The Royal International Air Tattoo dominates the UK airshow scene more than any other show. Attracting over 155,000 people over the course of its two main public days, it is now a sprawling six day affair with arrivals officially beginning on the Wednesday before the show and most of the aircraft leaving on the Monday after. Public access is afforded throughout, via the FRIAT scheme or the Park and View areas – all at a cost of course. With most of the GAR team being present for at least one day of the show (or in one case for the whole six day extravaganza!) we hope we have been able to supply a comprehensive selection of images from the event.
The current climate of financial austerity has hit all our airshows this year, with aircraft being confirmed to attend only to cancel, in some cases at pretty late notice. Even the mighty RIAT has not been immune from such disappointments, especially the loss of two of the star items virtually simultaneously back in early June.
The absence of the eagerly anticipated Sri Lankan AF An-32 from the static and the withdrawal of the Romanian AF MiG-21 Lancer from the flying display was obviously frustrating, but there were still several highlights both on the ground and in the air. Chief amongst these was of course the Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor, and the display from this awesome jet fighter certainly didn’t disappoint – more of that later!
In common with previous events, this year’s show was put together around two main themes – Training 2010 and the Battle of Britain 70th Anniversary. In addition, 2010 marked the 150th anniversary of the founding of the cadet movement, with the foundation of the Cadet Corps. Given the involvement of large numbers of ATC/CCF cadets in helping to keep the show running smoothly, RIAT was an appropriate occasion to recognise this milestone.
For shows at Fairford, I always try to arrive early, in an attempt to avoid traffic difficulties getting into the base. Arriving at the airfield at about 0730 on Sunday allowed me to miss out on the worst of the traffic, but meant joining a monumental queue of pedestrians to get in to the airfield! Fortunately this queue actually moved pretty quickly and having gone through the security check I was actually onto the airfield fairly quickly, however some people reported delays of up to an hour to get on site.
On arrival I decided to make my way to the Public Grandstand, which is located on the flightline, a little further down the runway than the FRIAT enclosure. As I was only attending for Sunday’s show and Monday’s departures, FRIAT was not really an option, so the Public Grandstand was the next best thing.
The view from the grandstand was pretty good – understandably the location isn’t quite as good as the FRIAT grandstand, but it was still nice to have an allocated seat and a little bit of space, especially with the public areas becoming extremely busy as the day went on. An added bonus was that as I had arrived relatively early, I managed to secure a seat at the back of the grandstand, meaning I could stand up (along with the rest of the back row!) to photograph the display, without blocking anyone’s view.
The downside of being in the back row of the stand was that it was quite exposed, with a brisk crosswind blowing across the airfield and cloudy overcast conditions meaning that it was actually quite chilly. The weather was especially disappointing given the excellent conditions at most shows so far this summer. At least the rain held off though!
Technical issues caused cancellation of the planned opening act (a USAF MC-130) so that honour was left to the Blanik TG-10C Kestrel glider from the 94th Flight Training Squadron of the USAF Academy. Towed aloft by a locally based Maule, the glider display was sadly shortened by the overcast conditions, but was still an unusual way to begin a RIAT flying display. Whilst lacking in the dynamism of the Swift Aerobatic Display Team and being somewhat lost on Fairford’s massive crowd line, the Kestrel was still a welcome participant and kicked off the training theme well.
This theme was continued with a thoughtful piece of scheduling allowing the RAF to demonstrate the sequence of aircraft which a new fast jet pilot will follow from commencing elementary training, all the way to the front line.
This progression starts of course with the Grob Tutor, ably displayed in the hands of Flt Lt Bill Ramsey from 1 EFTS. Smaller aircraft always struggle at RIAT due to the immense size of the airfield, and the Tutor demo really comes into its own in a smaller setting. However, Bill’s display was as polished and impressive as ever and was certainly extremely relevant to the theme. It also provided an excellent introduction for the displays that followed.
Potential pilots move on from the Tutor to fly the Shorts Tucano, and this was the next aircraft to feature in the Fairford programme. This year’s display aircraft do of course carry Battle of Britain colour schemes, making them doubly relevant at RIAT 2010! Flt Lt Tom Bould performed his usual good display, unfortunately the prevailing weather conditions prevented him from flying his full demo.
