I used Nikon 80-400VR for a couple of years on a Fuji S2. Autofocus is slow but I managed to get lots of great pics when I did not appreciate autofocus speed. 80-400VR is a great lens especially between f8 and f11. The lens has a focus limit to reduce the amount of hunting that it did on S2 but when I switched body to a Nikon D2X hunting was a thing of the past. The only fault with the lens then was lack of resolution but on a D50 this will not be realised.
The next lens choice depends if you want quality or reach, reach is provided at an affordable price in the 50-500 especially if you seek a used copy, I did not find it heavy when I lifted with a Canon body attached. Quality is provided by changing the right lens in the right situation. Avoid zooms over 5X (50-500 sigma is 10X) as a prime will give best outright quality a short range zoom should be close. I use four lenses to cover that focal range :-
17-35 f2.8 - static/museum use
28-70 f2.8 static/museum use
70-200VR f2.8 - lumbering airliners and with 1.7TC, crowded airshows
200-400VR f4 - Nice airshows not too crowded
200-400VR f4 with TC on a clear day, special purpose such as moon!
I do not recommend anything over 400mm as keeping the thing steady and tracking even with monopod is difficult. As an experiment I kept 200-400VR at 300mm and more shots were sharp, as Andy suggests its better to crop than have something large but blurry.
I would save up for a 80-400VR as VR really helps achieve prop blur, would be a nice tool at OW.
I reckon the best lens for the flying component of airshows is 300 f2.8VR
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