Third time lucky: today I finally got a back-to-back comparison between JF-17 & Tejas. This is *not* a comment on operational capability. Both were decent displays but I think the Tejas narrowly takes the win, with a more cohesive, flowing sequence. The smokewinders helped, too.
This wasn’t flying, this was art.
John Romain at Old Warden, in perfect skies, in a Mk.XIV Spitfire.
One of the finest pieces of warbird flying I’ve ever seen. There are not enough superlatives in the dictionary.
The only word that came to mind following the
@RAFBBMF
Lancaster’s appearance at Old Warden yesterday was “woah”. What a way to welcome the aircraft back to the airshow circuit.
Final clip of the day: the French Air & Space Force's Rafale Solo Display. It's always a star of any airshow it attends, and here in Dubai that was no different. Here's a glimpse at its incredible agility and superlative rate of roll.
Think you've seen an F-15 display? Think again! The F-15QA Ababil display in Dubai was out of this world and massively raised the bar.
The tailslide got people talking, but I was wowed by this abrupt pull into a reverse half cuban, exiting the loop into a slow, high alpha pass.
PHANTOMS!
The arrival of two Hellenic F-4Es has been my personal highlight from an action-packed RIAT Friday. Our live broadcast is ongoing as we capture further post-display arrivals.
I thought the RAF's debut F-35B Lightning role demonstration was tremendous at Cosford yesterday. Fascinating to see how hard the stabilators are working during the high-alpha pass.
Jean-Michel Munn flew an absolutely mighty display in the beautiful DH.88 Comet at Shuttleworth yesterday – and paired up for two formation passes with another de Havilland icon, the Vampire. This was the first time a Comet and Vampire have flown together.
I find the formation part of their show rather long and repetitive, but the last 5 minutes of the Russian Knights display with the duo/solo aerobatics needs to be seen to be believed. These clips are from yesterday rather than today, but are still worth sharing.
There are several unavoidable facts in life, and one of them is that no nation does two-ship tactical displays quite like the French. Here, the two Mirage 2000Ds of Couteau Delta tear around in some very moody skies at
@cosfordairshow
yesterday.
I have *loved* watcing
@sarang_iaf
over the past few days, a real personal highlight and refreshingly different to everything else on show. Here, some clips of their display, with their ground crew watching on below.
The Dubai Airshow 2023 was the first airshow to feature a showdown between India's Tejas and Pakistan's JF-17. I'd love to compare them, but sadly the Tejas went tech today and scrubbed its display after take-off. But I did get to see the JF-17A Thunder Block-2.
I’ve been excited to share some clips from a glorious afternoon at Shuttleworth yesterday – here goes.
Opening yesterday’s terrific Family Airshow at Old Warden, a quartet of fighters: Sea Hurricane Mk.Ib, two Spitfire Mk.Vcs and a Gladiator Mk.I.
I badly needed a change of scenery after a few days cooped up indoors, so I headed to the Bournemouth Air Festival yesterday. While primarily a social visit, I did bring my camera and filmed a handful of the displays.
Here's the RAF Typhoon FGR.4.
The First World War types are always charming at Shuttleworth. Yesterday, the Bristol M1C, Sopwith Triplane and RAF SE5a flew, with the latter performing in an especially sprightly manner.
That’s the last video in this batch – more to follow this afternoon.
The warbirds had to battle some blustery crosswinds, yet they all got airborne and we saw rather more of the bombers than we did during Friday's practice show. The Lancaster, in particular, performed some lovely topside passes.
Another superb formation yesterday: Spitfire FR.XIVe ‘RN201’ flying with the Comet. Both are linked by a racing theme, as the Spitfire is painted to represent one that raced at the Blackpool Air Pageant in 1947.
More clips of this particular Spitfire coming up later...
A clip from the Midlands Air Festival yesterday -
@RAFTyphoonTeam
and
@RAFBBMF
debuted their two-ship sequence marking the 80th anniversary of the Dambusters Raid.
Rightly or otherwise, Dubai is the biggest trade show still allowing Russian participation. The duo/solo aerobatics at the end of the Russian Knights' show is objectively extraordinary. 2nd shot shows a close formation taislide by two heavy afterburning jets.
It's a day later, and I'm becoming more confident that this wasn't a dream.
The MiG-21 display at AirVG yesterday: high, distant, backlit, but fully-aerobatic, accompanied by near-constant afterburner, and probably never to be repeated.
Longer video:
The
@rafredarrows
were unfortunate to suffer the worst weather of the day at
@cosfordairshow
yesterday, but there's nothing like some red, white and blue smoke to liven up a grey and rainy sky.
Finally, I suppose I can't go around talking about that F-15 tailslide yesterday without posting the video.
And with that, time to pick up my camera and head to the airshow for another day's filming.
There was yet another fascinating pairing, as the Lysander and Anson joined up for half a dozen or so formation passes. Both then performed solo displays.
Just seen this morning that Marek Choim has announced his retirement from airshow flying. His Extra 330SC pyro display managed to combine dynamism and grace in a way that few night airshow acts can achieve. I, for one, always loved watching him fly.
