The Royal International Air Tattoo is the world’s largest military air show, held at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. It is usually an annual event, but postponements due to the covid pandemic meant that this was the first such show in 3 years. Both the crowds and the Worlds’ aircrews were clearly eager to show their support and as such made it the most successful air tattoo ever.

The airshow welcomed 266 aircraft, and 1,500 crew members from across the globe in a celebration of aviation, science, and engineering. Visitors included representatives from the Kingdom of Bahrain – the 57th nation to participate in RIAT with its first ever appearance, and A-list aviation enthusiast, Tom Cruise as well as Apollo Astronaut Charlie Duke. Around 200,000 spectators attended the event which ran over 3 days from 15 – 17 July. Many enthusiasts chose to extend their stays further via attending the popular arrivals and departures days on either side of the event.

Airscene attended the event on the Sunday, which is the final day of the 3 official show days. Typically, Friday sees a reduced (but still impressive) flying schedule with a few arrivals and rehearsals thrown in for good measure. Saturday and Sunday are full show days, packed with ground exhibits, family entertainment and an 8-hour flying display. It is impossible to see everything in just one day, the show ground stretches the full length of Fairford’s 3km runway and is packed with aircraft, stalls and activities – this along would take a full day to explore.

The static aircraft had flown in from all over the World and included military visitors from as far as Japan, Brazil, Canada and Qatar. The nations of Europe had also provided strong support to the show with displays from Italy, Hungary, Belgium and the Netherlands to name but a few. Support in the static park was particularly strong from Germany who brought along 11 aircraft including the A400M pictured below. Civilian registered aircraft were also present from warbirds to the latest innovations from the world’s leading aero companies such as the record breaking electric ACCEL designed by Rolls Royce. Classic jets were also on show, including Hawker Hunter Aviation’s T72 Hunter which is frequently contracted by the military to play the aggressor role during training exercises.

This year’s show was centred around the joint themes of Training the Next Generation and the United States’ Air Force’s 75th anniversary, and with a specific focus on sustainability, the show featured a spectacular line-up of aircraft. For the USAF, this included the E-4B, one of only four of its kind in the world. Known as the doomsday plane, the aircraft is kitted out to run government from the skies in the event of a nuclear strike or similar disaster. Other aircraft from the United States anniversary theme included a selection of warbirds, classic jets and the latest frontline operational aircraft such as the Boeing V22 Osprey and Lockheed Martin F35 Lightning II.

There were of course plenty of fast jets in the air too. Throughout the day we saw brilliant solo performances from the Spanish McDonnell Douglas EF-18M Hornet, the Saab JAS 39C Gripen, RAF Eurofighter Typhoon and Belgian General Dynamics F-16AM Fighting Falcon (all pictured below). The Spanish Air Force superbly demonstrated the F-18s impressive performance with vertical climbs and astonishing angles of attack. The Belgian F16 won the award for ‘most spectacular colour scheme’ even though the green ‘dream viper’ jet was unable to display. Happily, the spare F-16 had an equally as impressive ‘tiger’ scheme.

The Italian Air Force provided an impressive 3 items for the flying display; The Leonardo C-27J Spartan took home the Sir Douglas Bader Trophy for ‘best solo display’ the aircraft was one of the largest in the flying display, but it did not lack in agility - it was thrown around the skies like a fighter. The Italian’s newest jet trainer, the Leonardo T-346A Master also got an outing, but the 10 Aermacchi AT-339As of the Freece Tricolori display team proved popular with the crowds. The largest and most colourful display team of the day gave an electric performance with daring team crosses and a dynamic solo performance in between formations.

The most eagerly anticipated act of the day was the South Korean Black Eagles who were returning to the UK for the first time in over 10 years. On Sunday we were able to witness them taking to the skies twice. The first take-off at the very beginning of the flying display was to join up for a unique flypast the Red Arrows, before the RAF team went into their own 7-ship display. Later on, we were able to witness the South Koreans their full dynamic performance. Flying 8 KAI T-50B Golden Eagles in superb liveries the team stole the show and took home two awards for ‘Best Demonstration’ and the ‘FRIAT Crow Flies’ award.

No British air show would be complete without the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, who today made up the sole historic element of the flying display. The sight of the traditional 3-ship flight of the Avro Lancaster flanked by a Spitfire and Hurricane on each wing was a welcome change of pace. The sound of six Rolls Royce Merlin engines singing in symphony conjures up all kinds of emotions and was in sharp contrast to the modern jet engine sounds which had grown so familiar throughout the day. All three historic aircraft performed their own routines and a series of combined flypasts before departing the airfield.

Review by Lee Chapman