For pilots who complete the Tucano course and are destined for the RAF’s fast jet fleet, the next stop is of course 4 FTS and the BAe Hawk T.1. In my opinion, this year’s Hawk display features one of the most eye catching schemes in many years, and it was well shown off by the display pilot Flt Lt Tom Saunders.
For those lucky pilots who complete the full training course at Valley, the ultimate aim must be to graduate to the Eurofighter Typhoon, undoubtedly the most exciting aircraft in the RAF’s inventory. This year’s Typhoon demonstration is performed by Flt Lt Tim Clement, and continues the trend of adding new manoeuvres to the routine, with some really rather uncomfortable looking outside turns being performed at one stage. In common with the other pilots, Tim had to deal with the unfavourable weather, but the upside of the damp conditions was that there was plenty of moisture in the air to produce some spectacular vapour off the aircraft’s surfaces whenever he made any tight turns or pull ups.
Representing a different but equally important branch of RAF training, RIAT 2010 saw the return of FLt Lt Leon Creese in the King Air. Reprising last year’s legendary performance to the strains of ELO’s “Mr Blue Sky”, sadly Leon couldn’t coax the sun into putting in an appearance this year, but his display remains a superb example of precise and disciplined flying.
The USAF was well represented in the flying display, with Air Education and Training Command providing examples of the KC-135R and C-17A, although their appearance was hampered by technical problems and poor weather. On the Saturday the KC-135 was unable to fly due to a technical fault, leaving the C-17 to perform a spirited solo demo.
On the Sunday both aircraft flew but the weather caused the cancellation of the intended air to air refuelling demo, leaving both aircraft to fly only a few solo flypasts. This meant the display was somewhat disjointed at this point, although the KC-135 did impress with a “landing aspect demonstration”, seemingly a fancy name for a very low gear down pass!
The USAF generally supports RIAT with a demo from at least one of their heavy bombers, and this year the honour fell to the venerable B-52. Departing early in the day to perform at an airshow in Spain, the B-52 returned later in the afternoon for a couple of flypasts. The B-52 remains a really popular item, representing one of the last of the true heavy bombers in service.
With the aircraft currently forecast to remain in service almost indefinitely and no replacement even being considered, it will likely be a fixture at RIAT for many years to come. The public were also able to get up close to an example of the mighty Buff in the static display, but there was no B-1B on display this year, a notable absence in comparison with previous shows.
RIAT can usually be relied upon to attract at least one F-16 display from Europe, and this year was no exception. The crowd was treated to appearances from both Belgian and Dutch aircraft, both of who displayed to their usual high standard. I have to admit I find it difficult to distinguish between the two displays; both involve similar routines with lots of noise and smoke, although sadly no flares at Fairford. On the day, the Dutch display was probably slightly superior, mainly due to the flypast in company with the RNAF AH-64 Apache – it was certainly an unusual sight to see a fast jet formating on a helicopter and demonstrated the low speed handling of the F-16 very well.
The Apache demo itself was good – the sight of a helicopter performing loops and rolls is certainly unusual and the aircraft itself features a very smart and patriotic paint scheme, a rarity on an Apache with almost all aircraft (in Europe at least) wearing some shade of dark green paint. It was unfortunate that the aircrat was forbidden from deploying flares during the display, apparently down to the lack of a suitable storage facility at Fairford. They certainly would have been appreciated in the persistent grey conditions!
Helicopter demos never make up a great proportion of the flying display at RIAT, but a regular performer is the RAF Chinook, although this year the appearance took the form of a role demo rather than a full display. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the Chinook role demo, with the addition of troops and vehicles giving it a more authentic operational feel than the usual display.
Commencing the demo by delivering a Land Rover as an underslung load, and following up with troop insertions, including a fast roping demonstration, the demo gave the public a glimpse of the operational role performed by the Chinook crews (along with the Merlin and indeed Sea King crews) on a daily basis in Afghanistan.
