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Midlands Air Festival 2025 |
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| ‘Possibly the biggest scoop for the organisers this year was securing two international acts for their flying display.’ | |
| The Midlands Air Festival
takes place at Ragley Hall, in Warwickshire. It is a wonder
setting for an airshow. The smell of freshly mown grass fills the
air of this usually tranquil greenspace. The 400 acres of parkland
is sufficient to hold a large event with a fantastic space for the
show and plenty of carparking & camping space too. There is even
the land to set up a small runway for some of the lighter aircraft
to operate from during the show. The stunning 17th century Hall
sits imposingly at the top of the natural arena looking down on
the perfectly landscaped park. Usually, a peaceful spot for a
quiet picnic but for this weekend it becomes a vibrant family
friendly festival of flight, welcoming up to 10,000 people per
day. The lay of the land offers a rolling bank down towards the
flightline and runway, meaning that spectators can get a fantastic
view of the action from almost anyone within the event. The festival takes place over 3 days and celebrates all aspects of flying including hot air balloons, large models and a huge range of full-sized aircraft covering historical warbirds, helicopters and modern military jets. This year Airscene attended on the Friday of the show. This is a little different from the main show days of Saturday and Sunday. The gates for the festival opened at 11am, allowing the public to access the site. Sadly, the strong windows hampered the ballooning activity over the day. The strong gusts proved too much even to tether the balloons in the morning. The gathering of hot air balloons is now considered the largest in Europe, so it was such a shame that we were unable to see some of the incredible balloons fully inflated. The contingent of balloons and their pilots had travelled from all over the World to be here, we were hoping for appearances from a number of the unique special-shaped balloons, but this was not to be. However, the public were able to meet & greet some of the balloon pilots in the Cameron Arena (an area dedicated to the balloon tethering) many of whom set up their baskets and were happy to demonstrate their burners to the delight of many of the younger (and some older) visitors. |
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| The first aerial activity in
the main arena was the excellent display of model flying by TJD
Display Team. The group are now regular performers at the show and
have an excellent collection of large model aircraft representing
some iconic warbirds. The performance later in the day also
included some pyrotechnics and fireworks. The full-scale flying
began with the arrival of three Bell 47 helicopters, sadly weather
serviceability prevented a larger gathering of these iconic
classic rotary aircraft, famous for their role in the US military
during the Korean and Vietnam Wars as well as it’s use during the
Apollo programme with NASA. Nevertheless, it was great to see
these three vintage helicopters circling into the arena. The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, known to all as the Red Arrows have become regular performers at the festival in recent years. Today, they excelled themselves offering a unique 11 ship flypast as they re-routed along with the spare jets to RAF Brize Norton for the weekend’s operations. The team later came back to perform there familiar nine aircraft display with the usual panache and precision. The team, this year led by Squadron Leader, Jon Bond, aka Red 1 are back to their best offering a flawless display kicking off with an array of formation flypast before breaking off into the two elements of Enid and Hanna to perform some fast passes, twists, turns and breaks. |
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It was also wonderful to see further support from the Royal Air Force in the form with a duo of Typhoons flying past at high-speed. Sadly, it was a blink and you’ll miss it moment, but few will have failed to hear the roar of the four Eurojet engines burning through the Warwickshire skies. |
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| The evergreen Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) also sent along their Lancaster escorted closely by two Spitfires. The Mark XIX Spitfire looked particularly striking in the Blue photoreconnaissance livery with yellow spinner. Whilst, the freshly painted MXVI pays tribute to the late Squadron Leader Mark Long who lost his life in one of the team’s Spitfires last year. After a very difficult 12 months it was great to see the BBMF back doing what they do best. The new display from the team was brilliantly choreographed to ensure that there is always an aircraft front and centre, as the others position to take their turns. Over the crowd arrivals are now common for the RAF teams, but the final departure of the Lancaster overhead took me by surprise as it’s formidable shadow was cast over the showground, reminding us all of what this aircraft was built to do. It must have been a terrifying site in the 1940s. Lest We Forget. | |
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Elsewhere in the display Steve Carr flew his
radio-controlled large-scale aircraft through some gravity defying
moves,Lauren Wilson effortly flicked her Pitts Special around the
sky and the Cassutt Racer zipped across the sky. The recently
formed Taylor Mono Display Team were also performing on each day,
in their brightly coloured blue and yellow aircraft. The young duo
of Ben Gilmore and Bruce Buglass still in their early twenties
performed a fantastic display showing experience in flight control
well-beyond their years. The Midlands Air Festival line-up would
not be complete without Peter Davis in his Autogyro, once again he
performed a crowd-pleasing display in his diminutive gyro-copter. |
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| The second photo reconnaissance Spitfire Mk XIX was provided by the Rolls Royce Heritage Flight, great to see two in one show. Possibly the biggest scoop for the organisers this year was securing two international acts for their flying display. The C-47 Ready4Duty is doing the rounds in Europe this year on a rare visit from the States. Meanwhile the Flying Bulls made the flight all the way from Austria, they attended last year but were unable to bring their BO105c Helicopter. Something they were keen to correct this year. Felix Baumgartner flew the B0105c in the display, prior to the show he reported feeling a little anxious crossing the English Channel in the wind, but he showed no signs of nerves as he flipped the diminutive helicopter upside down several times during his display. | |
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We also got to witness the aerobatics of Flight Lieutenant Bob Dewes in his eye-catching Grob Tutor. The small, agile yellow aircraft popped out of the dark moody skies as Bob flicked it effortlessly around the skies. Fortunately, the weather picked up as the day wore on and the final contingent from the RAF, The Falcons were able to display. The parachute display team closed the day-light flying display as the sun was going down over the estate. The parachutists were able to form up and demonstrate some close proximity flying under their canopies which including the challenging manoeuvres; the Criss-Cross Carousel, Snakes and Ducks and The Sabre Chase. The display was wrapped up nicely with the ceremonial salute. |
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| With an improvement in the weather, the balloon pilots took to the field. The sun was warming but the wind was still whistling through the arena in short gusts. Some brave pilots felt it within flight limits and decided to take to the skies. We were then treated to around a dozen balloons taking to the sky, plus the additional tethering of a handful of special shapes including the Michelin Man and a Kangeroo! Not, the mass ascent that ideal conditions would permit, but great to see a bit of colour in the sky. | |
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| The Friday evening differs from other days of the show, as it closes with the Nightfire and firework finale. As the sun set we were treated to a graceful display from a Fournier and Twister aircraft duo fitted with pyrotechnics and LED lights. Chris Burkett followed in his Extra 300sc, By this point the darkness was looming, but the pyros and lights jumped out against the darkening sky. The evening concluded with a night glow balloon performance which consisted of several tethered balloons igniting their burners in time with music. | |
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| The Midlands Air Festival is
a fantastic event which tries to cater for a wide-ranging
audience. Few aviation events in the UK can offer such a wide
variety of aerial entertainment. Despite some challenging
conditions on the day, the team managed to pull off an excellent
day of entertainment with plenty of excitement to keep the
children and families happy. There was also a great deal to keep
the hardcore aviation enthusiast happy too. Including rare
international appearances and fantastic warbirds. The festival
ticks all the boxes, great location, great venue and a brilliant
line-up. Look out for details of the 2026 show, early bird tickets
will soon be available. www.midlandsairfestival.com |
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Review by Lee Chapman. |
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