Plans to wow Donald Trump with Britain’s newest bit of military kit when he visits the UK next month have been torn up amid fears that he would be underwhelmed by Britain’s ailing armed forces.
Downing Street wanted to show the American president HMS Queen Elizabeth, the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier, but the plan has been torpedoed because it has no aircraft yet.
Officials feared the sight of Trump’s helicopter landing on an otherwise empty flight deck would provoke ridicule from Trump, who spent the recent G20 summit berating European leaders for their lack of defence spending.
Britain has taken delivery of just four of the state-of-the-art F-35 Lightning stealth jets that are set to fly from the carrier — and none of them has yet been deployed.
“Trump has 10 major carriers and all of them have a deck full of aircraft,” said one government source. “We can’t take him there. It would be embarrassing.”
The possibility of Trump attending the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford, which runs from July 13 to 15, is now being discussed as an alternative entertainment.
Officials from Trump’s team are expected to fly to the UK this week to thrash out the details of the president’s schedule. He is due to attend a Nato summit in Brussels on July 11 and then arrive for dinner in the UK on July 12, before visiting Theresa May the following day, either at Downing Street or Chequers, her country retreat.
Trump is then expected to travel to Scotland to play golf with a celebrity. He will also meet the Queen.
I should imagine DBH are probably having kittens at having to cope with the demands of US Presidential Security at this late date. I'm rather glad I'm only able to do the arrivals days this year, as if it does happen I shudder to think at the security checks that could be put into place for visitors.
A dreadful possibility.....with paranoid Secret Service personnel much of the airfield would be a no go area for the public,if indeed they were able to access it in the first place.
parsley wrote:A dreadful possibility.....with paranoid Secret Service personnel much of the airfield would be a no go area for the public,if indeed they were able to access it in the first place.
I wonder if he would do a "Prescott" if some yokel lobbed an egg at him?
Trump's security is nothing to compare with the North Korea President whose hands Trump shook a couple of times at the last G7 Summit. I heard he even brought his own toilet so nobody collect his poop and use it analyse any info to use against him.
Tasty thought of seeing AF1 on the pad at Fairford, but here's another thought.......................
What if we got a looking glass, and or a couple of presidential Ospreys? After all the pan space has a hole in it big enough due to the alternate car parking arrangements, so it's possible i suppose. Unless the Chinese, Indians, Turks, etc use that space?
As for Trumps security, i would think 'if' he did visit it would be by air, and only ticket holders would be on the airfield, so probably already being vetted by UK and US secret services, as they have our names and addresses on file. So i'm not sure its going to be much of a risk to be honest.
Although, from a personal point of view, i hope Her Majesty gets driven along the runway so all of us get a chance to see her.
If there would be the opportunity to view some of the air fleet that accompanies the President it might be worth the hassle, but I should think any Presidential aircraft will be located firmly on the far side of the airfield and their movements will be unscheduled and will doubtless play havoc with the display running order. Any of the support aircraft, such as the E-4, are more likely to use Mildenhall. Air Force One will probably go direct from his arrival point (Stansted?) to Prestwick to take him onwards after his round of golf.
And let's not forget the anti-Trump protesters who might like to turn up and let their feelings be known..
By the way, not everyone who has a ticket will have their own name on it. Only that of the person who purchased it.
Imagine letting your political agenda ruin your excitement for RIAT. Get a grip. If he comes, he comes. If he don’t, he don’t. Doesn’t bother me if he’s there or not.
Airshowhammer wrote:Imagine letting your political agenda ruin your excitement for RIAT. Get a grip. If he comes, he comes. If he don’t, he don’t. Doesn’t bother me if he’s there or not.
You really haven't thought this out, have you? Can you imagine what the level of security would be like for everyone within a mile of him?
davidjones533 wrote:I don't think they have Uber in Fairford.
I'm sure Odiham can lend them one.
Airshowhammer wrote:Imagine letting your political agenda ruin your excitement for RIAT. Get a grip. If he comes, he comes. If he don’t, he don’t. Doesn’t bother me if he’s there or not.
