Royal International Air Tattoo 2024 General Discussion Thread

[seven]

Good for the RAF to provide another toilet break

Shame the KC-390 is Friday only, though great for the Friday goers!

Positives to be had with the Tornado, Puma and Apache for static.

[James Cutting]

It's good to see something different with the Chinook in the shape of a role demo.

[puma2]

Good to see the Chinook back on display, never dissapoints.

[seven]

Having actually seen the role demo it came as nothing but a disappointment. And that was at Cosford! At RIAT the Chinook was the only helicopter that displays along the whole display line. Now pretty much all maneuvering has been removed, those in the enclosures will get to see a gun plonked infront of them and some soldiers kneel in the mud for a few minutes. Even the commentator had about as much enthusiasm as if it were his own colonoscopy.
Yes it's better than not having a Chinook at all, but not by much.

[James Cutting]

Having actually seen the role demo it came as nothing but a disappointment. And that was at Cosford! At RIAT the Chinook was the only helicopter that displays along the whole display line. Now pretty much all maneuvering has been removed, those in the enclosures will get to see a gun plonked infront of them and some soldiers kneel in the mud for a few minutes. Even the commentator had about as much enthusiasm as if it were his own colonoscopy.
Yes it's better than not having a Chinook at all, but not by much.

Happy days in FRIAT if it's in front of us then Ah well. If it was Dunnell then no wonder he had no enthusiasm - he never does! He sounds like if watching paint dry had a sound to it.

Maybe they'll expand at Fairford with a longer crowdline than Cosford.

[seven]

It wasn't Ben Dunnell no, it's a dedicated commentator from (I assume) the Squadron.
I can't see how it could be expanded at Fairford. Literally all it does is drop a gun on crowd centre, land and drop off a few soldiers, fly off and return to drop off a quad bike, whilst a land rover appears from elsewhere to attach the gun. They all then sit there doing nothing whilst the Chinook flys around over head. The only thing from the display previously is the over the shoulder stop. That's it.
The only thing that made it worthwhile at Cosford was the choice of airframe.
If it would have been part of a wider RAF demo, it would have made sense.

[James Cutting]

Interesting to hear that, thanks. Guess we shall see. I think nice to see something different though.

[JRandall23]

Was also interesting to note they mentioned “next week is there longest day where they plan circa 250 arrival slots” .. a quick count up shows 168 confirmed types if they all base out of Fairford. So could be some bumper additions in the last remaining 4 updates !!

[MikeN]

Has the U.S Air Force Thunderbirds every performed at the RIAT?

[James Cutting]

They did last in 2017.

[Thunder]

Was also interesting to note they mentioned “next week is there longest day where they plan circa 250 arrival slots” .. a quick count up shows 168 confirmed types if they all base out of Fairford. So could be some bumper additions in the last remaining 4 updates !!

Do they publicly release details of allocated arrival slots beforehand, or is it on each morning of the arrival days?

[JRandall23]

Was also interesting to note they mentioned “next week is there longest day where they plan circa 250 arrival slots” .. a quick count up shows 168 confirmed types if they all base out of Fairford. So could be some bumper additions in the last remaining 4 updates !!

Do they publicly release details of allocated arrival slots beforehand, or is it on each morning of the arrival days?

I think you’ll probably find FRIAT members get a notification but I’m not 100% sure on that, maybe a FRIAT member in here can clarify ?! But I would say they won’t publicly show the arrival times for obvious reason ..

[James Cutting]

And by about 5 minutes in to each day, it's already gone to pot - Part of the fun!

[Thunder]

Thanks, just wondering if I’d be able to gauge days for possible transit through Europe of the Qatari/Jordanians and Saudis beforehand.

[Dennisblade]

bulgaria is removed from the list.

[Dennisblade]

Me too, i was really hoping for anything but the AN-26 from bulgaria.

[Gary]

Not been keeping up. When did the USAF AMC move to the declined list? I know it was a stretch with these new USAF rules. Always good to get some heavies in the static though

[Nighthawke]

Maybe they realised that enthusiasts wouldn't want a totally unmarked aircraft in the lineup.

[Harkins]

Not sure how these things work, but does the USAF AMC declining, but the USAF Reserve being ongoing mean that pretty much any aircraft that the AMC won’t be being could potentially be brought by the reserves?

[MikeN]

Air Force Reserve transport and tanker aircraft are part of the Air Mobility Command (AMC). The Air Mobility Command is a Major Command that has Active Duty aircraft and Reserve aircraft. I retired from the Air Force Reserves at March Air Reserve Base in California which is a Reserve base with C-17 and KC-135 aircraft and are part of AMC.

Now the Global Strike Command has the B-52s, B-1s, and the B2s. Hopefully they will be coming, since they deploy to RAF Fairford as part of the European Bomber Taskforce.