Royal International Air Tattoo 2024 General Discussion Thread

[Tiger 1]

We arrived on Saturday at the Meysey Hampton end a 05.30am...straight in to park in the field opposite the perimeter gates ...15th car in.

Perimeter gate opened at 6am and by 6.15pm we had cleared security checks
and we're 8th in line in our qué to enter the show ground.

The chat with the two guys Infront of use made the time waiting to enter the show ground seemingly faster...( Impressive remove before flight tag collection) on his bag ...never seen so many.

On to the show ground at 07.30am.

On leaving...off base by 4.30pm...in car and exiting the field car park by 16.45am...short time queuing through Meysey Hampton before clear of traffic and on our way by 17.20pm.

Sat having a bag of chips at Brinklow chippy by 18.30pm.

Great and well organised although my brother arriving just before 8am and took him 2 hours to qué, clear security and enter the show ground.

I guess the morale of the story is get there as early as possible .

Show was good ..flying spoilt by the weather and seeming every special colours display jet going tech except the Gripen and Canadian F18.

Canadian F18 I thought was best display for me on Saturday...Qatar F15 was impressive and powerful ..best static the Moroccan F16's they were very nice.

Looking forward next year's RIAT already.

Regards.
T1

[jag56]

I attended Friday and Saturday, check in process both days quick and easy. Both days I was in static area by 08.15, no complaints there and far better than last year. Used shuttle bus from Swindon both days, Saturday no issues but Friday was bad especially leaving. Friday traffic really heavy especially leaving at 17.00, took 2 hrs to get to Swindon. It didn't seem the buses had priority and we're mixed in with car lanes ?
That said Friday was brilliant NATO Flypast, U-2 x 2 in the sky, Alize arrival and after 52 years on this earth seeing flying Phantoms. They put on a great arrival, well done to the aircrew!!. Nice to see a Mirage 2000-5 fly as well. Static very good I feel and the viewing platform for F-16 static line up and nice touch by the organisers. I met a varied mix of enthusiats from all over the world, who were all brilliant company which put the finishing touches to the best RIAT for me in many years

[Gooner]

Just to add my 2 pence worth - parked by 0700 in blue and stood by the Qatari C17 by 0745. A massive improvement on last years entry debacle!
Highlights of the show had to be F16 line up (especially the Moroccans), of course the 4 tooms and Moggy in the flying display. Lowlight had to be the much hyped F15 display...
All in all a great day out-roll on 2025.

[EASEDALE1999]

Much hyped F-15 display? You should have seen it Thursday and Friday. I have never seen a F-15 do a tail slide. Only seen this in Mig29. The low cloud would have stopped him doing this on Saturday. For me it was the best display.

[wessexspotter]

Overall a good show. No delays of note getting in or out. The static line was impressive - the Viper line in particular, although one jet was a few mm out of line - hey ho, the doubters will have seized on this...

The display pretty reasonable given the conditions (Saturday). Given the forecast midweek I reckon we did okay - I had it in mind we could have been in for a re-run of last year's Friday. As always you pays your money and take your chances with the weather Gods.

Big thumbs up to the organisers, crews, cadets, volunteers, sponsors, latte barristas, dodgy burger vendors, army surplus sellers etc and - most of all - us Joe public for once again turning up in our droves.

Best display? Don't laugh, but I'm going with the Yellow Sparrows - had me in mind of the barnstormers of yore, plus the fact it took the three days to get to Fairford from their base in Arctic Norway. Gotta love them for that alone.

[JRandall23]

Can anyone clarify if the Puma was there, I seem to have missed it, if so ?

[Steven]

The Puma cancelled and was not there. A shame really because their days are numbered.

[The Cat]

Parked at Red end at 0605 Saturday and was left with blank stares as to were the 'bag free' lane was but no problem at this time.
Into holding area with 4 queues and i was about 15 back. At 0710 other queues were created which meant that someone entering the holding area later were more forward.

Used a different end Sunday and once again blank stares as to were a bag free area was after arriving after 0900 due to traffic problems.
Complaining i was moved forward and they then started to shout 'anyone without a bag come here'.

Full marks to all cadets etc though for their hard work.

"off topic" but bought an double ice cream cornet at 1800. £5 which was really good value i thought as to how big and when i said that not bad price he said most complained as to how dear it was !

[Malcolm]

Much hyped F-15 display? You should have seen it Thursday and Friday. I have never seen a F-15 do a tail slide. Only seen this in Mig29. The low cloud would have stopped him doing this on Saturday. For me it was the best display.