The fantastic sight of a two-ship Atlas C.1 flypast at yesterday's Cosford Air Show - a lucky fluke that the show was able to snag an appearance from this pair during their flight back to the UK after operations abroad.
That's my last
@cosfordairshow
clip for now!
Last
@cosfordairshow
clip for now: the
@RAFTyphoonTeam
and
@RAFBBMF
Synchro Pair display, which made a very welcome return to the circuit today, after far too many years without it. More to follow tomorrow!
Finally, here is the Frecce Tricolori. I think it's fair to say they stole the show, so they seem like a good team with which to conclude these short clips.
A 1hr Airshow Dispatches film will be published in the next week or so.
Edwin Brenninkmeyer displaying the Gnat at yesterday's Midlands Air Festival. If I'm not mistaken, I think this was the first British flying display appearance by a Gnat for five years.
I think I'll make this my last Dubai Airshow clip for now, as it sums up my week quite nicely: vibrant colour, blue skies, great flying and being photobombed by golf buggies.
Make sure you're following as I post longer videos of each display there.
We all wait five years to see a Gnat fly at an airshow, and then two come along in the space of a week! After seeing the Red Arrows-schemed Gnat at Ragley Hall last week, Cosford treated us to the sight and sound of the Yellowjacks example.
@sumeetbiswas1
I'd love to some time. It's a challenging one to justify just because it's so far from home, but I'll make it there one day - not least because at some point I want to see Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team, one of the last military jet teams I haven't filmed yet.
A couple of notable moments from this year's
@RAFTyphoonTeam
routine that I've not seen done by a fast jet at a western airshow lately: an on-crowd hesitation roll, and an on-crowd high-alpha roll entry into a low-speed pass.
Finally, my personal highlight of the day at Bournemouth was the Gazelle Squadron. I've never managed to get right on the show centre mark for this display until yesterday, and their breaks and crosses looked superb from this angle.
Last clip of the evening: another look at Starfighter Inc's TF-104G Starfighter, shipped over from Florida for the airshow at Pratica di Mare. It was the first time a Starfighter had flown in Italy since 2004. What a sight - and sound!
The Blue Angels used Alcatraz as the datum point for their Delta Breakout during today's practice show - quite an experience for those of us on the island.
As an infrequent visitor to Shuttleworth, I really appreciated the Provost T.1 display yesterday. I thought this was a superb demonstration of how to mount a non-aerobatic display in a vintage military aircraft while keeping it fluid, dynamic and photogenic.
Probably the last time I see a military-operated MiG-21 fly, and it's a fully-aerobatic display with copious afterburner.
Thank you, Croatia! Videos to follow.
I'm thoroughly enjoying watching the newly re-established Black Cats two-ship display this summer. Here they are at the Bournemouth Air Festival yesterday.
The Viggen and Draken are always great to see. Excuse the iffy footage, somewhat compromised by the show being backlit with a light haze, and the aircraft being a fair way offshore.
The RAF provided some debuts at
@cosfordairshow
yesterday, including the first show of the 2024 Chinook Role Demo (as opposed to the normal display). I think this was the first time a Chinook HC.5 (with enlarged sponsons for additional fuel capacity) has performed a display/demo.
Phew - that was a long day. 10 hours non-stop presenting the PlanesTV RIAT arrivals broadcast. But I did manage to stop and take a photo of Matt taking a photo of Adrian taking a photo of Iain filming the Spanish Harrier.
Another long day awaits tomorrow.
Much to everyone's delight, the CF-18 Demo Team was able to wheel out their special scheme jet yesterday (it had previously been sheltering from the rain in a hangar to protect the paint) and it looked absolutely splendid tearing around the sky in Sunday's favourable weather.
Taranto Formation. It's easy to overlook just how amazing this display is. Aircraft spanning 80+ years of aviation history, both fixed-wing and rotary-wing, in a four-ship close formation: that's frankly incredible.
The Snowbirds have had a weekend to forget so far. Two jets had to land with technical problems during a Friday rehearsal that eventually had to be called off when their slot time elapsed. On Saturday, they didn't fly due to low cloud. Everyone's hoping for better luck today.
The USAF's Viper Demo Team, while far from the most dynamic fast jet solo, was looking fantastically photogenic its attractive YF-16 paint scheme yesterday. The display was an odd one, with numerous manoeuvres repeated identically - some featuring up to 3 times.
If you enjoyed the clips I've been posting from Old Warden, then do take a look at this one hour recap of the show, featuring every single aircraft that performed in the flying display.
NEW AIRSHOW DISPATCHES FILM: 1 hour of action from the Shuttleworth Family Airshow, featuring some very special formations and perhaps the best Spitfire display we've ever filmed.
Watch it here:
Great to see the world's only airworthy Tempest - which made its first post-restoration flight earlier this week - taking pride of place in the static display at Duxford today, on its first public outing.
