Midlands Air Festival
Friday 30th May - Sunday 1st June 2025
It's often easy to categorise airshows and for them to become labelled as ‘one for the enthusiasts’ or a ‘family show’, alternatively as a military, warbird or aerobatic show. The beauty of the Midlands Air Festival is that it transcends many of these tags, offering a bit of everything. The event has a reputation for showcasing a broad variety of aviation, catering for a spectrum of different interests and audiences. All whilst set in the grounds of Ragley Hall in the rolling valleys of the Capability Brown designed parkland. It's one of the finest settings for an airshow that we have in the UK.
attended the Friday and Sunday of the festival and reports for UK Airshow Review. Photography by the UKAR Staff Team.
The Midlands Air Festival stands out as being unique from any other event as part of the airshow scene in the UK, with hot air balloons, remote controlled models and full size aircraft all part of the entertainment. The highlight of the event (weather permitting) is the number of hot air balloons on show, this year’s line up featured a Cadbury’s Creme Egg balloon and a special shape depicting Jesus Christ - both humorously announced over the Easter weekend - to give a small flavour of the range of balloons on show. Out of the four opportunities for a mass launch this year, only two were within limits. The wind direction on the Friday evening brought the balloons directly over the crowd and Ragely Hall itself, their reliance on wind for the direction of travel meaning that the spectacle and direction will be different on each occasion they fly. Even when numbers are reduced due to the wind, there is always a real feeling of majesty as they begin to fill the skies when conditions are suitable.
The show prides itself on presenting an eclectic mix of aviation, which is at the heart of the air festival ethos. This was typified throughout the flying display programme with a range of real quality items attracting the enthusiast and casual audience alike, with festival and UK debuts as part of the offering. The Mistral Warbirds Canadair F86 Sabre and the Flying Bulls BO 105 were a welcome part of this year’s programme after failing to attend last year, due to weather conditions. The BO 105 display, flown by Felix Baumgartner, was a captivating mix of rolls and extraordinary manoeuvres that you wouldn’t normally dream of seeing in a helicopter display. A unique spectacle that needed to be watched for every second to not miss another incredible manoeuvre. Frédéric Akary was making his first UK display appearance in the Sabre at the festival, the routine consisted of turns and flypasts close to the crowd in a much more relaxed style, quite the contrast to the Flying Bulls machine but no less pleasing. The show also boasted the first flying display by Douglas R4D-6S ‘Ready for Duty’ as part of its summer Navy to Victory tour, as with the Sabre the R4D flew a sequence well designed to show off the aircraft and afford a view of the various markings and additions to the aircraft not seen on other more familiar Dakotas.
With its position early in the display season, the Midlands Air Festival has become established as one of the first opportunities to re-encounter familiar favourites and see their new routines, particularly with the Royal Air Force teams. Having the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight back to a full three-ship was a particular highlight with many of their aircraft having missed much of the 2024 season after the tragic loss of Sqn Ldr Mark Long just before last year's festival. We're all familiar with the BBMF arriving from behind the crowd, but the addition of the finale of the routine being an exit over the top of the crowd was a fantastic surprise, seeing the aircraft set up in front of you to line up and pass overhead was a great spectacle, in terms of sight and sound. It's refreshing to see the BBMF looking at new and innovative ways to present their aircraft and add to their recognisable routine. The RAF Tutor display was also on show with the yellow and black painted aircraft on display duty, which the display’s commentator said had been particularly requested by the organisers of the event, as a familiar display the change in the aircraft at certain events is pleasing to see and adds variety throughout the year. 2025 is the second year for Flt Lt Bob Dewes as the Tutor display pilot, it is often remarked that a routine benefits from not changing pilots on an annual basis and this certainly seems the case with a refined routine presented with the aircraft remaining low and engaging for the crowd throughout.
The selection of UK civilian display assets also offered great quality with more seldom seen performers booked. In particular, the Historic Helicopters’ fleet is one that we sometimes don't seem to see enough of, subsequently the role demonstration by one of their Westland Sea King HAR3s was a highly anticipated addition. The sight of a yellow RAF marked Sea King is an iconic airshow act and is one to see a great one to see repeated in civilian hands, with the size of the helicopter affording it great impact at Ragley Hall in the air and on the ground. In his Cassutt Racer Lee Kingman put on a very entertaining display, giving a real sense of the speed and power of the diminutive aircraft. This Cassutt was once part of the Dukes of Cassutt display team, an act well associated with the late Richard Grace, it is clear that his legacy will live on through acts such as this, with a new generation of display pilots entering onto the display scene in his former mounts.
Ragley Hall is a venue that suits aircraft that are able to come close to the display line well, especially those that can operate from there. From the crowdline you are looking down at the runway from a slightly higher vantage point, so those light enough to land on the temporary strip offer some of the best photographic opportunities. Peter Davies is a fine exponent of making a display engaging to the crowd in his Calidus Autogyro and once again put on a fantastic display diving low, pulling sharp turns and filling the sky with smoke. It is a real crowd pleasing spectacle that he delivers, and one perfectly suited to the venue. Also landing at the venue throughout the weekend were seven Bell 47s. Whilst the majority of these were not part of the display itself, the show provided a meeting opportunity for them, and the audience were treated to the impressive sight of them arriving and departing in groups throughout the weekend, with a one example providing a display on the Saturday.
Despite the strength of the display, there were further acts that could have been considered star items due to attend, notably a rare airshow appearance from a L29 Delfin, which was ably replaced by a Jet Provost T3A in Red Pelicans markings, itself a rare participant at airshows. Alongside the Delfin, the De Havilland Vampire T11 was also lost from the programme, both of which were not mentioned throughout the weekend, despite appearing on the schedule emailed out to ticket holders in the days leading up to the event. The Suffolk Spitfire was added to the line up on the Sunday of the show (assumed to be a last minute replacement for the Vampire); the organisers clearly put a lot of effort into finding quality replacements for cancelled acts, greater communication of the changes and the effort that has been taken may lead to less confusion and this work being better appreciated.
Whilst this year’s show will largely be remembered for the international visitors, it is perhaps the character of the event that is the real star. The conversational commentary style of Peter Anderson and Helen Tempest sets the tone for the event and is a relaxing accompaniment to the aerial action. The strength of the show is in its diversity, whilst substantial elements of the show may often be affected by the weather conditions the format of the event ensures that the quality of the event still remains strong. With this year's event over, a year ahead of manifesting calm winds for more balloon action next year remains!