The Sky above Farnborough littered with debris – The Air Show.

They literarily were debris. The Mig-29, the best of the aircraft to perform the stunt, appeared high above like a floating leaf, pushed hither and thither by the wind. Such was the brilliance of its maneuvers. The public announcement system heralded it before Mig flew, even an American pilot grudging acknowledged to me. The Russian Mig is amazing when it takes to the sky. It was.

The others weren’t outdone. The tornado was a noise pollution, but when the plane pirouetted twice, continuously, while it flew at mach one speed, people below flabbergasted. Many planes nosedived. A lot of them soared high, muzzle up, even more impressively than an ascending eagle.

Then, there were the bees, the humming choppers. Majestically, the American Apache Longhorn scaled. The sight, with its outstretched wings and overhanging missiles, would make any person run for their lives. The Royal Air Force had lot of aircrafts flying. The new Eurofighter, Typhoon, looked good. Its helicopter, five of them at one go, also took to the sky. I was waiting for them to collide, that was the only thing that hadn’t happened. Then, it would truly be debris, but thank god, that didn’t happened. Instead, they showed maneuvers very few choppers could even contemplate.

Below, more than thirty thousand people had gathered. Some camped, some with umbrellas perched above their heads, not to miss a single action even when the rain pelted, and many, just soaking it all in. But the rain was intermittent. The gods must have heard the rallying cries of the thundering aircrafts.

This show, called the Farnborough Air Show, claims to be the biggest in the world. It might well be. The planes not only took to the sky, they were parked on the ground for us to witness also. The new super-jumbo, Airbus A380 was there, greeting the arrivals. Placed strategically at the entrance so that everyone would gape in amazement as they entered. The plane was like a giant whale, plucked from the sea and place there, in the tarmac. Its huge, bloated body, making the design look incongruous. But it was the size, which held people in amazement.

The Boeing was hopelessly upstaged by the Airbus. Its 747 is no longer the monster of the sky, and it only had one passenger jet. A 777 was parked, hidden amidst American Air force’s Boeing fighter aircrafts.

The company though is building small, lighter, but faster and wide-body aircrafts, to challenge Airbus. They no longer believe bigger is better. Being an American company, it’s hard to believe that.

The show was in fact on its fifth day today. For past five days, only the traders were allowed. Today, the gates opened for the public, and we turned out in full force.

There were three large exhibition halls inside the Air Show. Many companies were present. From big engine manufactures like Rolls Royce, to tiny screw makers from Mexico, most of them, who had something to do with flying, had flown in here and camped, exhibiting their products.

For more than six hours, I toured the place, saw the parked aircrafts, took pictures, and witnessed the show. That was a lot in a day, and for ₤20, wasn’t bad. Despite being alone, never for a single moment, I was bored. The exhibition held my interest, but when the Red Arrows started the air show, at half 12, I didn’t notice time, like the aircrafts, fly by.

After the show, the planes above the skies of London will now no longer hold the same interest to me. I saw couple of them fly when I was coming back. They appeared to me like a burnt food, after enjoying a sumptuous meal. The twinkle is gone, they no longer are the little stars, thanks to awesome aircrafts that took to the Farnborough skies.