This year also saw the very welcome return of the Harrier GR.9 and Tornado GR.4 to the airshow circuit. In common with the Chinook, both are performed as role demos, but they are still extremely well received with the Tornado pair scoring well with the use of pyros to represent “weapon effects” and the Harrier scoring well for doing the things that only a Harrier can do! Although the definitions of “role demo” and “flying display” are strictly laid down by the RAF’s procedures, the general public is unlikely to be able to tell the difference. If anything the role demos are more relevant, with the commentary helping to give more of an insight into the RAF’s operations than a traditional display consisting of a sequence of standard manoeuvres.
Further fast jet demos included a Swedish Air Force Saab Gripen and US Navy Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet. I’ve long been a fan of the Gripen, but a combination of the small size of the aircraft, and its distance (both laterally and vertically) from the crowd meant that the display was somewhat disappointing.
The Super Hornet display was well flown but it was overshadowed by another big fighter which followed later in the day. In fact, pretty much all of the fast jet displays were put in the shade by the appearance of the USAF’s newest fighter, the incredible Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor.
Having been denied a debut public RIAT appearance by the cancellation of the 2008 event, pilot Maj Dave ‘Zeke’ Skalicky seemed determined to make up for this disappointment and provided a truly jaw dropping display of this incomparable fifth generation fighter. The display on Sunday was nothing short of awe inspiring, but incredibly I am reliably informed that Saturday’s display was even better. Suffice to say that when the Raptor turns, it turns tighter than any other aircraft I’ve witnessed flying, and the slow speed pass which Zeke performed was also extremely impressive.
I must also make mention here of Zeke’s departure and subsequent return on the Monday following the show. Scheduled to display at Farnborough, he seemed to deliberately provide a little something for everyone who was still spectating in the various locations around the airfield. He followed a low, accelerating pass in front of the FRIAT enclosure with a hard pull up and left turn seemingly for the benefit of those at the west end park and view. I was at the east end at the time, and when he returned following his display, Zeke stated his intention to fly at least one circuit before landing. Going around from his first approach at low level, he engaged reheat and promptly performed an extremely punchy climbing turn right in front of us, a circuit entry which will live long in the memory – I was still chuckling to myself while driving home an hour later!
Another display which proved extremely popular with the audience was the debut performance from the Airbus A400M tactical transport. Falling somewhere between the C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster III in terms of payload and performance, the A400M was displayed in an extremely spirited fashion by Airbus test pilot Ed Strongman. The RAF has a number of these aircraft on order to replace the remaining C-130K transports in service, however the purchase seems to be under threat due to the impending cuts to the defence budget. It will certainly be a great shame if the aircraft never enters RAF service as it appears to have the potential to develop into an extremely capable machine.
Also making its debut in the UK was the Sukhoi Superjet, a regional airliner of comparable size to the Embraer ERJ-195. The Superjet was in the UK to display at Farnborough and made a brief appearance at RIAT on both public show days. Whilst it was a welcome appearance from an interesting new aircraft, the Superjet seemed slightly out of place in what is predominately a military display, and certainly seemed an odd choice for a flying display item.
No stranger to Fairford airshows in the past, the Avro Vulcan was a very welcome sight again this year. With its long term future constantly being the subject of intense speculation, opportunities to see this iconic machine are always appreciated. The general public seems to still have a remarkable affinity for the aircraft, and this is understandable given the aircraft’s imposing and graceful lines and powerful display. I always enjoy seeing the aircraft perform, and long may it continue to do so, but I have to confess to feeling slightly uncomfortable with the emotional and somewhat irrational feelings that many people attach to the aircraft. That said, Martin Withers performed a very impressive display, with the take off and initial climb being particularly impressive.
The Battle of Britain was to be commemorated with a whole sequence of flypasts, but unfortunately the weather had a very detrimental effect on this. The planned multi-nation flypast of RNZAF 757 and current fighter aircraft from Britain, Belgium, France and the US was lost due to the weather on Sunday leaving the 757 to display on its own, but fortunately the warbird flypast went ahead.
