Royal International Air Tattoo 2024 - The World's Largest Military Air Show
After selling-out at a record pace, the Royal International Air Tattoo proved to be a hit as hundreds of aircraft soared over RAF Fairford in front of thousands of visitors.
In total, the aviation showcase welcomed 248 aircraft from 29 nations as 150,000 people descended on the rural airfield.
Saturday saw history being made as the Royal Air Force Typhoon completed its first public display on sustainable aviation fuel, as well as the F-16 Fighting Falcon, which turned 50-years old this year.
The most anticipated solo display was the McDonnell Douglas CF-188 representing the Royal Canadian Air Force. Not only was its paint scheme brilliant, but also the adrenaline packed display right from the start all the way through to the end.
As part of the Royal Canadian Air Force's centenary celebrations, the CF-188 completed its performance in formation in with a Spitfire, an absolute stunning experience.
As expected, the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II was showcased at RIAT as the British Royal Air Force flagship fighter, but as technologically advanced as it is, it still did not impress me as much as the McDonnell Douglas EAV-8B Harrier II did. I am yet to see a F-35 fly this same routine as flown by the Spanish Navy Harrier team. After 43 years, the sheer power and manoeuvrability of this beast never fails to impress.
There were lots of Lockheed Martin F-16s, both on static display and in the air. The Turkish Air Force, the Polish Air Force and the Royal Danish Air Force rattled us with impressive F-16 flying and noise.
Other air show highlights included a Boeing F-15QA representing the Qatar Emiri Air Force, a Leonardo T-346A Master from the Italian Air Force, Saab Gripens from the Swedish, Hungarian and Czech Air Forces and Eurofighter Typhoons from the British RAF, the German Luftwaffe and the Italian Air Force.
A large part of the RIAT appeal is the military formation teams featuring at the show. This year we saw the British RAF Red Arrows in their 9 Bae Hawks, the Swiss Patrouille Suisse team in their Northrop F-5E Tigers (very pretty aircraft), the Midnight Hawks from the Finnish Air Force, the Saudi Mk65s Hawks, the Royal Jordanian Falcons and the Yello Sparrows from the Royal Norwegian Air Force.
RIAT is mainly about jets (at least it is for me), but the show also included an impressive Leonardo C-27J Spartan from Italy performing aileron rolls and loops, an Airbus A400M from Germany and a few military helicopter displays.
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