{"id":3037,"date":"2025-02-03T18:03:21","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T18:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/?p=3037"},"modified":"2025-02-03T18:41:01","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T18:41:01","slug":"the-acclaimed-midlands-air-festival-will-return-to-ragley-hall-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/aviation-news-uk\/uk-airshow-news\/the-acclaimed-midlands-air-festival-will-return-to-ragley-hall-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"The Acclaimed Midlands Air Festival will return to Ragley Hall in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/airshow-reviews\/images\/2024\/Midlands-Air-Festival\/Header.jpg\" alt=\"&quot;Midlands Air Festival&quot;\n\n\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Photo by Lee Chapman<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Dates have been confirmed for this year\u2019s amazing Midlands Air Festival. From 30th May to 1st June 2025, this annual aviation and ballooning spectacular will fill the skies over the historic Ragley Hall estate with another thrilling international line up. Classic and military jets, high energy aerobatics, formation teams, helicopters, aerial ballet, flying circus, WW2 warbirds and parachutes will provide three days of almost continuous excitement. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As well as the air displays, organisers have confirmed they will be bringing over 150 giant hot air balloons, including some massive character balloons, known as \u2018special shapes\u2019 including Thomas the Tank engine, Snow White, Astro the Alien, Princess Nelly the Pink Elephant, The UP balloon from the film of the same name and our star balloon direct from the USA standing nearly 150ft &#8211; Oggy the Friendly Dragon. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>A sneak peek at what\u2019s in store<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Described as the perfect way to start the summer, this year\u2019s highly anticipated three-day event promises a thrilling programme of superb entertainment for families and enthusiasts alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the highlights will include, from France, the mighty F86 Sabre classic fighter jet.&nbsp; Celebrating the 80<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of the Pitts special there will be two versions of this famous aerobatics aircraft with top female Aero\u2019s pilot Lauren Wilson in her standard S2 and world famous Rich Goodwin in his insane jet powered Pitts special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The brilliant Flying Bulls from Austria will return to the Festival with several aircraft including the Bolkow 105C twin engine helicopter. This amazing display will feature the only chance in the UK to see a helicopter actually flying upside down. Only the B105C can undertake this due to a special fixed pitch rotor system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also look out for a flock of Bell 47 helicopters which are also celebrating their 80th anniversary. Easily recognised with their bubble canopies and their TV appearances in Whirlybirds and the Korean War programme M-A-S-H.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New to this year\u2019s festival is the award-winning father-son duo Team Niebergall from Germany, performing their unique display, flying Marchetti SF-260 aircraft, nicknamed the \u2018hotrod\u2019 for their speed and grace. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Organisers say this is just a small taster of what\u2019s to come, with more rare aircraft and of course the highly anticipated UK military formation teams yet to be announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Up, up and away<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The excitement kicks off on Friday with an afternoon air display, followed by the spectacular sight of over 100 hot air balloons taking part in a mass ascent. As night falls, the festival\u2019s signature Nightfire display will commence featuring illuminated aircraft performing pyrotechnic displays with fireworks streaming from their wingtips.&nbsp; The grand finale will leave visitors in awe as the event concludes with the breathtaking Fireglow display, where balloons fire their burners in sync with music, shooting massive flames into the night sky. The evening will be crowned by a dazzling firework festival finale, ensuring a truly unforgettable experience for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trevor Graham, Midlands Air Festival flying director, said; \u201c<em>We are delighted to confirm we are back once again and would like to thank our regular and enthusiastic audience for their support already. &nbsp;I invite those we have yet to meet to join us for another unforgettable weekend. There will be further announcements about even more exciting aerial displays in the very near future.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><u>Don\u2019t miss a moment of the action<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the most magical and ethereal ballooning moments take place early in the morning, so the organisers are providing a comprehensive premium camping facility, right in the heart of the show site for those wanting to experience \u2018breakfast with the balloons\u2019. The camp site will cater for tents, caravans and motor homes, and will provide electric hook ups, showers, toilets, a dedicated bar and catering concessions.&nbsp; This year, Midlands Air Festival\u2019s campsite will offer the perfect opportunity for guests to stay&nbsp; in the beautiful surroundings of the Ragley Hall estate, only a two minute stroll from the show ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Day tickets are available to purchase as 1-day, 2-day and 3-day passes through the Midlands Air Festival website. The event is free to attend for children under 13 years old when accompanied by a paying adult. Standard parking is also free. The event is always a sell-out show, advance tickets are already on sale at discounted price until the end of January via <a href=\"http:\/\/midlandsairfestival.com\" target=\"_blank\">midlandsairfestival.com<\/a>. Children under 13 are currently free when accompanied by a ticketed adult. Standard parking is also free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.midlandsairfestival.com\" target=\"_blank\">www.midlandsairfestival.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dates have been confirmed for this year\u2019s amazing Midlands Air Festival. From 30th May to 1st June 2025, this annual aviation and ballooning spectacular will fill the skies over the historic Ragley Hall estate with another thrilling international line up. Classic and military jets, high energy aerobatics, formation teams, helicopters, aerial ballet, flying circus, WW2 &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/aviation-news-uk\/uk-airshow-news\/the-acclaimed-midlands-air-festival-will-return-to-ragley-hall-in-2025\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Acclaimed Midlands Air Festival will return to Ragley Hall in 2025<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[341,58,317,10],"class_list":["post-3037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uk-airshow-news","tag-341","tag-february","tag-midlands-air-festival","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3037"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3052,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3037\/revisions\/3052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.airscene.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}