Royal International Air Tattoo
Friday 19th July - Sunday 21st July 2024
The Royal International Air Tattoo, Europe's largest airshow and the world's largest military airshow, returned to RAF Fairford for its latest iteration. Against an unpromising backdrop of rising global tension, political upheaval and a cost-of-living crisis, could the show live up to the usual sky-high expectations and send its legions of enthusiasts and fans back home happy? It absolutely could - and in the process delivered a modern classic - though of course it wouldn't be a RIAT without the occasional gripe and moan. This year's show took place from July 19-21; key themes being celebrated included the 50th anniversary of the F-16, the 75th anniversary of NATO, and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
braved the seven-hour drive to make his annual pilgrimage to the Cotswolds to report back for UKAR, with photography by the staff team..
Well blimey, that was quite the week. Those of us bold enough, crazy enough or obsessed enough to tackle the full six days, from the first arrivals on Wednesday morning through to the last few Monday afternoon departures, have probably spent the last couple of weeks nursing the aviation equivalent of a hangover, as our poor brains struggle to make sense of everything we witnessed during our annual sojourn to the famous Gloucestershire base. As a result of its unmatched history and totemic significance, not just to the UK aviation scene but across Europe and beyond, RIAT has always attracted more than its fair share of criticism, feedback, rumour and just general chit-chat. Everyone has their opinion on the show, and it only takes a couple of missteps for positive vibes to descend into acrimony and bickering. Fortunately this year the negativity was largely kept to a minimum… helped in no small part by a truly stellar aircraft lineup which would be hard to better in the modern era.
(A quick note, before we plunge into the review proper: many of you may have turned to this review in the expectation of finding at least a couple of paragraphs on both the present status and immediate future of the FRIAT offering. UKAR has already covered this topic in one of our recent podcasts, and to address the ongoing concerns in more detail, we are aiming to publish a one-off article which will deal with FRIAT specifically. Its omission from this review is therefore, rest assured, not an oversight but entirely deliberate).
Of course, RIAT doesn't really begin with those first few arrivals on the Wednesday morning. For many (most?) of us hardened enthusiasts, the show actually begins sometime around late January, when the first few participants are announced, and the Air Tattoo website gradually settles into its familiar routine of weekly Thursday lunchtime updates. The cadence of these updates was just about spot-on this year, and it was pleasing to see that a few top-notch participants, such as the Hellenic F-4Es, were still being added right up until early July, helping to keep the fires of pre-show excitement burning and building that all-important sense of anticipation. The website itself, however, still leaves a lot to be desired. Its layout is often confusing, several of the aircraft info pages accompanying the weekly updates had a fair smattering of typos, and much of the attendant photography was decidedly substandard with soft, blurry, out-of-focus images frequently used. For an event of this scale, and with a sizeable number of the world's top aviation photographers attending every year and who would no doubt quite happily contribute images just for the (ho-ho) exposure, surely this last point could at least be addressed for next year.
2024 mercifully saw a significant improvement in the weather after last year's downpours; of the three show days, only Saturday was affected by rain, and the early part of the week - Wednesday to Friday - was just lovely, and even managed to avoid the other occasional Fairford hazard of being too damned hot (yeah, we're looking at you, 2022). Conditions on Friday in particular were as near-perfect as the Airshow Weather Gods can deliver, which meant that all the various special elements planned for that day were able to get airborne to strut their stuff in front of the larger-than-usual Friday crowd. Speaking of crowds - 150,000 visitors descended on Fairford across the three days, with both weekend show-days selling-out well in advance; RIAT's own social media channels proclaimed that this year's tickets had sold out 'at record pace'.
All of this is great news for the show's long-term viability, though it also brings its own challenges. Many people reported that the showground on Saturday felt particularly rammed, and something had clearly gone awry on the access roads leading to Fairford. Even from the FRIAT grandstand, the lines of cars still making their way painfully slowly at midday on both weekend show-days into the Red car parks were all-too evident, a situation which must have been unbelievably frustrating for those affected. Similarly chaotic scenes were reported at all three main car parks at the end of the flying displays; whether a lack of stewarding, or appropriately trained stewards, or just a lack of signage, again something had clearly gone askew, and tempers understandably started to become frayed. It's not obvious to the outside observer how easily this can be addressed, but if advance sell-outs and huge crowds represent the new norm then the road and parking situation does need to be re-examined. More positively, however, the new three-stop entry checks to get on-base on the show days represented a considerable improvement, and allowed for a much smoother flow of foot traffic into the showground: body scan, then bag-check, then ticket scan. That this was so much more efficient than last year's debacle is a point that need hardly be dwelt upon… suffice to say that in this instance at least, feedback has clearly been listened to and acted upon, so credit where it is due.