The stream take off of 12 WWII era aircraft was extremely impressive, and perhaps gave a flavour of how a Battle of Britain scramble would have looked and sounded. That said, there were of course a couple of interlopers, in the form of the ARCo Hispano HA1112 Buchon and EADS Me109G-6! The EADS aircraft made a particularly impressive take off and sounded marvellous. Even though the DB601 engined aircraft represents a later version of the Luftwaffe’s primary fighter during the Battle, it is still a wonderful machine and made for a superb sight in company with the massed ranks of Spitfires and Hurricanes.
The flypast consisted of a series of passes from the fighters, grouped in three formations of four aircraft each. The sky was filled with the evocative sound of eleven Rolls Royce engines (and of course a single Daimler Benz!) which provided a fitting tribute to all who fought in the Battle. The tribute was completed by a flypast from four Hawks of 19(R) Sqn; this squadron was the first to operate the Spitfire and was heavily involved in the Battle, so it was fitting that they should provide the flypast and a moving missing man formation.
Jet aerobatic teams were represented by the Patrouille Suisse, Patrouille de France and Red Arrows, all of whom were restricted to flat demos, but still performed with their usual skill and style. In addition there was the usual performance from the Royal Jordanian Falcons and a debut performance by the WeFly! team from Italy. This team flies the Fly Synthesis Texan ultralight aircraft and consists of three pilots who perform a very precise and close formation display. Two of the pilots have disabilities, with their aircraft being modified to assist them in flying the aircraft, making their impressive display even more remarkable.
Following the Red Arrows and the final item in the flying display was part of the RAF’s Battle of Britain anniversary celebration, a pairing of one of the BBMF’s Spitfires with the Typhoon. The two performed an elegant display which was extremely well received.
The Training 2010 theme dominated the static display with training aircraft of all shapes and sizes, ranging from diminutive gliders and piston engined elementary trainers all the way up to advanced jet trainers such as the RAF’s Hawk T.2, which recently entered service with 19(R) Sqn and will soon be used to prepare trainee pilots for moving on to operational types such as Typhoon. As it is equipped with a modern cockpit and advanced avionics, it will be better suited to this role than the rather elderly T.1 currently used.
Highlight of the static for many was the Polish Air Force Sukhoi Su-22UM4 Fitter, making its appearance as part of the Battle of Britain theme. The Poles are one of the last users of these wonderful aircraft in Europe and the Fitter’s green camouflage scheme certainly stood out from the rows of jets on display, apparently belonging to a previous era when military aircraft were painted in colours other than shades of grey.
There were other highlights in the static display too – mention should be made of the pair of smart 800 NAS Harriers, a selection of three MC-130s of different types and further Hercules transports from Jordan and Oman, the latter painted in a very fetching camouflage scheme. There was a fine display of helicopters too, including a Dutch Apache and Cougar and a German CH-53G. The CH-53, along with a pair of Luftwaffe Tornadoes, an F-4F Phantom and a recently delivered P-3C represented the modern German forces in the Battle of Britain anniversary commemoration.
All things considered I felt that this year’s show was a good one. The Raptor and A400M were certainly the highlights, but the participation from the RAF was notably increased, especially with the return of the Harrier and Tornado to the flying display. Compared to previous events, the static display did feel rather thin in places, but as we heard from Rob Windsor last year, it’s just not realistic to expect such large numbers of aircraft in the current climate of budget cuts and heavy operational commitments.
Inevitably, there will be criticisms of this year’s show, and RIAT is by no means a perfect event. If you use past events as a yardstick for comparison, RIAT 2010 would no doubt fall short. However, taking into account the prevailing situation in the world, it is clear that in terms of participation at least, this is as good a show as we can expect. Perhaps I am biased as my first ever airshow was IAT 89, but I have such fond memories of Fairford over the years that I always look forward to the Air Tattoo, and always find something to enjoy.
Next year is the 40th anniversary of the first Air Tattoo event, which was held at North Weald in 1971. Over the last 40 years the airshow has grown from fairly humble beginnings to being the dominant force in the UK airshow scene. No doubt next year will bring more gems and rarities, along with more disappointments and arguments! All part of the fun of the world’s largest military airshow! See you there...
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