Royal International Air Tattoo RAF Fairford, England July 18-19, 2009

Photography and brief by Luca Giandomenico Polidori

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  The 2009 edition of the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) took place under the heavy rain typical of the atlantic weather.

Indeed this airshow – one of the biggest and most recognized in the world – is every year often “wet”. The last year both dates were cancelled for the dangerous mud in the public area and the flooded runway. The flight displays of the last July 18 and 19 were also sometimes stopped by the organizers and by pilots due to the heavy rain and low visibility. But as they say in these cases: the show must go on!

 

  Many types of aircrafts that are or were in service in the most important air forces of the world participated to the flying and static displays like: Spitfires, Avro Vulcan (15 years after its last appearance at the RIAT), Hunter, Tornados, Harriers, Phantoms, A-10s, F-15s, F-16s, F-18s, B-52H, B-1, C-17, C-130s, Rafale, Gripen, Eurofighter and so on…

 

  Some of the aerobatics teams - Red Arrows, Brietling Jet Team, Royal Jordanian Falcons, Frecce Tricolori and PC7 Team - that participated to the show were obliged  to modify their flight programs and in some cases to cancel their exhibition due to the bad forecasts.
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  The RIAT 2009 was not only a big air show where thousands of visitors could see very closely their favourite aircrafts, but it was also theatre of three important celebrations.

 

  The NATO 60th Anniversary showcased a display of aircrafts that represented not only the wide variety of tasks NATO performs, but also illustrated its past, present and future. The Air Tattoo charted the chronology of NATO's 60 year history, illustrating its political and military growth alongside its crisis management and peace keeping involvement in the Korean War, Cold War, Kosovo and the current War on Terror.

 

  The Sea Search 09 focused on the aircrafts and people that undertake highly specialised missions like protecting a nation's coastal waters or international shipping lanes, preventing illegal smuggling of narcotics or illegal immigration, searching for stricken vessels or rescuing people and so on.
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  Last but not least was the Royal Navy's celebration of 100 years of Naval Aviation. On 7th May 1909, the Admiralty spent £35,000 on placing an order for a no conventional aircraft, the airship “HMA 1” (“Mayfly”), marking a radical change in thinking that sought to extend the naval battlespace into the skies.

 

  The Royal Navy celebrated this important anniversary at Air Tatto with one of the biggest displays of Royal Navy Airpower: more than 40 fixed wing and rotary aircrafts from the past and present took to the skies to perform a truly memorable mass flypast as part of the Service's centenary celebrations.

 

  Despite the constant rain, the bad weather has allowed spectators –especially photographers- to appreciate the beautiful vapour and water effects made by the aircrafts while they were pulling Gs and taking off on the wet runway.