An homage to La Ferté-Alais, France’s most enduring and atmospheric vintage aircraft airshow, as it gears up for its 50th edition
What’s the essence of the annual La Ferté-Alais Meeting Aérien? Were you somehow to synthesise it, the result would probably be a blend of castor oil, as emitted from the rotary engines of the Blériot XI-2 ‘Pégoud’ and Morane-Saulnier H replicas, and merguez sausages being cooked over charcoal by the locally run refreshment tents, served with bread and frites. A curious concoction, for sure, but one bound to find favour with aficionados of this great French airshow, and those who appreciate its own singular character, honed down the decades.
This season will see the belated 50th running of the La Ferté-Alais event. As you’ll read, it could be a crucial one. But, above all, it offers an opportunity both to celebrate an outstanding history and contemplate those who made it so, because the Aérodrome de Cerny — to give the hilltop grass airfield on the Plateau de l’Ardenay its proper title — is that sort of place. Inevitably, thoughts turn to the Salis family, without whom none of it would have happened. A host of others, too, such has been the depth of the La Ferté Meeting, and the chances it’s provid…
