Flying visit to Fairford

Today I went to my first Air Tattoo. I had known about this annual military air show, having lived close to the Gloucester air field where it is held, but had not previously made it. This year I was determined.

With experience from the Biggin Hill air show recently, I knew that traffic would be my biggest problem, and so I set out at 05:30 from London, and made good time through to Fairford. Once I had cleared the entrance gate and mandatory military search, I was overwhelmed.

Static Air Display

I have been to both Biggin Hill and Farnborough air shows before, but the static air display at Fairford was probably bigger than both of those combined. Literally the full 2 mile length of the taxi way had doubled as a military aircraft air park, with dozens of machines from various European and the US air force on display. The fact that Fairford doubles as a US air base, meant that the US contingent represented the majority of the planes on show, but German, French, Finnish, Dutch, NATO and several other national air forces were well represented.

Strangely though, despite the massive number of planes on show, the Avro Vulcan parked up at the East of the run way seemed to attract the most attention.


Flying Display

The weather was best described as "changeable" and probably more honestly described as "bloody awful". Several heavy showers swept across the air field, and the strong cross wind created some interesting take off and landings for the various display teams. But the teams were magnificent. Their ability to switch from normal diplay to flat display to accommodate the weather was brilliant, and the show generally was unaffected by the weather conditions.
If anything, the wet runway often lead to some fantastic photo opportunities, especiialy when the fast jet displays were oeprating at low level. This Swedish Airforce Gripen had a particularly spectacular take off.


There were several Air formation displays, including the Breitling Jet Team, the Red Arrows, the Swiss Airforce (I learnt that today... Didn't know they had an airforce, let alone they possessed F18 Hornets). However, the Italian Il Frecce Tricolori representing the Italian Air Force were very memorable, complete with Italian commentator and the sounds of Nessum Dorma for their Finale.


HEAVY METAL
Late in the afternoon we were treated to some Cold War icons, not only displaying, but actually sharing the same piece of runway at the same time.

A B-52H Stratofortress, returning from Spain, made no less than 4 low level passes, delighting the crowd with its sheer size and 8 roaring engines.


But more was to come. The moment everyone had waited for, the return of the AVRO Vulcan to the Royal International Air Tattoo after 18 years. The Vulcan rolled along the runway, and the crowd seemed to rise as one. Fortuantely the immense howl of the Vulcan engines managed to drown out the almost synchronised click of 50,000 cameras as XH558 took off.


Her display was breathtaking, but more was to come.
Having landed and slowly taxied in front of the crowd, the Vulcan waited at the west end of the runway, as the B-52 itself came in to land.


The plane is so wide, she hardly fitted on the runway, and at times I am certain her wing mounted side wheels made merry in the rain soaked Gloucester turf alongside the runway.

Even so, she then joined the Vulcan, and these two great ladies of the Cold War taxied together back in front of the crowd - a truly fantastic moment and very rare indeed.


The show was ended by the Red Arrows. Their performance was impecable, and words could hardly describe the fantastic art and skill that these pilots display in the flying.


The Roayl International Air Tattoo promotes itself as the world's biggest air show, and on the evidence of the static air display and the 6 hour flying display from across the world, it is easy to see how this label is justified.