Held in Melbourne South Australia, the Australia International Airshow also known as Avalon, is the largest airshow to be held in the Southern Hemisphere and attracts aircraft from all over the world. The show hosted over a 170,000 visitors during the public open days.

During the last weekend of February every two years, Avalon hosts a three day event  to showcase the modern military of the Australian Armed Forces with former military and vintage aircraft that were flown also attending. For 2019 international attendee's included the RNZAF, USAF, USN, Royal Singapore Army and Royal Singapore Air Force.

The airshow features over 200 aircraft on the ground and in the air, with the Friday afternoon/evening show having six hour flying display and weekend show a very impressive ten hour flying program. The flying starts at 0900am and is perfect for photography from the crowd line, by 1400pm the sun is fully in your face and temperatures in the late 30's to early 40's, large water fans are positioned around the static park to help cool you down, but walking around mid-afternoon is very uncomfortable. Even with these temperatures this show was well worth the flight over from the UK and the only modern military Airshow that is bigger is RIAT.

All eye's are now fixed on the 2021 edition of the Airshow, which features 100 years of the RAAF. The show is being advertised as the "Greatest Show on Earth" we shall see!

Report and photography  Mark Forest