by RS2 on Wed 18 May 2011, 1:07 pm
With Cosford, I would simply say get there early and plan to leave late. By its very nature there are only 3 entrances onto the airfield and one of these involves crossing the runway and is therefore only open for a few hours in the morning. So essentially only 2 access roads / entances to the airfield. Take a picnic with you and keep some for the end of the day, when the flying finishes. Usually about an hour or so after the flying has finished the exit on the other side of the runway is reopened and traffic starts to flow quickly again. If you arrived early you wouls also be parked at this end of the airfield and well placed to use the exit over the runway.
Obvioulsy it does depend on prevailing wind direction, but for the majority of displays aircraft have been landing from the left, over the railway line, as you look at the runway from the crowd line. This end of the airfield is generally quieter in terms of people against the fence, but sometimes the public address system doesnt extend this far down the flight line. Also whilst Cosford is still a relatively short display line the helicopter displays and the crowd centre is still some way off to the right. (Plus the VIP area is at the other end of the display line). The chances are that if you did arrive early you will also be parked at the right hand end of the airfield about as far away as you can get.
As with any show at a museum, its probably not the best time to try and get photos at the museum due to the sheer number of people. As stated above, a lot of the visiting / display aircraft are parked on the grass infront of the crowd line, so often just by hanging around the crowd line in the morning can produce some nice taxi / arrival photos.
Hope this helps.