I'm a huge F-15 fan, and agree I've never seen one do a tail slide/stall turn before. However, I did comment to a friend that I thought the display was a bit sedate when you compare it to the standard F-15A/C display routine of a clean Bitburg in the 1980's. I saw the 'loaded' display on Friday so I don't know if the F-15QA clean display is more dynamic or not. The F-15C display at the hands of Cpt Bebo or Maj Neidergard was something to behold.

[celtic62]

Can anybody supply me with the serial of the RAF f35 that displayed on Saturday at Fairforf

[Mike]

Can anybody supply me with the serial of the RAF f35 that displayed on Saturday at Fairforf

viewtopic.php?f=335&t=245796

[marku51]

We had a great time on Sunday. We did leave the house a bit later than planned so did get stuck in traffic a bit on the Blue route but were parked not much after 8 and security was pretty quick (although I think I left behind part of my packed lunch during the bag search) and tickets pretty much only took as long as they needed to scan them. So I think we were taking a picture next to the Qatar C-17 less than 15 minutes after parking the car. I think the static display was well done and the friendly aircrews were amazing as always. F-16 line-up was brilliant, I did at first think the elevated platform was at the wrong end but realised as the day went on that it was perfect.

The one thing that did surprise me were the number of people who started leaving early, I felt like from 4:00 onwards (or at least after the RAF Typhoon) there was a general drift away and by the time the Saudi Hawks started the area where we were (crowd line near the Family Area) was probably half empty compared to earlier in the day. Which was a shame as I think the final two performances (Swedish Gripen and Saudi Hawks) were some of the best--the Gripen high speed past especially. Plus they missed the bonus F-15 departure after the show finished!

Overall it was a good show!

[quid21]

The one thing that did surprise me were the number of people who started leaving early, I felt like from 4:00 onwards (or at least after the RAF Typhoon) there was a general drift away and by the time the Saudi Hawks started the area where we were (crowd line near the Family Area) was probably half empty compared to earlier in the day. Which was a shame as I think the final two performances (Swedish Gripen and Saudi Hawks) were some of the best--the Gripen high speed past especially. Plus they missed the bonus F-15 departure after the show finished!

The further away people live the earlier they needed to arrive to get parked for the show to start, we left at 3.30pm on Saturday having got up at 4am left at 5.30am arriving at the end of the red queue at 9am to finally get in after being in the slow red queue merging with another road at 11am - by 4pm we were flagging and needed to head home - got stuck leaving the car park for over an hour and got home at 8pm. I can see why people leave early!

We would've camped again, but after last years Somme in the Townsend farm campsite we elected to drive down the same day which is always a mistake and this time was no different!

[marku51]

The further away people live the earlier they needed to arrive to get parked for the show to start, we left at 3.30pm on Saturday having got up at 4am left at 5.30am arriving at the end of the red queue at 9am to finally get in after being in the slow red queue merging with another road at 11am - by 4pm we were flagging and needed to head home - got stuck leaving the car park for over an hour and got home at 8pm. I can see why people leave early!

We would've camped again, but after last years Somme in the Townsend farm campsite we elected to drive down the same day which is always a mistake and this time was no different!

Yeah, that makes perfect sense--we were pretty worn out at the end of the day with a much shorter drive home, so I totally understand. I'm pretty sure I'd make the same choice if I had a longer drive!

[Doughnut]

Sorry if this has been asked before. Can anybody direct me to a complete and updated Fairford check list please.

[Dennisblade]

Sorry if this has been asked before. Can anybody direct me to a complete and updated Fairford check list please.

not the official checklist, but my log of sunday.

