Biggin Hill International Air Fair 2003
The 2003 Biggin Hill International Air Fair was one of the first major airshows of the display season to mark 100 Years of Powered Flight. 2003 also marked the Air Fair’s own 40th Anniversary and it boasted a very varied line-up of military and civilian displays
All photography by Paul Johnson/Flightline UK.
The Air Fair was conceived as a way of promoting air travel to a wider public by Jock Maitland. At first it was just a static display event where the public could look around and inside various airlines and civilian aircraft. Such was the public demand a small informal flying display was added to the last day of the event. From 1965 flying displays became the central attraction of the Air Fair and it subsequently became one of the UK’s best known airshows.
2003 saw the Air Fair marked the centenary of powered flight with everything from a replica Wright Flyer through to the latest Airbus A340-600 flown by Virgin Atlantic. The display featured a number of post-war piston heavies including the fabulous Douglas DC-6 and the Grumman HU-16 Albatross. A small Korean War theme brought together the Royal Navy Historic Flight’s Fairey Firefly with Golden Apple’s F-86A Sabre. But perhaps the highlight was the final Biggin Hill appearance of the Breitling Fighters team with a unique combination of three Supermarine Spitfires and the Goodyear FG-1D Corsair.
