Military aircraft galleries, action photography and airshow reports.
All images copyright to Andrew Philpott. ©
The anticipation always builds in the aviation
community as we approach the worlds
biggest airshow event held at RAF Fairford in
Gloucestershire. This years show started with
plenty of moisture and low cloud with most of
the fighter aircraft practice routines producing
amazing amounts of wing surface condensation.
As a tradition the Air Tattoo enrolls a theme or
themes into each show, with this year being no
exception.
The four major themes being, fifty years
of the Hercules, sixty years of the
anniversary of D-Day, entente cordiale
and the theme I’ve been concentrating
on, Fighter 04.
As always there’s a large number of fighter
aircraft in the flying display at Fairford, this
year included, Dutch, Belgian F-16’s, Swiss
F-18 C Hornet, USAF F-15 C Eagle, Mirage
2000 C and RAF Typhoon.
But stealing the show with an awesome
display, the F/A-18 F Super Hornet. Flown
by Boeing’s test pilot, Ricardo Traven.
(Pictured on previous page).
Another tradition at the show is unusual fly
pasts. The F-15 C Eagle demonstrated by the
east coast demo team, joining in formation
with a P-51 D Mustang. In keeping with the
celebration of the entente cordiale, the RAF
display Jaguar GR.3 from 16 Squadron paired
with a Mirage 2000 C of the French Air Force.
(Pictured on page #7).
Turn out for the static display at Fairford is
always impressive bringing aircraft in from
around the world. Special interest being
American F-15 Eagles, F-16’s, Italian
Tornados, Tiger schemed German Tornado
and an arm guarded F-117 A Nighthawk
“Stealth Fighter”. Also there was a good turn
out from the French which included Mirage
2000’s and a pair of Navy Super Etendards.
With it being 30 years of the RAF hawk in
service, large numbers were present at the
show, including Royal Navy Hawks.
Making there appearance for the first time
in the UK were the “ Midnight Hawks “
display team from Finland. Other display
teams included, Patrouille De France
Royal Jordanian Falcons, Patrouille Suisse
and The Red Arrows. (Pictured above).
Click Next to see the images and continue
with the action!