Static/flightline/visitors/flying only

CF-188 188774 425sq
CF-188 188736 425sq
Typhoon FGR.4 ZJ913/FM-G 29sq season display
Typhoon FGR.4 ZJ917 29sq season display
EF.2000 31+06 TLG74
EF.2000 30+69 TLG74
Lynx AH.7 XZ616 G-LNKX
A.400M 54+23 LTG62
C-130H 484 4sq
C-130H-30 1622 16sq
P.180AM MM62161 311Gr/RSV
Global? civil?
Jas39 39257 F21
Jas39 39267 F21
Hawk T.65A 8808 88sq
Hawk T.65A 8805 88sq
Hawk T.65A 8816 88sq
Hawk T.65A 8817 88sq
Hawk T.65A 8818 88sq
Hawk T.65A 8819 88sq
Hawk T.65A 8820 88sq
Hawk T.65A 8821 88sq
PC-9M L9-61 152.LEESK
Hawk T.2 ZK022/M 4FTS
Hawk T.2 ZK024/O 4FTS
NH90-TTH 79+35 THR10
Wildcat HMA.2 ZZ514 825sq/Black cats Display Team
Wildcat HMA.2 ZZ531 825sq/Black cats Display Team
Chinook ZH902 18sq
MFI-17 836 LFS
MFI-17 838 LFS
MFI-17 844 LFS
MFI-17 811 LFS
MFI-17 806 LFS
MFI-17 804 LFS
Hawk Mk167 ZB137 11sq/QEAF
Hawk Mk167 ZB135 11sq/QEAF
EF.2000 MM7316/4-42 311Gr/RSV
T.346 MM55220/61-16 311Gr/RSV
T.346 MM52221/61-15 311Gr/RSV
C-27J MM62219/RS-50 311Gr/RSV
Hawk T.1 XX325 Red Arrows
Hawk T.1 XX278 Red Arrows
Hawk T.1 XX242 Red Arrows
Hawk T.1 XX295 Red Arrows
Hawk T.1 XX322 Red Arrows
Hawk T.1 XX177 Red Arrows
Hawk T.1 XX311 Red Arrows
Hawk T.1 XX321 Red Arrows
Hawk T.1 XX239 Red Arrows
Hawk T.1 XX202 Red Arrows
Hawk T.1 XX232 Red Arrows
H135 G-HOLM civil
P-180E MM62169 28Gr AVES
Falcon 7X OO-FAE 21sm
Ce.560XL T-784 LTDB
AW-109E G-WOFT civil
AW-109SP G-OATL civil
C-37B 06-0500 99th AS
F-16C 88-0024 132Filo/Soloturk
F-16C 88-0021 132Filo/Soloturk
JAS-39C 9242 211.tl
F-15QA QA538 Boeing/flying wing 5
F-15QA QA536 Boeing/flying wing 5
F-5E J-3090 PdS
F-5E J-3084 PdS
F-5E J-3083 PdS
F-5E J-3087 PdS
F-5E J-3091 PdS
F-5E J-3088 PdS
EAV-8B+ VA.1B-38/01-926 009Esq
EAV-8B+ VA.1B-36/01-924 009Esq
Ce.550 U.20-2/01-406 004Esq
Extra-330LX RJF-01 RJF
Extra-330LX RJF-02 RJF
Extra-330LX RJF-03 RJF
Extra-330LX RJF-04 RJF
Hawk Mk66 HW-371 Midnight Hawks
Hawk Mk66 HW-367 Midnight Hawks
Hawk Mk66 HW-361 Midnight Hawks
Hawk Mk66 HW-366 Midnight Hawks
F-16A E-190 FWS
F-16A E-006 FWS
F-35B ZM163 207sq
Spitfire Vb EP120 G-LFVB
voyager kc.3 ZZ338 10/101sq

