Aviation World's Fair 2003: the air fair that won't be
“Why doesn’t the U.S.

“Why doesn’t the U.S. host a world-class airshow?” It’s a question nearly as old as flight itself. In point of fact, the first recognized air fair per se was held outside Paris in 1909, just six years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight and a full five years before the airplane was about to come into its own as a weapon of war in nearby European skies.

Since those days, Paris has kept its status as the venue for the world’s premier airshow. Not to be easily outdone, the British soon countered with Farnborough. America has its regional airshows, but they tend to be of the barnstorming variety, not the button-down, business-oriented shows that lure the kind of “qualified buyers” that are the meat and potatoes of the major international exhibitions.