The
Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford is always a must visit for aviation
enthusiasts and the public. This year was no different with some seldom seen
aircraft coupled with the superb weather seen over the weekend making for an
enjoyable day.
This
was the first year that the show ahs been held in support of the Royal Air
Force Charitable Trust. RIAT director and co-founder Tim Prince said,
“It
is most heartening that in our first year under the new Trust, the team
has put on a fantastic airshow. I believe it has been a success for our
many stakeholders, including the various international air arms, the many
aircrew, our hardworking volunteers, the Royal Air Force and, of course,
the people who matter the most – the public.
“There
were many highlights over the weekend but if I had to choose one, it would
be the wonderful joint flypast by the Red Arrows and the Spitfires – the
combined sound of the jet aircraft with the propeller-driven Spitfires was
music in the air.
“The
airshow has been a wonderful advert not only for the Royal Air Force but
also for the Charitable Trust.”
Over
the course of the airshow weekend around 160,000 attended the airshow represents
around a seven percent increase on the attendance at
last year’s airshow.
Thankfully now, with attendances seemingly back on
the right path it looks like
the future of RIAT is secure. Whilst the attendance was large it was pleasing to note that, over the course of the
weekend no major traffic problems
were reported. Admissions co-coordinator Peter Williams said “Everyone
who came in by road over the two days has had nothing but praise for the
event’s traffic management operation. Obviously we had queues but they were
moving queues. We did not have long lines of stationary traffic”. After the
problems seen back in 2002 the traffic management has seen a marked improvement
over the last three years which is certainly a big relief.
Ticket
prices were frozen this year at £35 on the day whilst advance tickets were £29.95
although the very
early buyers got them for £25.95. The ticket prices for RIAT are sometimes the
subject of much debate however it has to be looked at realistically as other
events of the same size and scale of RIAT are
often much more expensive. The
show provides a full day, if not
days of top class entertainment both in the air
and on the ground and it’s unlikely there are any events that offer the same
quality at prices as low as RIAT. Judging from the size of the queues in the
morning of both show days it certainly seemed
that the tickets
prices were
considered very reasonable by vast numbers of people.
As Josie Rayfield, 39
said"We
found the prices really reasonable. Especially as children go free."
On the gates security was,
understandably tighter than at last years event
with bag checks being performed
and metal detector scans of everyone entering the base with the armed police
close by in case of any trouble. However despite the considerable task the
checks were carried out quickly and efficiently. Judging from feedback following
the show it certainly seems that the queues were moved relatively quickly.
Guests
at this year’s airshow included the Secretary of State for Defence, the Rt Hon
Dr John Reid, HRH the Duke of Gloucester, Chief of the Air Staff Sir Jock
Stirrup and Chief of the US Air Force, General John Jumper.
On the Sunday of the show, Her Majesty Queen Noor, of Jordan and HRH Lt Gen
Prince Feisal Bin Hussein of Jordan were among the guests who attended the
annual Royal International Air Tattoo Flying Scholarships for the Disabled
presentation ceremony.
One
element of the show that was missing this year was the stealth aircraft. The stealth technology was certainly working as, unusually not one was present at
RIAT. However the USAF still strongly supported the show with the U2
making it’s only public European appearance. There was also plenty of other
USAF types
seen in the static as well as both the B1 and B52 flybys. Thankfully the
organisers were also to pull is some in some very unique types to the static
display which gave the show the sense of uniqueness that can only be felt at
RIAT. Rarities were pulled out of the bag from a large number of exotic
air forces including Greek, Polish and Romanian air forces.
