RIAT 2010

[Beefsteak 305]

I've just heard some great news. A pair of F-22 Raptors have provisionally been pencilled in for RIAT this year, along with three Mig-21s and three Australian F-111s !!!

I've already got my tickets , I'm camping from Thursday till Sunday , Grandstand for Saturday again this year but just watching the show from the campsite on Sunday !!

[plantfit 7,661]

Thats great news for you Ian, I will expect a few thousand pictures then. Roger's just turned green

Rog

[rob237 89]

Is the Vulcan on the provisional list?

Seems to have gone rather quiet on the XH558 front...

Cheers

Robt P.

[Beefsteak 305]

She's on the list for RAF Cosford in June, it's just the usual funding I'm afraid.

The F-111s and Mig-21s are down (Provisionally) for Waddington too Rog so you'll see something, and seeing as how Waddo is only a fortnight before RIAT and seeing as how the Raptors will be more than likely staying till the following week for Farnborough why not let them have a month here and come to Waddo too!!!

[Guest Flatcap Driver Rides Again]

"F-22 Raptors" You say?

What yer bldy well on about?

Thsats what I say!

[Beefsteak 305]

I never had the pleasure of meeting this bloke, was he always this happy

And that's what I say !!!!!!

[firbeck 860]

I've looked on the RIAT website, not very forthcoming is it, their photos of participants includes an F-117, unlikely since they've all been withdrawn from service, however it mentions the two Romanian Lancers so you could be in for a treat if you've never seen one of these things fly, they are like a Lightning that can actually go round corners within sight of the crowd.

The Aussie F-111's are an enigma, they keep saying that they are withdrawing them from service but they keep going back to the States for upgrades, perhaps this time they are going back for scrapping, worth seeing though, their fuel dump and burn routine is a treasure.

This is when the loss of Mildenhall Air Fete is felt, they were the first airshow to demonstrate an F-15 outside of the US, had it not been for our terrorist 'friends' no doubt we would have seen an F-22 display there years ago, we could have been looking forward to seeing the F-35 there this year I reckon.

[Beefsteak 305]

I got the info re the Raptor, from somebody who is in personal (alledgedly) contact with Major Paul "Max" Moga ,the F-22 display pilot from the canceled RIAT of 2008.

The news on the Varks is freely available on several reliable websites, and it's also come to me on the Q.T. so fingers crossed.

And as you know Pete , the Migs are confirmed, but as they say in aviation circles, there's nothing confirmed untill the wheels are on the tarmac !!!

All in all it looks like being a good RIAT this year, although it's going to take some going to beat the 2003 one that I took SWMBO to, that one celebrated the 100th aniversary of the first flight, and it had every thing there, B-1s , B-2s , B-52s, F-16s, F-14s, F-18s, F-15s , in fact F ing everything !!!! The best show I have been to by far. (I'm too young to remember all the oldies although we did go to Tollerton and Hucknall as a kid!!)

I've got some info (Somewhere) on a Battle of Britain day at Duxford in May that I shall have to dig out (it looks very promising ,) I've also seen some news that the grounded members of TFC may be released to fly later this year, (They're pasted in for a show in France in September )

[firbeck 860]

I've got some info (Somewhere) on a Battle of Britain day at Duxford in May that I shall have to dig out (it looks very promising ,) I've also seen some news that the grounded members of TFC may be released to fly later this year, (They're pasted in for a show in France in September )

I thought you might be interested in this:

http://duxford.iwm.org.uk/server/show/conEvent.3223

It's clearly not going to be a repeat of the event of 2007 when the whole flight was there and flew as well:

However with the Spring Airshow being on the day after, there's bound to be some practising going on that day, so when they say it's a non flying event, I think it's unlikely, I don't know which modern RAF types will be on the ground though, apart from Hawks, thats all the RAF allow to land there these days, unless they can find a Harrier that isn't in Afghanistan.

I note that the BBMF haven't published their airshow dates yet either.

TFC continue to be an enigma, their website is way out of date regards the aircraft, the P-39 was crated up to go back to the States last November. If they ain't going to fly until September it's going to make Legends rather pointless again from their point of view. The worry is that as Stephen Grey lives near Avignon, he might take the collection off down there, the CAA have already lost us the FW-190 replica, it's gone off to Germany following no more than a few years of engine run ups.

[Beefsteak 305]

The link isn't working for me at the moment Pete, but the date is the 16th the day after a big gathering of WW2 personel, planes etc , on the Saturday (15th) there is a lot of talks /walkarounds/ cockpit inspestions etc (including the BBMF) ans Sunday sees them all up, I have heard as many as 9 Spits ,4 Hurricane/ hurri bombers, 4 Germans and of course The Lancaster. Trouble is I can't find the original details and they aren't given in detail on the IWM website!

