Air Shows ( Part 1 )

In the effort to celebrate and marvel at our ability to fly and see new technological advances, air shows are held all over the world every year. Attendees get the chance to witness complex aerobatic performances and sometimes up-close access to the aircraft on the ground. -- Lloyd Young

A Romanian boy plays with his toy plane while Jurgis Kairys, a Lithuanian aerobatic pilot and aeronautical engineer, performs a freestyle aerobatic maneuver with his modified Sukhoi SU 31, at the Bucharest International Air Show 2013, at Baneasa airport, in Bucharest, Romania, on July 27. (Robert Ghement/European Pressphoto Agency)

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'Patrulla Aguila', the Spanish Air Force perform at the Sliac military airbase during the Slovak International Air Fest (SIAF) on Aug. 31. (Samuel Kubani/AFP/Getty Images) #

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Russian Mig-29 fighters flown by the Strizhi airobatic group perform at the Moscow International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2013 in the city of Zhukovsky, outside Moscow, Russia, on Aug. 30. (Sergei Chirikov/European Pressphoto Agency) #

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Sean Tucker spirals downward in the Oracle stunt plane before the 55th Chicago Air and Water Show, near Gary, Indiana, on Aug. 15. (Jim Young/Reuters) #

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A Chinese J-10 fighter of the Sao Chzhen (The First of August) airobatic group participates in the International Aviation and Space Salon MAKS-2013 in the city of Zhukovsky, outside Moscow on Aug 30. The Sao Chzhen airobatic group made the first performance outside of China. (Sergei Chirikov/European Pressphoto Agency) #

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A crew member waves from the cockpit window of the new Airbus A350 XWB upon landing after the first test flight from the airport of Blagnac, Southern France, on June 14. The test comes three days before the start of the biennial Paris Air Show, where Airbus and Boeing traditionally do battle for aircraft orders. The A350 uses light carbon-composite materials instead of aluminum, allowing airlines to make savings on fuel. It will have a capacity of between 270 and 350 passengers and is scheduled to enter service in late 2014. (Guillaume Horcajuelo/European Pressphoto Agency) #

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Members from the Breitling Jet Team perform during the Karamay aviation tourism festival 2013 in Karamay, northwest China's Xinjiang region on Aug. 16. The Breitling Jet Team and the Bayi Parachute Team of People's Liberation Army will take part in the show during the three-day festival that started on Aug. 16. (AFP/Getty Images) #

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Spectators, including many veterans, attended an air show at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville, Fla., on March 22. The air show featured the last performance by the US Air Force Thunderbirds before sequestration funding cuts to force them to stop flying indefinitely. (Sarah Beth Glicksteen for The New York Times) #

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Jurgis Kairys of Lithuania performs with a Russian Sukhoi Su-31 airplane during Bucharest International Air Show at Baneasa airport on July 27. (Bogdan Cristel/Reuters) #

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A man wearing a sun-protective umbrella watches Latvia's Baltic Bees aerobatic team performing on L-39C Albatross airplanes during Bucharest International Air Show at Baneasa airport on July 27. (Bogdan Cristel/Reuters) #

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Max Kaman, 2 from Lake Stevens, looks over the side of the toy plane he was riding in before getting out during the Arlington Fly-in on July 11 in Arlington, Wash. (Sean Ryan/The Herald, via Associated Press) #

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Promoters skate past an Airbus A380 plane on display at the MAKS International Aviation and Space Salon in Zhukovsky outside Moscow on Aug. 27. The world's top aircraft makers, scenting a major opportunity in replacing aging Russian air fleets, will be touting their wares at Moscow's MAKS air show this week in the hope of winning a big slice of that multi-billion dollar market. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters) #

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Members of the Italian Air Force, the 'Frecce Tricolori', perform with their Aermacchi MB-339 aircraft during the International Air Show at the Hungarian Air Force base in Kecskemet, southern Hungary, on Aug. 3. (Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images) #

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A woman holds a toy airplane at the Radom Air Show at an airport in Radom, Poland, on Aug. 24. (Kacper Pempel/Reuters) #

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'Patrulla Aguila', the Spanish Air Force perform at the Sliac military airbase during the Slovak International Air Fest (SIAF) on Aug. 31. (Samuel Kubani/AFP/Getty Images)