A Day Out at RIAT 2023

Several decades ago, the thought of Antonovs, MiGs and Mils sitting wingtip-to-wingtip with the likes of Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses or top-secret Lockheed U-2s would have been completely unimaginable. Even though the old Cold War is over, there are still few places in the world where such an eclectic collection of active aircraft can be seen. However, over the course of the third weekend each and every July, a diverse collection of aircraft from militaries across the world flock to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire for the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT). Affording enthusiasts the rare opportunity to spot aircraft that would otherwise be rarely seen, RIAT is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the year for many and typically sees over 200 aircraft on display.

Getting Tickets

As is often the case for airshows, tickets for RIAT must be purchased in advance. Whilst this is not likely to be an issue for the more determined enthusiasts, unfortunately, this does mean that fairweather visitors cannot wait and see what the unpredictable British summer weather has in store before making the decision to visit. Furthermore, seeing as tickets regularly sell out, it is advisable to book these well in advance – with these coming with a slight discount if booked far enough ahead of the show. Tickets for RIAT aren’t exactly cheap, and without the early bird discount, prices for the 2023 show ranged from £40 for the reduced Friday show to £69 for tickets for either Saturday or Sunday. Booking well in advance, I ended up purchasing a ticket for Sunday, doing so in January 2023 which would enable me plenty of time to arrange travel and accommodation.

If travelling from London and reliant on public transport, the show can be reached with relative ease by means of a train to Swindon before hopping on one of the airshow shuttle buses. However, since the 2022 show, I had moved away from London and settled up in the West Yorkshire city of Leeds. This meant that making a day trip to the show without a car would be rather challenging. I thus decided to spend the night before the show in an Airbnb in Cheltenham and purchased a ticket for a show that included the Cheltenham Racecourse Park and Ride Service.

Getting to the Show

Checking the RIAT website beforehand revealed that buses from Cheltenham Racecourse would depart hourly between 0645 and 0945. With this implying there to be only four buses, I decided to arrive early and aim to end up on the first departure of the day. Leaving my accommodation at 0600, I headed northwards along Cheltenham’s quiet streets and arrived at the racecourse bus pick-up area where, indicating that I was in the right place, a small queue of passengers could be seen raring to go. Joining this at about 0615, it wasn’t long before the first of what seemed to be three double-decker buses appeared. Ending up as one of the final passengers to board the first departure, by 0630 I was on the move and heading towards the airshow. Whilst Google Maps advises that the journey between Cheltenham and RAF Fairford takes forty minutes, with closed roads, airshow traffic and the slower speed of double-decker city buses compared to your average car, the RIAT website advertised the bus journey time as being an hour and a half. This seemed to be fairly spot on and just under an hour and a half after leaving Cheltenham, the bus arrived at the airshow. Once there, the ticket and security check were quick and easy and soon I found myself walking through the collection of military helicopters on static display at the far eastern end of the airfield.

The Aircraft

Each year in the months leading up to the show, RIAT’s organisers publish a list of attendees and their aircraft – with this usually being updated at midday each and every Thursday. acceptable.As the weeks passed, checking the website on a Thursday afternoon became something of a habit and I watched with delight as this grew longer. Every year, the show has a different operational theme and in 2023 this was ‘Skytanker23’, a celebration of one hundred years of air-to-air refuelling operations. Thus, plenty of tanker aircraft could be seen on the attendee list and visitors would be in for a few interesting flypasts that simulated air-to-air refuelling.

Taking place in the UK, unsurprisingly one can expect to see plenty of aircraft from the Army Air Corps, Fleet Air Arm and Royal Air Force, as well as a selection of civilian vintage and light aircraft from across the country. In addition, the airshow typically sees plenty of visitors from NATO allies – with eighteen NATO members represented (plus the new NATO Airbus A330 tanker). In addition, the Italian Air Force sent no fewer than seventeen aircraft in celebration of the force’s centenary. The show also often features plenty of Middle Eastern guests, with aircraft from the Royal Jordanian Air Force, Royal Saudi Air Force, Qatar Emiri Air Force and UAE Air Force all on display this year. Whilst plenty of interesting aircraft were on display in 2023, this year the show was hit by the cancellation of what would have been very rare attendees, including an Argentinian Air Force Boeing 737, US Navy E-6B Mercury and Zambian Air Force C-27.

Thanks to the unpredictability of the British weather, at previous RIATs I have experienced everything from ten-degree chills complete with heavy rain to heatstroke-inducing warmth. Hoping for the best, a week beforehand I checked the Gloucestershire weather which revealed temperatures of about nineteen degrees and some light rain showers throughout the day. In the end, with the exception of a few rain showers, the weather wasn’t too bad with plenty of lingering dramatic storm clouds providing a good background to the flying display.

Flying Display Photos

Saudi Hawks