Royal International Air Tattoo 2023 General Discussion Thread

[csnewton2701]

From a purely number-crunching point of view...Romania only has one active AN-26, 810, which was at Waddington and RIAT in 2005 and the Argentine 737 is a former SAS airframe. Ouch

Oh no, that’s really disappointing.

I know, I've cancelled my tickets on the back of this news alone.

A bit hasty don't you think?

There are still a few more announcements to go (based on last year's updates)


Chris

[Mike]

Oh no, that’s really disappointing.

I know, I've cancelled my tickets on the back of this news alone.

A bit hasty don't you think?

There are still a few more announcements to go (based on last year's updates)


Chris

I detect a touch of sarcasm in capercaillie's post.

[milaviation]

So no Royal Navy then

In other news, great support from Argentina and Romania,

Belgian sea king is good too

[Kurnass]

So no Royal Navy then

In other news, great support from Argentina and Romania,

Belgian sea king is good too

Strictly speaking, it’s not Belgium anymore.
But it’s still in great colorscheme, which is a big +

[100arw]

Strictly speaking, it’s not Belgium anymore.

The initial post did say "an ex-Belgian Air Force Sea King".

P.

[Fives]

The Romanian AN-26 810 was also at Pratica 2008...lol..kin typical.

[jasonT1981]

Very weird, I log into my account on RIAT website and it tells me

You have bought 1 x Friday, 1 x Saturday and 1 x Sunday tickets for RIAT 2023
1 x Friday, 1 x Saturday and 1 x Sunday tickets are eligible for hospitality upgrade

I have bought upgrades for each day (2x grandstand and 1x Pimms)

I double checked my account and the upgrades are showing in my orders. I wonder why its telling me eligible for upgrade all of a sudden?

I also click on the upgrade now just to see and it tells me you have these upgrades already....but offers me other enclosures?

[Discodaz]

Very weird, I log into my account on RIAT website and it tells me

You have bought 1 x Friday, 1 x Saturday and 1 x Sunday tickets for RIAT 2023
1 x Friday, 1 x Saturday and 1 x Sunday tickets are eligible for hospitality upgrade

I have bought upgrades for each day (2x grandstand and 1x Pimms)

I double checked my account and the upgrades are showing in my orders. I wonder why its telling me eligible for upgrade all of a sudden?

I also click on the upgrade now just to see and it tells me you have these upgrades already....but offers me other enclosures?

did it not do a similar thing last year, jason?

Daz

[jasonT1981]

Honestly, I can't remember lol. Just seemed strange.

[GVLCN]

Anyone know if any mig-21 in service still with Croatia or any other air arm? Su-22’s will do if not

[Blackcat1]

Did someone mention Indian Jags!!??

[Skywatcher]

In response to GVLCN question this link may help
https://www.key.aero/article/knights-over-croatia
I don’t think that many now as of May 30 2023 active

[Zonan]

There should be around 6 MiG-21s active in the Croatian fleet, but they have been grounded since the crash a couple of months ago. Whether they are still grounded or not is unknown to me

[plmc135]

There should be around 6 MiG-21s active in the Croatian fleet, but they have been grounded since the crash a couple of months ago. Whether they are still grounded or not is unknown to me

They are not grounded according to the post in Europe other areas headed Zagreb

[Rafmatt1984]

Wonder what we have in store for todays update.
F117, B2, B1, B52 or even some American fighters ?

Most likely a couple of Bigger aircraft and some more civil stuff.
However I am liking the line up so far

[Gary]

We start this week with the return of a display team not seen in the UK since 2012! We are pleased that the Fursan Al Emarat display team, from the United Arab Emirates will be joining us at RIAT 2023. The team will be flying a sevenship of colourful MB-339 jets for an impressive flying display routine on Saturday & Sunday.

Next, we can now announce that the United States Air Force plans to send a pair of B-52 to RIAT 2023. One jet will be on static display on all three days, whilst visitors over the weekend will also get the chance to see the mighty BUFF in the air! Both jets will come from the 2nd Bomb Wing, based at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. We hope to announce additional assets from the USAF in the coming weeks... watch this space!

Another cold war jet which will be one of the stars of the static display for aviation enthusiasts will be the Sukhoi Su-22, coming from the Polish Air Force. This may be one of the final opportunities to see soviet produced fast jet aircraft at an Air Tattoo, so is not to be missed! The deployment of the Fitter will be supported by a CASA support aircraft, although we do not yet know if this will remain at Fairford over the weekend to join the static aircraft displays.

Finally, one additional civilian aircraft for the static displays this week, with the unique SAAB 340 'National Flying Laboratory Centre' operated by Cranfield University, making it's RIAT Debut.

This week we were informed by the Turkish Air Force, that unfortunately due to the ongoing workload on their Air Transport Fleet in earthquake relief missions, the required level of support to deploy the Turkish Stars to RIAT will not be available and therefore their participation has been cancelled. We are awaiting news if any alternative aircraft may be available but recognise the high tempo of operations for the Turkish military in recovering from the devastating natural disaster earlier this year may make this difficult.

This week our team have continued to work with a number of other Air Forces as the show gets closer to finalise their participation arrangements, which includes participants for the flying display and static display

Another great update, shame about the Turkish Stars

[thevulcan]

That is another amazing update it is a shame about the Turkish stars but at least there seems to be a possibility of a replacement. I wonder if the B52 is operating from fairford for the weekend?

[James Cutting]

Well you'd like to hope so if one's flying each day otherwise that's a whole long flight and waste of fuel otherwise

Brilliant update - Su-22 too! Shaping up to be a belter of a show!

[POL]

Well you'd like to hope so if one's flying each day otherwise that's a whole long flight and waste of fuel otherwise

That's not really how it works...

Do you think the B-2 flypasts were just a long flight and a waste of fuel?

[James Cutting]

That was one day and done as a GPM. Would seem odd to send one every day for 2 days! Guess we'll see.