[firbeck 860]

The link doesn't want to work for some reason, but if you fiddle about on the DX Airshow site, it gives Saturday 15th as the special BoB day and there's a particular site for that, includes bands and all that stuff, chance to chat with the old boys etc etc, then the airshow is the day after.

I wonder who the 4 Germans could be, there's some great stuff flying in Germany, when it's not being repaired through ground looping, but not much over here.

I've heard that the Luftwaffe might drop their airshow ban and perform on the 16th, hopefully with their Phantoms.

I work out at the moment that there's 6 Hurricanes flying in the UK though the example based at DX is up for sale, my record is seeing four in the air at the same time, but I suspect that the real goodies will be saved for the BoB special airshow at DX in September that you mentioned a while back, I think that all other activities will have to be cancelled that weekend.

And thats what I say!!

[rob237 89]

Why the Luftwaffe airshow ban, does it hark back to Ramstein?

Cheers

Robt P.

[firbeck 860]

The German military undertook massive economic cuts in 2004 which included the cessation of flying displays by Luftwaffe aircraft. Presumably the cost cutting involved the training of specialised display pilots, so you can see German aircraft in the static, but not flying. I presume that if they are invited to fly at any BoB events this year it will be restricted to more or less straight and level passes, a bit like the USAF if they ever turn up, as they no longer have any dedicated airshow pilots based over here.

[rob237 89]

Thanks for the info Pete...

Recall seeing a tape of the excellent Luftwaffe F4 display from 2001/2?, at a UK airshow.

Awesome demonstration of vertical climbs, on reheat...

Once met S/L Archie Liggett, the RAF's final Phantom display pilot, through a mutual friend. He told me that new pilots had much difficulty in flying the F4, as they could often differ greatly in their handling characteristics. His own allocated aircraft was replaced after his first displaying season with a much inferior machine.

Cheers

Robt P.

[firbeck 860]

The Luftwaffe used to have a display team flying the dreaded F-104 Starfighter which I saw at Mildenhall in the 70's, I gather that they crashed in training and fell down a mineshaft, honest!!!

In the recent past I've seen the Germans display Alpha jets, Phantoms, Tornadoes and the Mig-29, I gather that their Mig pilots were considered to be the best in the entire Soviet Bloc.

I saw the RAF Phantom display team perform at Wethersfield in the 1980's, it was a very hot day and the aircraft was yawing all over the place at low level, it wasn't a pretty sight and quite frightening. A few weeks later they were practising the same routine for another airshow, piled into the ground and were killed.

[rob237 89]

Perhaps the most famous of all Phantom pilots was Colonel Robin Olds, who led the infamous American "Wolf Pack" team during the Vietnam war.

Have visited his Thailand airbase at Ubon - now a local civilian airport, where there is a plaque to his memory in the concourse.

http://www.acepilots.com/vietnam/olds_bolo.html

Cheers

Robt P.

[Beefsteak 305]

I don't know whether there's something wrong with my PC , but that's another external link that won't work for me Rob !!!

[rob237 89]

Works fine here, Ian...or is that because I instigated??

Perhaps the Earl of Essex might give it a go...

Cheers

Robt P.

[Beefsteak 305]

Nope still not working , i've copied and pasted it to my address bar too and that didn't work , I've now put it in the search engine and we might be getting somewhere, but everything is running so slow today!!

[firbeck 860]

Should really be the De Veres, our neighbours at Castle Hedingham, helped out Henry Tudor at Bosworth, the Earls of Essex were interlopers.

Sorry, the site comes straight up on my lame duck computer.

You know, I wouldn't give a Phantom a chance in a real dogfight against a Mig-21, superior technology and probably pilot training were on the side of Colonel Olds, they didn't need to get into a close in-turning fight.

[Beefsteak 305]

Nope I'm still getting the "Iternet explorer cannot display this page" routine, I did input it manually to a search engine , but that just directs me to forums discussing the subject.

Any way back to RIAT (And the other shows) The F111s are looking doubtful now after some problems in Singapore apparently. I'll keep you informed as and when I hear owt.

[mick2me 3,033]

Link works fine here Ian.

I think you have a problem, might be part of the Mod stuff that we discussed as well.

Try re installing IE?

[Beefsteak 305]

Just tried Mozzila and Google Chrome , it still won't open for me , I'm not going to risk reinstalling owt as the last time I tried that my system crashed !!!

I'll just make do without reading it ....LOL

[firbeck 860]

Ian

Put in Robin Olds on Wikipedia and you can pull up all sorts of links.

In case the Oz F-111's do turn up at RIAT, heres what you can expect.

[Beefsteak 305]

Thanks for that Pete, but d'ya mean this ??

I found a longer one once (He must have done the dump and burn for about a minute!!!) but I can't find it when I'm in a rush , I'll have another look in a bit when I have more time .