2015 07 17 RIAT Fairford

The Royal International Air Tattoo is the biggest military aviation air show in the world and 2015 saw the official commemorations by the Royal Air Force for the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain at RAF Fairford. This was also linked into the main operational theme “Securing the Skies: Past, Present and Future.”
RIAT over the years has gained such a reputation in getting the exotica that no other military air show can match it, with the likes of Russian AF Bears, the South Koreans with their Black Eagles aerobatic team & this year was no exception. Rumors began circling around the enthusiast community a few weeks before the show of the potential of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force attending the show in some form, then a couple of weeks before the show Douglas Bader House made the announcement that a pair of Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol aircraft were to attend the show – one in the flying and one on static display. A real coup for the organizers to get these to attend.
Moving on to the static display, yes the size is considerably down on the glory days but there was still an outstanding international participation, the undoubted stars for the enthusiasts were a pair of Spanish Air Force Northrop SF-5M Freedom Fighters making their debut at UK air show, parked alongside were a pair of USAF Fairchild A-10C Thunderbolt IIs from the 355th Fighter Wing from Davis Monthan AFB in Arizona, deployed to Europe as part of the Theater Support Packages of Operation Atlantic Resolve. 
Talking of American assets it was good to see the gradual return of military participation from them after the effects of sequestration in 2013, in the form of an AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Blackhawk from the United States Army, based in Germany, very rare visitors to the UK, parked alongside these were a couple of special forces aircraft from RAF Mildenhall making their Air Tattoo debutantes in the form of the Lockheed Martin MC-130J Commando II and a Bell/Boeing CV-22B Osprey.
Moving on to the flying display as stated earlier the main theme was the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain, it was honoured by a very impressive formation flypast of Supermarine Spitfires, Hawker Hurricanes and, more notably, a Messerschmitt Bf109 alongside its Buchon Bf109 stablemate and the debut appearance of the recently restored Bristol Blenheim. Notably to get five Hawker Hurricanes for the flypast was a rare feat which the organisers should be applauded for. The other part of the Battle of Britain salute was the superb “Synchro 75” routine flown by Flt Lt Anthony Parkinson in the BBMF’s Spitfire IIa P7350 and Flt Lt Ben Westoby-Brooks in the specially marked Typhoon FGR4. They totally deserved picking up the Steedman Display Sword – presented by The Royal International Air Tattoo in memory of the late Air Chief Marshal Sir Alasdair Steedman, Chairman of the International Air Tattoo (1981-1988), for the Best Flying Demonstration by a UK participant, a very poignant display. 
Making a very long overdue first appearance at RIAT were the French Air Force’s Dassault Mirage 2000N tactical demonstration team “Ramex Delta.” The team consist of a pair of the nuclear strike variant of the famous French fighter demonstrating some very tight formation flying as well as many of their tactical manoeuvres they deploy on missions. 
Making another first appearance were “Team Zeus” an F-16C in a striking new colour scheme all though deservedly winning the trophy for the best paint scheme it’s actual display was somewhat underwhelming very reminiscent of United States style demonstrations, with reasonably lengthy repositions between each pass.
Making a welcome return to the flying display were the Finnish AF flying the Boeing FA-18C Hornet flown by Capt Ville Uggeldahl, a powerful and noisy display showing the true agility of the Hornet. It won the Best Solo Jet Demonstration-The Paul Bowen Trophy, presented in memory of the Royal International Air Tattoo co-founder Paul Bowen.
RIAT celebrated the 35th Anniversary of TTTE (Trinational Tornado Training Establishment) this involved three Panavia Tornado’s from the RAF, Luftwaffe and Italian Air Forces flying together in a very rare formation which made three passes along the crowd-line. Each pass demonstrated the Tornado in a different wing sweep configuration. 
The United States Air Force made a very welcome return to the Air Tattoo flying displays with a another example of the CV-22B Osprey operating directly from RAF Mildenhall. An excellent display highlighting the contrast in the high speed performance and hovering capabilities of this unique tilt-rotor aircraft.



Sea King HAR3A  Royal Air Force  ZH540/B
Hawk T1  Royal Air Force  XX154
Chinook HC4  Royal Air Force  ZA675/AE
KDC-10  Netherlands Air Force  T-235
Typhoon FGR4  Royal Air Force  ZK342/EA
P-1  Japanse Air Self Defence Force  5504
P-1  Japanse Air Self Defence Force  5504
Sea King ASaC7  Royal Navy  XV697/81
Typhoon FGR4  Royal Air Force  ZK349/GN-A
F-16AM  Belgian Air Force  FA-123
Hawk T2  Royal Air Force  
Hawk T2  Royal Air Force  ZK028/S
Hawk T2  Royal Air Force  
Tornado IDS  Italian Air Force  MM7025/6-05
Tornado GR4A  Royal Air Force  ZA372/006
Tornado IDS  German Air Force  45+88
Tornado IDS  Italian Air Force  MM7025/6-05
MiG-29A  Polish Air Force  40
Typhoon FGR4  Royal Air Force  ZK353/BQ
CV-22B  USAF  11-0057
F-16C  Hellenic Air Force  523
F-16C  Hellenic Air Force  523
F/A-18C  Finnish Air Force  HN-411
F/A-18C  Finnish Air Force  HN-411
Blenheim IF  Aircraft Restoration Company  G-BPIV
Spitfire IXe  Northwest Mountain  N633VS
Hurricane Mk10  Privately owned  G-CHTK
Hurricane Mk2  Battle of Britain Memorial Flight  PZ865
Hurricane Mk2B  Hanger 11  G-HHII
Spitfire LFIXe  Battle of Britain Memorial Flight  MK356
Seafire F XVII  Kennet Aviation  G-KASX
Hawk T1  Royal Air Force  Red Arrows
E-3D  Royal Air Force  ZH101/01
Apache AH1  Royal Army  ZJ181
Merlin HC3  Royal Air Force  ZJ121/E
Mirage 2000N  French Air Force  Ramex Delta
Mirage 2000N  French Air Force  Ramex Delta
Alpha Jet E  French Air Force  Patrouille de France
Hawk T1  Royal Air Force  Red Arrows
A400M  Royal Air Force  ZM402
Tornado GR4  Royal Air Force  ZA612
Tornado IDS  German Air Force  45+71
Tornado IDS  Italian Air Force  MM7037/6-16
CH-47F  Netherlands Air Force  D-890
P-1  Japanese Air Self Defence Force  5507
P-1  Japanese Air Self Defence Force  5507
A-10C USAF  78-0651/DM
A-10C  USAF  78-0651/DM
A-10C  USAF  81-0956/DM
SF-5M  Spanish Air Force  23-16/AE.9-27
C-130J-30  Qatari Air Force  212/MAI
C-130H  Jordanian Air Force  347
Voyager KC2  Royal Air Force  ZZ341
KC-135  USAF  63-8021
F-15C  USAF  86-0172/LN
Tornodo GR4  Royal Air Force  ZA461/XV
P-8A  US Navy  167956/JA-956
AT-6B  Textron Aviation  N630LA  
Tucano T1  Royal Air Force  ZF264/264
UH-60A+  US Army  87-24614

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