The decision, many years ago, to expand RIAT arrivals to include Wednesday has not always been universally well received. RIAT Wednesdays have often come in for a certain amount of flak - not enough happening, and requiring an additional day away from the office/home for those concerned about such things. All that changed in 2024, and rather dramatically. Wednesday was as busy as it has ever been, and if anything it was Thursday's arrivals which ended up feeling a touch lowkey by comparison. Gem after gem sailed over the Fairford threshold on Wednesday, among them many of this year's star participants, including the Turkish F-4Es, Spanish F-5s and EAV-8B, and the delightful Turbo S-2 Firecat, yet it was the support aircraft - often all too easily overlooked - which arguably stole the show. Where else can you see a Turkish A400, two Saudi C-130s and a splendidly marked Moroccan C-130 on the same day? Seeing such rarities so early into proceedings served to contribute to the sense that something special was brewing; what a pity that the Moroccan Herc didn't stay for the static park, but let's not get greedy. Also, on the subject of the Saudis, one wonders if quite so many support aircraft and personnel were required for what was, for them, a relatively routine operation. If nothing else, so many movements over the course of the show week by relatively ancient Hercs must be at odds with RIAT's much-vaunted sustainability aspirations.
If the Wednesday of RIAT week has often felt a little unloved, then the same can also been said of the Friday, which has occasionally struggled for an identity since the decision in 2014 to turn Friday into a mini-show day, interspersed with the last few arrivals and support movements. Again this year absolutely flipped the notion of Friday as the 'poor relation' on its head; those who were fortunate enough to be present witnessed a remarkable day which will live long in the memory and which featured a surprising number of this year's overall highlights. Making a very welcome return to RIAT after many years, and kicking off proceedings in perfect early morning sunshine, was the RAF Falcons parachute display team, whose routine was greatly enhanced by jumping from an RAF C-17 which itself then proceeded to treat spectators to a stunning low flypast along the runway before landing and joining the RAF lineup in the static park. But if that was a promising beginning, then the best was very much still to come. It was known in advance that the NATO 75th anniversary flypast would be Friday only, but there were few concrete details about the participants. You can well imagine, then, the reaction of enthusiasts when the lineup was finally revealed to include many of the star items which, until we were made aware of their participation in the flypast, had been assumed to be static only. It's impressive enough to coordinate a multinational flypast; to let the crowd see the rarer and more spectacular elements of said flypast blasting into the air was just brilliant, with the take-offs of the Italian Tornado, French Mirage 2000-5F and Spanish SF-5M particularly enjoyable. It was pointed out in the commentary that this was in fact the first ever take-off by a Spanish F-5 in front of the public at a UK airshow, RIAT again demonstrating its remarkable ability to find nuggets of newness from well-established types and operators.
Amazingly, however, even the mass launch of various fast-jet rarities wasn't quite the high-point of Friday's show. When it had been announced that there would be a U-2 display - again, Friday only - it was assumed that this would consist of just one or two passes; the U-2 equivalent, perhaps, to 2023's distinctly underwhelming showing by the B-52. Instead, we were treated to an as-near-as-dammit full display, consisting of multiple passes, low approaches, and, in one especially memorable sequence, a touch and go in which the venerable spyplane ran along the runway for several hundred yards, chase-car in close attendance, before clambering back into the air in front of the delighted spectators. Stirring stuff, and significantly more impressive than the majority of U-2 showings at airshows in the USA - and it's worth remembering that even in the States, such appearances are hardly common. Adding to the sense of occasion, it was noted that this was the first appearance by a U-2 in a UK flying display since 1993… and we weren't finished there. Those who were staying close to the airfield in one of the many campsites had been treated to an early morning departure by a U-2 on a live mission, complete with recce pods on the wings and Senior Span pod mounted on the fuselage, and around four hours after its buddy had completed its own memorable flying display, this second and very much fully operational U-2 touched down back at Fairford. One need hardly labour the point that TWO flying U-2s at an airshow is all-but unheard of, even in the US. And still this extraordinary Friday wasn't done; the aforementioned Greek F-4Es were next to blast into the Fairford circuit, thrilling us all with several thunderous low passes in full burner (and hilariously destroying their own tail-art in the process) before landing, with drag-chutes billowing. Along with the pair of Turkish F-4Es this brought the total number of Phantoms at the event to four, something not seen at a RIAT since 2005. After such excitement the arrival of two further beauties - the wonderful Bréguet Alizé and USAF RC-135 - felt like something of an afterthought; at almost any other airshow, they would of course have been absolute standouts. The contrast with last year's Friday washout could hardly have been more stark… such are the vagaries of airshow attendance.
