Fairford 2019

So two years and one week ago, it was the Royal International Air Tattoo 2019 at Fairford. Given that the world has learned about Covid-19 in the intervening time, it may be some time before there are Air Shows like Fairford again.

As has become custom, we bunch of happy spotters no longer attend the show – especially as we feel that it doesn’t represent great value. We view the flying display from Totterdown Hil, which as it turns out is practically in the centre of the flying area. With a visit to the Western end of the airfield on departures day, the two days costing less than a standard entry on the flying days.

I’m not saying that the show isn’t good value for money, in some respects it is indeed very good value – but we are of an age where the preferred show weekend is more civilised in its approach.

We have attended most of these shows, it used to be that during the summer months we would attend two or three shows a month from May through to September with the highlights being Greenham, Mildenhall, Upper Heyford, Duxford and Leuchars although there were many others.

The selection of photographs were all either taken from Totterdown Hill, or they were taken on the departure day. Click on one and open the Gallery, have a better look at the images.

The 2019 RIAT could have been quite a unique show from a spotters perspective, it could well be the last time that the Phantom and the AV8 were seen at the same show in Europe.

There was a bit of nostalgia when we saw them, gone are the days where you could log 200 of these types alone over a weekend in the UK and you might see half a dozen visiting Phantoms over a weekend as well.

The Airshow now a days is not a cheap experience, well not much is cheap really – but going to Fairford with a couple of older kids as a familly is now over £200 for the admission for a familly of four, younger children have free entry but if you are taking older teenagers be prepared.

I know that the shows should pay their way and that what proceeds there are go to a good cause, but it is still not a cheap day out by any measure.