2017 Yeovilton Airday

[Go4Long]

Those Rafale were amazing.

That tiger paint scheme has to be one of the most visibly striking schemes I've ever seen.


Tiger Rafale Vapour by Steven Szabo, on Flickr

[Tilney.G]

What another fantastic year. No problems getting in or out and a superb flying display. Highlights include both F-16's and of course the Rafales, what a superb display! Nice to end with the Patrouille Swiss too. Well done Yeovilton

[The Star of Woo]

We'll second that. Well done Yeovilton, another cracking airday. Rafales were without doubt totally awesome, why oh why didn't we buy them off the peg so to speak to stick on our new boat, rather than 'Dave'???

Excellent day, excellent weather and home in the door by 5pm, after having seen everything even the Pat Suisse landing! Roll on next year.

[Chopper81]

What a great day!!
In the car park at 8:10 and in the queue, on base at 9:10. Had a walk round and then sat and enjoyed the display, highlights Rafales, Danish F16 and the Gripen!
Waited for 30mins after the Reds departed and drove straight out and home.
I feel for the guys with young kids and older folks today that heat around 2-3 was brutal!!
Now 3 days then it's RIAT

[Ryan.]

Rafales' and the Danish F-16 were the highlights of a very good show.

[106500]

Rafales' and the Danish F-16 were the highlights of a very good show.

Totally agree but what oh what has happened to the Typhoon display? He could have performed in 1/2 the airspace? There were long gaps in its display as well - absolutely woeful and totally eclipsed by all of the other jets. Great to see the Lanc though! And the Vixen grabbed quite a lot of attention on the ground. All in all a terrific day but felt quite odd that there was no commando assault finale - I guess we've seen the last of these....

[Chopper81]

What a great day!!
In the car park at 8:10 and in the queue, on base at 9:10. Had a walk round and then sat and enjoyed the display, highlights Rafales, Danish F16 and the Gripen!
Waited for 30mins after the Reds departed and drove straight out and home.
I feel for the guys with young kids and older folks today that heat around 2-3 was brutal!!
Now 3 days then it's RIAT

[Andyperkins]

Can only echo the above, Danish F-16 certainly was something else (might have been an illusion but seemed far closer to the crowd that the other displays) and who doesn't love a pair of Rafales especially when one is so striking, Gripen was very lavish with the flares too

That weather was certainly not what was forecast and just goes to show that anything can happen, luckily I was prepared (learnt my lesson in 2013) but saw a lot of very red people on the walk out, ouch.

Getting out off Vixen car park looked like the usual scrum so didn't even start the car until 6pm and by then it was straight out the gate no problem.

[fastandloud]

Just wanted to add my thanks to all at Yeovilton for a great day. Could have done with it being a bit cooler though ! Well organised and especially loved the F16's, Gripen and the two Rafale's. Always good to see the Spit and nice that the Lanc. made the effort.

[captainfurious]

Great show and amazing weather. As usual no issues getting in or out of Vixen. Definitely seemed quieter than last few years. Echoing above Danish F16 and great to see the Vixen on show. Yeovilton always seem to deliver a cheeky Easter Egg for my now 8 year old daughter. 2014 her first Commando Assault experience. 2015 was the Vulcan V flyby. 2016 was being allowed to walk up and under the A10. 2017 was 7 Red Arrow signatures and, something her father has never done in over 50 airshows, sit in an F16. Not entirely sure how her smile fit through the front door tonight.

[G-CVIX]

Survey asked whether or not we enjoyed the Commando Assault Finale......

[Ouragan]

I think the problem for many with the Typhoon was that it was following the Rafale duo, during which time there was practically always one aircraft or the other in front of the crowd. Add to that the French had the best display of the day, so following them would have been a problem for anyone.

We arrived in Phantom car park at just after 9am, queued up into we reached the scrum at the main entrance, to be told that there was virtually nobody at the museum entrance. Nipped down there and was in at 9.55. While I appreciate the need for 100% bag searches, either you need to start the show earlier or put on enough personnel to keep the flow moving. With that huge amount of people around the entrance, anybody with anything nasty in their bag wouldn't need to worry about searches. They could just do the deed outside with spectacular results.