The only drawback to Friday being quite so spectacular is that there are of course still two show days to go, and there was definitely a sense that Saturday and Sunday struggled to live up to the excitement which had already been provided. This wasn't necessarily anyone's fault, and again it should also be stressed that Friday undoubtedly caught the best of this year's weather. That said, Saturday's lunchtime segment definitely dragged a little, with a number of display teams appearing back-to-back; perhaps in future some of these acts could be spread out a bit and interspersed with solo items. Of the display teams present, Norway's Yellow Sparrows provided another very welcome RIAT 'first', and whilst their six tiny Saab Safari aircraft may at times have seemed a little lost along the vast Fairford flightline, they certainly deserve admiration and respect for the sheer effort required to bring them to the show. The journey from their home base in the Arctic Circle to Gloucestershire sounded like some sort of Norse epic, lasting the best part of a week and necessitating multiple stopovers en route. Elsewhere, there was a poignant (and almost certainly final) appearance by perennial RIAT favourites the Patrouille Suisse, who were given top-billing in bringing Saturday's show to a close; they also joined the Red Arrows for a flypast on Sunday, both teams marking significant 60th anniversaries in 2024. Gloriously, in addition to the usual six F-5E Tigers of the Patrouille, the Swiss also provided a completely unexpected F-5 in standard grey operational scheme; unannounced prior to the show, its appearance kept up the tradition established last year (with the Italian Navy's twin-seat TAV-8B) of providing at least one surprise item very much targeted at the enthusiast community.
The F-16 isn't the only type turning 50 this year. In a nod to the Hawk also reaching the half-century milestone both the Saudi Hawks and the Finnish Midnight Hawks were present, though unusually the latter brought one standard grey machine and three unbelievably rare ex-Swiss Air Force Mk 66 Hawks, still sporting the red and white colour scheme worn by RAF trainer Hawks of yesteryear. Whilst it was tremendous to see these machines in action, the Mk 66 variant is unable to carry smoke-pods, leading to the somewhat incongruous sight of the solo aircraft looping around non-existent smoke during the team's display. The Finns also provided a (superb) solo Hawk display in one of the Mk 66 aircraft, which on the Saturday was joined by a Red Arrows Hawk, an RAF Hawk T2, a Qatari Hawk Mk 167 and one of the Saudi Hawks' Mk 65s for a fine flypast to commemorate this most charismatic of jet trainers. As for the Reds, in addition to their own displays and the formation with the Patrouille Suisse, they also flew on Friday with the Canadian CF-188 to mark the Royal Canadian Air Force's centenary. The Hornet itself was one of the stars of the flying display, delivering a spectacular routine which featured a fairly remarkable 'snap' into the vertical on take-off. In a further celebration of the Canadian anniversary, the Hornet also took part in flypasts over the weekend with The Fighter Collection's Spitfire LFVb; this particular 'Spit' is a Canadian veteran, and wore appropriate 'City of Winnipeg' squadron markings. Amazingly, it was also the only warbird in this year's flying display, a situation clearly brought about by the recent and tragic grounding of the BBMF, though warbirds were at least well represented in the static, with the P-51D and F-4U provided by Flying Legends particularly welcome additions.
Within the context of a show as vast as RIAT, it can be easy to take for granted the contribution made by the 'home team', but this year it is worth calling out two of the RAF participants who might otherwise have been overlooked. The Chinook demo has always been a firm favourite wherever it appears; a combination of the large airframe coupled with the less stringent display restrictions pertaining to helicopter displays means that the public are given the opportunity to witness an impressive machine being thrown around at relative close-quarters. This year's demonstration came with a twist; out went some of the more outlandish helicopter aerobatics, and in their place came a full 'role demo' in which the Chinook - in this instance a rare HC5 machine from RAF Odiham's 18 squadron, complete with unusual 'Bendix' nose - dropped off a large artillery gun near the centre of the showground before also carrying out troop insertion and extraction manoeuvres. These types of 'operational' demonstrations always go down well with the crowds, and this one was no exception… in future years it would be great to see the RAF build on this initial success, which debuted at Cosford a few weeks prior to RIAT, and perhaps progress to something more akin to the multi-type role demos which we have seen from other European air arms. If that was impressive enough, then the contribution of the RAF's fast jet element this year was arguably even more so. Previous showings by the F-35B have tended to underwhelm, but whilst we may still be some distance shy of a full aerobatic routine, this year's inclusion of some more dynamic manoeuvring, alongside the obligatory STOVL stuff, was particularly well received. Chuck in a couple of topsides for the 'togs, and operate the aircraft from Fairford instead of flying it in from Marham each day so we get to see it launch, and the RAF will have a very fine demo on their hands here.