Having seen all the stupidity with regards security when Barry O' was at Cardiff for the NATO Conference, I wouldn't want The Trump at RIAT either.
Tôi chỉ đặt cái này ở đây để giữ cho người điều hành bận rộn 아직도 숨어있다
davidjones533 wrote:I don't think they have Uber in Fairford.
I'm sure Odiham can lend them one.
Airshowhammer wrote:Imagine letting your political agenda ruin your excitement for RIAT. Get a grip. If he comes, he comes. If he don’t, he don’t. Doesn’t bother me if he’s there or not.
Having seen all the stupidity with regards security when Barry O' was at Cardiff for the NATO Conference, I wouldn't want The Trump at RIAT either.
Who is Barry O'? I have no idea who you are talking about.
Airshowhammer wrote:Imagine letting your political agenda ruin your excitement for RIAT. Get a grip. If he comes, he comes. If he don’t, he don’t. Doesn’t bother me if he’s there or not.
As others have said, this is nothing to do with Trump himself, rather a concern over the insane amount of security involved in having POTUS at a major event outside of the United States. Indeed was there not a rumour earlier in the year that Fairford would handle the presidential aircraft and that RIAT might need to be cancelled?
Please, for all our sakes, keep him well away from the event.
Posting comments on an aviation-related chatroom, are ya? Looks like it an' all...
Skyflash wrote:rather a concern over the insane amount of security involved in having POTUS at a major event outside of the United States.
Some people complained about the presence of the concrete barriers in the roadways last year ( the ones supposed to stop terrorists driving into crowds ).....imagine having a set of them every hundred yards or so & at every single junction ( and with the closed junctions being blocked off with them ) with every single one of them being manned by at least half a dozen armed Police, not to mention the other hidden armed Police & Military presence in the outlying area, which was what happened in Cardiff for the 2014 NATO Summit.
Tôi chỉ đặt cái này ở đây để giữ cho người điều hành bận rộn 아직도 숨어있다
Airshowhammer wrote:Imagine letting your political agenda ruin your excitement for RIAT. Get a grip. If he comes, he comes. If he don’t, he don’t. Doesn’t bother me if he’s there or not.
You really haven't thought this out, have you? Can you imagine what the level of security would be like for everyone within a mile of him?
I'm with you on this. The security would almost certainly be a huge pain in the behind that for the sake of whatever aircraft brought him would possibly not be worth it. However, my biggest concern wouldn't be the security checks but the thousands of wannabe anarchists in those silly masks and their hoodies trying to cause as much disruption as possible. Just imagine Trump at an event that celebrates the machinery that delivers the weapons that kill in Yemen and anywhere else you care to mention. There'd be people supergluing themselves to the runway and messing up the whole weekend.
Airshowhammer wrote:Imagine letting your political agenda ruin your excitement for RIAT. Get a grip. If he comes, he comes. If he don’t, he don’t. Doesn’t bother me if he’s there or not.
You really haven't thought this out, have you? Can you imagine what the level of security would be like for everyone within a mile of him?
I'm with you on this. The security would almost certainly be a huge pain in the behind that for the sake of whatever aircraft brought him would possibly not be worth it. However, my biggest concern wouldn't be the security checks but the thousands of wannabe anarchists in those silly masks and their hoodies trying to cause as much disruption as possible. Just imagine Trump at an event that celebrates the machinery that delivers the weapons that kill in Yemen and anywhere else you care to mention. There'd be people supergluing themselves to the runway and messing up the whole weekend.
They aren't going to buy tickets are they? And they won't get near the airfield to try anything silly due to the security in place anyway that weekend. There might be peaceful protests (although I've never actually seen any outside the airfield during RIAT - has anyone else? I presume that would have to be allowed ).
And there wouldn't be any runway gluing, becuase they'd never get near it. Obviously.
I don't want Trump to go because he's an arsehole.
However, if him attending meant a flying B-1b, then he would pretty quickly become my bff (at least for a few minutes).
Buy the sky and sell the sky and lift your arms up to the sky and ask the sky"
).