static

CC-177 177705 429sq
CH-146 146403 AETE
CC-295 295501 418sq
CC-130J 130605 436sq
CC-150 15004 437sq
Vampire T.55 LN-DHZ U-1230
DHC-1 Chipmunk G-NBZC WP905
Atlas C.1 ZM418 24sq/30sq/70sq
Voyager KC.2 ZZ343 10/101sq
C-27J 1962 1 DopW
Buccaneer XW550` cockpit only
C.295MPA 284 101sq
Jupiter HT.1 ZM500/00 1FTS
Juno HT.1 ZM517/17 1FTS
Tyfoon FRG4 ZK372/372 XI(f)sq
F-35B ZM141/007 207sq
Hawk T.2 ZK013/D 4FTS
Tutor T.1 G-CGKP 6FTS
Hunter F.58 ZZ190 Hawker hunter aviation
F-35A 5208 132 Luftving
F-35A 5389 132 Luftving
Tornado IDS 43+45 AG51
Tornado IDS 45+39 TLG51
A-4N C-FGYL ex 329 IDF top aces
F-5E J-3094 Flst 6
L-159A 6051 212.tl
JAS-39D 39840/840 F21
F/A-18C HN-427 HavLLv 11
F-4E-2020 77-0286 111Filo
F-4E-2020 73-1023 111Filo
Juno HT.1 ZM522/22 1FTS
Texan T.1 ZM329/329 72sq
Phenom T.1 ZM335 45sq
Prefect T.1 ZM317/17 3FTS
Falcon 20 G-FRAD Draken
S-2 F-AYFT ex F-ZBET?
Wildcat HMA.2 ZZ381 825NAS
PC-7 HB-HHH civil
BAe146 G-LUXE Facility for Atmospheric Airborne Measurements
Tyfoon FRG4 ZK341 12(B)sq
NH90-NFH QA270 8sq
C-17A A7-MAB 10sq
Hawk Mk167 ZB136 11sq/QEAF
EF.2000 QA420
C-390 26902 Esq506
C-17A 01 HAW
C295MW 29502 138.tae
H.125 G-ETPH Qinetic
A-109S G-ETPO Qinetic
AW-139 G-ETPP Qinetic
Avro RJ100 G-ETPL Qinetic
Tyfoon T3 ZK379/379 41(TES)sq
Beechcraft B300 G-ETPR Qinetic
PC-21 G-ETPB Qinetic
Grob G120TP-A G-ETPD Qinetic
NH90-TTH 79+10 THR10
NH90-NFH N-318 860sq
Merlin HM.2 ZH831 820NAS
AW-101 0273 330skv
CN.295 T.21-03/35-03 ALA35
A319-133X 15+03 FBS BMVg
L-70 Vinka VN-20 OH-ION
F-4U-5NL F-AZYS/WY 19
P-51D N51ZW 44-74453
PC-9M L9-68 152.LEESK
C-27J L2-01 152.LEESK
CH-53GS 85+07 HSG-64
Mi-8 26 blue Sraigtasparniu Esk
EC135P2 270 302sq
Gazelle HT3 XZ939 G-CLGO
AW169 OY-HOT Uni Fly
F-16A J-616 312sq
F-16B FB17 10w
F-16A J-641 312sq
F-16A J-014 312sq
F-16A J-197 312sq
F-16A J-146 312sq
F-16A 247 1st FS
F-16B 135 1st FS
F-16A 1616 Esc53
F-16A 1609 Esc53
F-16C 91-0418/SP 480th FS
F-16D 91-0472/SP 480th FS
F-16C 012 336mira
F-16D 028 336mira
F-16D 08-8018 EdC6
F-16C 08-8013 EdC6
C-130J-30 5629 335skv
Dakota IV KP220/G-ANAF 44-77104
C-17A ZZ178 24/99sq
KC-135R 62-3563 101Filo
C-27J 2701 Esq902
B-52H 61-0010/LA 343rd BS
C-130J-30 16-5883/RS 37th AS
KC-46 20-46079 305th AMW
KC-135T 59-1464/D 351st ARS
C-130H 357 3sq
RC-135V 64-14841/OF 38th RS
U-2S 80-1096/BB 99th RS
SF-5M AE.9-17/23-10 Ala23
SF-5M AE.9-10/23-04 Ala23
F-4E(AUP) 01522 338MDV
F-4E(AUP) 01520 338MDV
E-3A LX-N90456 NAEWF
Tornado IDS 43+97 WTD-61
Tornado IDS MM7067/6-41 6St
Mirage 2000-5F 38/2-EI GC01.002
KC-10A 86-0031 60th AMW
C-21A 84-0083 76th AS
MC-130J 12-5759 67th SOS
AH-64E ZM712 663sq
Alize 59/F-AZYI
A330-202MRT 2405 24sq
F-15SA 641 6sq
F-15E 91-0301/LN 492nd FS
F-15E 91-0318/LN 492nd FS
C-17A 07-7182 437th AW
F-35A 19-5495/LN 495th FS
DHC-6 VP-FAZ British Antartic Servey

following not seen by myself:

XZ183 Lynx on a trailer without tail
XX520 Bulldog, nearby the mock-up F-35
44-80015 (G-AKIB) L-4H behind the Dakota
T.3-61 C-47 cockpit behind the Dakota

[DAVEBRAD]

hi,
did anyone id the Buccaneer f/f down the yellow end... also the 3 Hawks in the old red bottom/white tops on the far side.
thanks...

[mudhen15]

Buccaneer is XW550 and the 3 Hawks are Finnish AF mk.66(HW-361,HW-366 and HW-367)

[Mike]

XW550 was the Bucc's nose (it's in the list above), the red & white Hawks were 3 of the Midnight Hawks team.

[witje]

Also F-5E J-3080 was on the flightline