RIAT's reputation has always been founded on a combination of quantity and quality, and nowhere is this more important than in the static. A full, varied static park is an absolute sine qua non of a good RIAT, and this year's definitely hit the spot. Given pride of place at the western end of the airfield was the superb multinational lineup of F-16s to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the type's first flight, complete with raised viewing platform to allow photographers to shoot the whole line from a suitable vantage point - a lovely touch. The blend of operators old (Belgium, Netherlands) and new (Romania) was a fitting tribute to this most versatile of fighters, and when you consider the F-16 operators who had cancelled at short notice - Poland, Portugal and the USAF ANG - the overall effect could have been even more impressive. Amongst the less common operators attracting considerable attention from the crowds were Jordan and especially Morocco, the latter's F-16s resplendent in a similar desert camo scheme to their C-130 support aircraft. At the more familiar end of the scale, homage needs to be paid to the Dutch and Belgian F-16 fleets; such longstanding stalwarts of the UK (and wider European) airshow scene, it feels downright surreal (and depressing) to acknowledge that this was almost certainly the last ever RIAT appearance from either. A particular shoutout to the Dutch for bringing no fewer than four active F-16s to the show, plus one 'museum piece' (J-616, sporting a special 50th anniversary tail), which had been roaded into Fairford from Volkel airbase and to which it will return to become that base's gate-guardian. F-16s were also well represented in the flying display, with five taking part in Friday's NATO flypast, and solo displays courtesy of the Danish Air Force (though, in an ironic mirroring of a fate which also befell the centennial Canadian Hornet, their lovely specially marked jet went tech after starring in Friday's display - kudos to Denmark for flying in a replacement on Saturday morning, which turned out to be the oldest still-airworthy F-16 in the world!) and the Turkish Air Force with their brilliantly bonkers SoloTurk routines.
Elsewhere in the static there was a fine 'Canadian 100th corner', with the gorgeous bright yellow CC-295 Kingfisher and CH-146 Griffon (parked in front of the CC-177 which had transported the helicopter to the UK) probably the standouts. The most photogenic part of the showground, the Western Loop with the tree-lined backdrop, was again put to good use to showcase many of the show's static highlights, including German and Italian Tornados and a NATO E-3, so often in years past the butt of jokes for its propensity to cancel after being announced, but very much present and correct on this occasion. Picking up on a theme covered in previous RIAT reviews, the rest of the western loop does still need to be reconsidered, as there were so many gems parked up that end (including a Turkish KC-135 - another UK airshow 'first'), yet that whole area still feels a little neglected, like the show is happening elsewhere. I'm not sure how the American crews, for example, will have reacted to being parked at that end of the airfield, but if they were feeling somewhat miffed at the relative lack of footfall then you could hardly blame them. That said, the decision by (presumably) American personnel to remove the barriers around the B-52 was a little bizarre… bringing a touch of the airshows back in the States to the UK, perhaps. Another US giant, the KC-10A Extender, fairly dominated its area of the showground; one of only four left in active USAF service, the tanker was another classic type appearing at a RIAT for the last time, and it seemed to dwarf all other aircraft parked nearby, including the Saudi A330 MRTT, itself hardly a midget. Both Saudi Arabia and Qatar were well represented at this year's event, continuing the strong participation from the Middle East which has become such a regular feature of recent RIATs. The Saudis provided another 2024 debutant in the shape of their F-15SA, whilst Qatar took over a section of the centre of the showground to mark the 50th anniversary of their own air force; the NH-90NFH being a particularly noteworthy addition.
