The Italian Air Force were very much in evidence at Fairford this year, with Eurofighter Typhoon MM7288/36-42, Alenia C27J Spartan MM62217/46-81 and AMX MM7115/32-23 - all operated by RSV/311° Gruppo – joining the Aermacchi MB339s of the ‘Frecce Tricolori’ display team.
It’s always good to see aircraft of the former Warsaw Pact air forces taking part in a flying display and a pair of Polish Air Force Sukhoi Su22M4K ‘Fitters’ gave a very..ahem...polished demonstration of this formidable ‘swing wing’ ground-attack aircraft.
3612 and 9616 were the airframes involved and both aircraft were from 40.ELT based at Swidwin in Poland.
With the biennial Farnborough airshow following immediately on from this year’s RIAT, a number of aircraft manufacturers took the opportunity to demonstrate their products at both venues. One such was Boeing, one of whose test pilots put ‘borrowed’ US Navy FA18F Super Hornet 168890 of VFA-106 through its paces.
Airbus Military brought along, F-WWMZ, the 6th pre-production example of the A400M. With the type already in service in Turkey and France, and the RAF due to receive its first example in September, I hope we can look forward to seeing ‘squadron’ machines at RIAT 2015.
The Northrop F5E Tiger II looks set to soldier on with the Swiss Air Force for a while yet, as attempts to purchase new aircraft are repeatedly stymied by political or budgetary issues in the country. Three examples get airborne prior to the display by the ‘Patrouille Suisse’.
Also from Switzerland, Aerospatiale AS332M Super Puma T-314of the air force’s Lufttransportstaffel 6.
Continuing with the rotary-wing theme, Westland WAH64 Apache ZJ172 showed off the capabilities of the Army Air Corps.
Aircraft from two of Europe’s smaller air arms were on show at Fairford. Austrian Air Force Saab 105OE 1126/RF-26, operated by the service’s Düsentrainerstaffel, is resplendent in ‘tiger stripes’ and markings commemorating 40 years of operation with the type.
The colour scheme worn by Estonian Air Force Aero L39C Albatros 10 was, according to the display commentator, inspired by the bumblebee. You learn something new every day!
If you like General Dynamics F16 Fighting Falcon, then Fairford was the place to be, with several examples in the static park and flying demonstrations given by three operators. Representing the Belgian Air Force is FA-84, captured during a trademark slow speed, high angle-of-attack flypast.
Såtenäs is the home base of the Swedish Air Force’s F7 wing, operators of the Saab JAS39 Gripen. 39227/227 is one of the aircraft on strength.
One thing I would love to have a go at is wingwalking, though I suspect that aerodynamically, I would probably not be the ideal shape! It’s probably best left to the professionals, in this case the Breitling Wingwalkers with their four Boeing Stearman A75 Kaydets.
Finally, a couple of aircraft from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, namely Supermarine Spitfire LFIXe MK356 and Douglas DC3 ZA947.
No comments:
Post a Comment