Well it was a great The Royal International Air Tattoo that took place last weekend at RAF Fairford, with plenty of high calibre acts on the flying programme, including the world famous Vulcan bomber, making it's welcome return to the Fairford skies, and also the RAF's very own Red Arrows, who once again proved that Britain's do it best as far as air display teams are concerned!
The display featured plenty of fighters too, with a pair of Saab Gripens on show, one from Hungary, the other from Sweden - well it to be didn't it!?! There was also several variations of the F-18 on show, in fact I'm sure they were all competing against each other to produce the best display!
There were also flypasts from the heavies, such as the B52 Stratofortress, the Lockheed Tristar, and the much talked about Nimrod, which all took part in the Sea Search theme, which culminated in the Royal Navy flypast, and excellent landing sequence which involved helicopters lining up above the 2 mile runway.
The display featured aircraft from all over the world, including the some heavies from the USAF, including the B1 bomber, which sadly didn't take part in the flying display programme, and also a C-17 Globemaster which was opened up for the public to view inside and also in the cock pit.
RIAT certainly did well to attract the many different types to this year's show considering the position the world's economy finds itself in at present, and following last year's washout, I think everyone was just happy to see the show on, although the weather on Sunday mirrored that of the build up to last year's non event, with some heavy showers, but it failed to put the public off going!
The undoubted star of the show was the Vulcan bomber though, as it took off with the much awaited "howl" and a stirring take off it was too, with a sedate but yet poignant display which enthralled the Fairford crowd, and resulted in many clapping and cheering when the Delta Lady landed.
So, all in all an excellent display, one dry day out of two was better than last year, and now all eyes will turn towards next year's event, which is scheduled for July 17th & 18th 2010, hopefully we'll see an F22 Raptor, B1 bomber, and the Vulcan return next year to the flying display.
For more information on the Vulcan, please visit the Vulcan To The Sky website, where you can contribute towards keeping XH558 in the sky.
For regular updates on what aircraft will be attending, please visit the official site's list, or check out UKAR, a forum with plenty of important information attached to it for those wanting to know the latest!
Just before RIAT 2009, this Vulcan footage was taken at Yeovilton when the Vulcan arrived for a sedate touch down, or so the onlookers thought...