August 1st were better today than yesterday - the display had better flow to it and the smoke lasted until the end this time. Interesting to note that the exact smoke colour combination changes for each display - I wonder what the logic there is?
For 7 very long days, we have been hot, cold, awestruck, wet, tired, thrilled, irate, excited and anxious - sometimes all at the same time. But after a good night's sleep I'll be raring to do it again next year.
RIATing complete.
What a brilliant team we have.
These guys have put a serious shift in over the last week producing 60 hours of live broadcasts from
@airtattoo
.
Each one of us has our own connection to aviation. I hope the passion for the subject matter comes across in the coverage.
A special thank you to Adam for his
The Frecce Tricolori are here this week, albeit performing as a 9-ship team rather than the usual ten. Subtle changes to their show keep the formations and manoeuvres looking good.
Good news! I completed the Airshow Dispatches film from the Quinte International Airshow last night and my plan is to publish it this evening. Run time one hour, every single performer is featured.
A superhuman effort by the Cosford Air Show air ops team to put on a fairly fluid, full length flying display in the face of incredible odds. 9+ cancellations, many at very short notice, but it barely showed. Airshow Dispatches film coming soon with (some of) the inside story.
The Gazelle Squadron's entertaining four-ship routine brings something truly different to the UK airshow circuit and probably deserves to be seen more widely than it is. Here they are at
@cosfordairshow
yesterday.
Yesterday also saw the first
@rafredarrows
display of the season. The addition of an 8th aircraft makes a huge difference to their stage presence. Also of note, originally pencilled in for last season, 'Gypo' section has officially been renamed 'Hanna' this year.
NEW AIRSHOW DISPATCHES FILM: One hour of action from the
@cosfordairshow
, featuring the Red Arrows, Typhoon, F-35, Chinook, Couteau Delta, Gnat, Navy Wings, Black Cats and more.
Watch it here:
The Finnish Air Force's F/A-18C Hornet solo display at Radom today was, as ever, absolutely outstanding.
A favourite part: this on-crowd dive into a high-G turn and loaded roll, with flares aplenty.
@TBourdil
There aren't many western fighters that can do a pedal turn, regardless of loadout/fuel state. I can't find any evidence of a Mirage 2000 being able to perform one.
Just returned home from
@cosfordairshow
, where the team laid on a full & varied flying display, found worthy replacements for last-minute drop-outs, presented the statics nicely, and, in short, got the important things right. A really solid show with some very memorable moments.
The Radom Airshow featured its traditional airfield attack scenario, which included a pair of bombing runs by two Su-22M4s. This was quite possibly one of the final airshow appearances by the Su-22, as Poland is the last European operator and the type is very soon to be retired.
August 1st/Ba Yi were a star participant at the Dubai Airshow. Sadly the display itself did not live up to my expectations, but I loved the smoke systems and the novelty of seeing the J-10. This is only the second foreign outing for the team's new 4.5 gen J-10CYs.
A real star of the Midlands Air Festival 2024: the Flying Bulls' DC-6B. This was the former personal aircraft for the Yugoslavian premier, and later, the president of Zambia.
An excerpt from my Airshow Dispatches film from the Radom Airshow 2023, showing an outstanding Belgian F-16 solo display in glorious evening light.
I did not for a moment imagine that it would be my last time seeing it.
Full film:
Even though I knew it was coming, seeing this for real was a proper jaw-on-the-floor moment.
The Patrouille de France are marking their 70th anniversary with a very special manoeuvre called 'Le Heritage'. Watch it unfold until the end...
Where better to do some formation aeros than Dubai Marina? Minicams are amazing but I prefer to film handheld from the passenger seat when possible, which gives a far better impression of how intense the experience can be. My camera OIS couldn't handle these
@aerosparxteam
loops!
A final clip from AirVG 2024: a Combat SAR demo by two OH-58D Kiowa Warriors and a soon-to-be-retired Mi-171Sh - both very rare sights in public.
A 20 minute Airshow Dispatches film about AirVG will be published tomorrow.
Final clip of the day from Paris Air Legend 2023: several excerpts from the exceptional Rafale Solo Display, including yesterday's display with a special scheme C model jet, and today's sunset show, with an operational B-model jet.
I have *loved* watcing
@sarang_iaf
over the past few days, a real personal highlight and refreshingly different to everything else on show. Here, some clips of their display, with their ground crew watching on below.
Good news: I got to spend an extra day at the Dubai Airshow
Bad news: I lost my tripod
So, mixed results, really. But a good day nonetheless - videos to follow.
@lmaomomentlol
I'm not clued in on flight performance stats. Armaments: Tejas Mk.1 surpasses JF-17 Block 1 but later marks I'd guess are more evenly-matched. Reliability is a key factor & those stats aren't published, but the JF-17 reportedly has serious problems with fuselage cracks/vibration.
Not having known much about them pre-show, I very much enjoyed the Northern Stars yesterday - although that should come as no surprise given the team comprises former Snowbirds pilots.
That's the last Quinte Airshow clip for this batch; more later today.