It was in the flying display where Qatar's presence would be most pronounced. When videos surfaced online of the displays by an F-15QA 'Ababil' (the name is a reference to the mythical birds of Islamic folklore) at last year's Dubai Airshow, there was palpable excitement at the type of manoeuvres being performed, which included the sort of very high-alpha slow-speed tricks which we have seen previously from the various members of the Su-27 'Flanker' family, including the infamous tailslide. The announcement of the Ababil's addition to the RIAT flying display was met with considerable glee by enthusiasts hoping for more of the same… a large, heavy, powerful, noisy and manoeuvrable airframe will always grab people's attention, and all the more so when it is displayed in a manner which you're not used to seeing from what is now a relatively elderly design. There hadn't been a full flying demonstration by an F-15 at RIAT since 2007's F-15E demo, and courtesy of the USAF's Lakenheath wing, there has always been a huge affection for the type in this country. In the end it turned out that we would in fact be getting two F-15QA demonstrations, in two different configurations: one with a 'clean' fit, the second with a simulated full weapons load to demonstrate how little the aircraft's aerodynamic performance is affected by the additional weight/drag. The aircraft themselves were en route to Qatar on their delivery flights from the US, with the demos at RIAT provided by Boeing test-pilots.
The first thing that must be said is that these were, by anyone's standards, very fine displays, though perhaps a shade higher and more distant than we might ideally have wished for. Take-offs were suitably boisterous, and the noise from the huge engines as the aircraft hung in the sky was frankly deafening. Both displays ably demonstrated the aircraft's particularly violent pitch-up, snapping 90° from horizontal flight most impressively with little prior warning. Weirdly, however, it was generally reckoned that the fully-laden machine flew the better demo, when one might reasonably have expected the clean-machine to come out on top. But the chief disappointment was the apparent inability to adapt to the ever-changeable British weather, with clearly only the one routine having been worked-up, and that assuming a full-show with a high cloud-base. On Saturday, amidst the clag and drizzle, the 'clean' Ababil got airborne, flew a few circuits of Fairford, and landed. Granted this was mitigated in no small way on Sunday by the decision to launch both demonstrations - very much appreciated - but if Saturday's 'display' was your only glimpse of the aircraft over the weekend, you might well have left the airfield wondering what all the fuss was about. This was all in stark contrast to Saturday's other fast-jet routines, which by and large coped admirably with the conditions, with particular mentions to the Czech Gripen and RAF Typhoon which both flew exemplary poor-weather demos. No-one is suggesting that the Ababils weren't impressive - they absolutely were, given the right conditions, and the slow-speed stuff in particular was as cool as always - but did they fully live up to the pre-show hype? The Italian C-27J felt like a worthier recipient of the FRIAT 'As the Crow Flies' trophy; what a delight to see this crazy machine back at its very best at an Air Tattoo, with its full panoply of loops, rolls and fighter-esque tight turns.
So how does one ultimately assess RIAT '24? It is still very much the world's pre-eminent military airshow, with a variety and sheer number of types which no other event can match. Read back through this review, flick back through your own photos of the show, and think of all the stuff which hasn't even been mentioned. If I tried to do justice to every single participant, I'd still be typing this as the first aircraft touch-down for the start of RIAT '25. No wonder it's the best week of the year for so many of us; no wonder the post-RIAT comedown this year was so acute, not least if you were lucky enough to have been in attendance on the Friday. Mundane reality just don't cut it…
Organisationally, the show still has its challenges. This is inevitable for an event of this size, but at a minimum the situation on the roads and in the car parks needs to be properly assessed ahead of next year. Catering remains extortionate (£7.50 for a bacon roll - really? For £7.50, I'd expect to be given the option of hand-selecting the pig); more worrying still is the rising cost of attending the show itself. Never exactly cheap, a day out at the Air Tattoo now represents a significant investment for, say, a family of four, and if you're unlucky enough to attend on a day with duff weather, well, you're bound to start questioning the wisdom of a return visit.
For those of us far too addicted to be put off by a spot of rain, however, RIAT is and always will be an utterly sacrosanct part of the summer. This year's show excelled where it truly matters - in the air - and the undoubted poignancy of watching so many old favourites power over the Fairford threshold one last time was at least partly offset by the future promise represented by so many new participants. RIAT 2024's aircraft line-up was nothing short of sensational, especially as we are hardly living in a golden age of airshows, and it will be fascinating to see where the talented Air Ops team take us next. Perhaps the inclusion this year of types such as the Turbo Firecat hints at a slight change in emphasis, combining the show's traditional forte of front-line military action with a more general celebration of all that is rare and unusual in the world of aviation. If so, I'm all for it. See you back in the Cotswolds next year, and if you're feeling especially generous, you can buy me a bacon roll…