Anyway, on to the show. Very nice selection of items on static, most of them not too tightly barriered off, and a decent display line-up. A little more vintage would have been nice, but I can't complain about what we did get. As already said, the Rafale due was my highlight, but the Danish F-16 was a decent second and the Patrouille Suisse are always welcome. I thought the Red Arrows routine was not as dynamic as in previous years, and the RJF, bless them, just pass me by nowadays. The MiG-15 was gorgeous, with all the grace and whistle of early jets. I did think that finishing the display at 4.30 was something of an anti-climax, though perhaps that was because I was still expecting the Commando assault.

The static had some gems, such as the Meteors and the line-up of FAA fighters, while the Danish Lynx and Czech ALCA were stunning. Shame that the Merlin HC.4 was ensconced in the VIP area, and the FAAM Sea King was totally tucked away.

No problems at the end of the day. Got back to the car at 5.30, got in and drove away happy. Almost ran out of petrol on the way home due to the enormous diversion on the A30 at Bodmin but that, as they say, is another story.

[mafro987daboss]

It really is a sorry state of affairs. The French Air Force is completely showing up the RAF this year. The Typhoon was tame even in comparison with the F16s.

[JJC]

It really is a sorry state of affairs. The French Air Force is completely showing up the RAF this year. The Typhoon was tame even in comparison with the F16s.

You mean the same F-16 which has been the benchmark for fighter manoeuvrability the past 40 years?

[mafro987daboss]

It really is a sorry state of affairs. The French Air Force is completely showing up the RAF this year. The Typhoon was tame even in comparison with the F16s.

You mean the same F-16 which has been the benchmark for fighter manoeuvrability the past 40 years?

Let's not act like the Typhoon isn't the more advanced fighter and should be demonstrating that superiority in its display.

[Go4Long]

Even relative to last year's demo this year's typhoon demo seems a little tame. Any of the 4 typhoon demos at Fairford (including the RAF) last year easily outshone yesterday's performance. To manage to fly an entire demo and get hardly any vapour when the Rafale was covered in it every time it banked away tells me they just weren't pushing overly hard.

If they fly the same demo at Fairford they'll be on the list as an "also appeared"

[Xray833]

It really is a sorry state of affairs. The French Air Force is completely showing up the RAF this year. The Typhoon was tame even in comparison with the F16s.

The rafales were from the French Navy were they not?

[The Baron]

It really is a sorry state of affairs. The French Air Force is completely showing up the RAF this year. The Typhoon was tame even in comparison with the F16s.

The rafales were from the French Navy were they not?

Correct. They were Aeronavale Rafale Ms.

[Darren50]

Excellent day, exceeded my expectations. Can't fault any display and the ground crews very helpful. Plenty to occupy the kids too.

[mafro987daboss]

It really is a sorry state of affairs. The French Air Force is completely showing up the RAF this year. The Typhoon was tame even in comparison with the F16s.

The rafales were from the French Navy were they not?

They were indeed. The wider sentiment still applies to both the airforce and navy though.

[The Star of Woo]

Can anyone help me out with the 'number' of the Tiger Scheme Rafale please, couldn't see it any photo and it's driving us batty!!

[Wissam24]

Those around me will bear testament to how angry I was when Red Ten spoilt the Lions result. I'd gone to quite a lot of effort to avoid having it spoilt before getting home.

Otherwise a very good show that belied the embarrassing home team supply. Review to follow.

[Go4Long]

Can anyone help me out with the 'number' of the Tiger Scheme Rafale please, couldn't see it any photo and it's driving us batty!!

Its tail was 11F

[Wissam24]

Can anyone help me out with the 'number' of the Tiger Scheme Rafale please, couldn't see it any photo and it's driving us batty!!

Its tail was 11F

That's the Squadron. I don't think it had its serial painted on

[Go4Long]

No other numbers on it anywhere. And I don't think the Tiger Rafale is going to be around as a Tiger Rafale for very long...the paint seems to be coming off in a few places.