Right from the early morning, the area around the airport resembled a massive pilgrimage of aviation fans. Some arrived with professional cameras equipped with lenses the size of a small cannon, others with kids on their shoulders, and still others with the conviction that they’d manage to find a spot in the shade. The latter group quickly realized that even optimism has its limits. Out on the tarmac, machines from all corners of the world were gleaming. Every plane looked like it had just shown up for a beauty contest, though most of them were about to prove they could do a lot more than just look good in photos.

When the shows started, everyone’s eyes turned to the sky. Fighter jets sliced through the air at speeds where blinking felt like too long of a break. The pilots performed acrobatics that would mean an instant loss of a driver’s license for a regular driver, but for the audience, they were a reason for thunderous applause. The biggest challenge, however, turned out to be tracking the planes and taking pictures at the same time. The result of many photographic attempts was dozens of shots of a perfectly sharp… blue sky and a tiny dot that, according to the photographer, was supposed to be a jet.

Between the shows, the crowds patiently strolled through the static display of machines. Everyone wanted to peek into a cockpit, touch a wing, or at least take a picture with a plane in the background. Lines formed in a flash, but no one really complained—after all, aviation teaches patience even before takeoff. By the end of the day, our ears had been through a solid endurance workout, and our necks reminded us that for several hours they had been looking almost exclusively up. Despite this, the smiles never left the participants’ faces.