walkers and civilian aerobatic teams. This Chino shot provides an idea of the stunning line-up of warbirds that the show offers.

The home of Orville and Wilbur Wright and their aircraft, as well as the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, it's only fitting that Dayton should have a top-notch air show. The two-day event, held in late July at a site on the grounds of Dayton International Airport (which remains open for business throughout the display), features a stunning flying schedule of military and civilian aircraft, old and new, as well as a large static display. In this shot taken at the 2007 Dayton Air Show, the U.S. Air Force Heritage Flight of a P-51D, an RF-4E Phantom and an F-15 Eagle, celebrates the U.S. Air Force's 60th birthday.