Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

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Wrexham Mackem
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Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by Wrexham Mackem »

Two years after the lovely Battle of Britain 50 show, and another IAT 'off year'. I for one didn't expect to be back at Boscombe, but back we came, an to an event that lives long in the memory.

When crowd line chats turn to "favourite show ever" for me this is the one. If I could go back and do one again, it would be ATI 92, Boscombe Down.

Now bear with the quality of the scans, these were the first I ever did over a decade ago, on a flatbed scanner, and before I'd learned to clone out dust from the slides. We'll call it period charm.

12th - 15th June, 1992

starting with some arrivals
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and a wander round the show ground
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and on to the flying display
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Its a coincidence probably that my favourite airshow of all time contained my favourite airshow moment of all time. Much has been written about this and you all know the story. The Test Pilots were programmed to fly sometime after 3 on Saturday afternoon. Nothing had turned up. Then inbound, was this. Anatoly Kvotchur, in a single Su-27, arriving in style and then straight into an abridged display. The surprise, the shock and the spectacle. Truly awesome.
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A handful of departures now
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and some Phantoms to phinish
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what a show!

here's the flying display programme. The Su-25 wasn't a bad sub for a MiG-21!
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cheers,
Nige.

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Dan O'Hagan
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by Dan O'Hagan »

One of Britain's greatest airshows.

And organised, of course, by the (then) IAT team. Perhaps someone might link them to this thread when they're contemplating which Pitts Special to book for Scampton...

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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by Airwolfhound »

Holy, and er, indeed, cow :rock: :rock:

Fabulous to see these, gutted I missed the show :sad:

Thanks for sharing :clap: :clap:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24874528@N04/

Agile, mobile and hostile ;-)

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RIAT Air Ops
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by RIAT Air Ops »

Dan O'Hagan wrote:Perhaps someone might link them to this thread when they're contemplating which Pitts Special to book for Scampton...


Any real need for that in this thread Dan?

A superb post from a superb show - thanks Nige.

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HeyfordDave111
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by HeyfordDave111 »

Hi everyone,

This was the show that got me back interested in military aircraft as i wanted to see the B-24 fly.
my son was 9 months old at the time and this was his first airshow.

Ironically i only decided to go on the morning of the show, driving down 'on spec' from Banbury and getting right in just after 558 displayed.

So, having seen these fantastic photographs, i will, if you don't mind, ask a question or 2.

I dont remember the Tomcat displaying so late in the day as the flying program says....did it?

Also, and this is a huge one for me..........did the Phantom display at the published time, and was it an RAF version as the program states? I ask because my knowledge at the time was limited, and i remember seeing the display and thinking it was a USAF one, and will be well chuffed to find out it definitely was an RAF version
Sorry for the thread hijack but i'm genuinely excited now! :yahoo:
Got to love Russianhardware

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capercaillie
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by capercaillie »

Twas indeed a phenomenally good show, fantastic weather from Wednesday to Monday, IAT debuts from types such as Su22 and Su25, Kiwi MB339 and final IAT appearances from Lightning, RAF Phantom and Vulcan (for a while anyhow).

The operational ramp in Nigel's picture shows how solid it was, with the Eastern bloc types parked next to the crowdline. Friday arrivals (always the busiest back then), just kept going, with display practices mixed in such as the Tomcat, the latter Friday arrivals through to around 6pm included the four Eglin F-15s ( a repeat of two years earlier), a Cannon F-111D (joining two each from Upper Heyford and Lakenheath), the USN Greyhound, Hungarian An26 marking another country first for IAT and an experimental light grey KC-10.

Any flying display that boasts Su27, Su25, MiG29, F-14, F-18, F-16, F-4 and Super Etendard can't be bad. Sadly we lost the MiG21 debut due to a fatal crash in the weeks leading up to the show, but the excellent Czech and Slovaks replaced it with the Su25 in the flying display.

A very scenic backdrop to the venue as well as gin clear skies on the Monday created some memorable departure shots, as shown in Nigel's great pics. I'll have to dig mine out again sometime. :wink: Great post mate. :up:
"The surrogate voice of st24"

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Wrexham Mackem
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by Wrexham Mackem »

Please do that Mr C, there's never enough photographs from this event. I have loads more, and regret not scanning them when I did these. Must get that film scanner one day.

So, having seen these fantastic photographs, i will, if you don't mind, ask a question or 2.

I dont remember the Tomcat displaying so late in the day as the flying program says....did it?

Also, and this is a huge one for me..........did the Phantom display at the published time, and was it an RAF version as the program states? I ask because my knowledge at the time was limited, and i remember seeing the display and thinking it was a USAF one, and will be well chuffed to find out it definitely was an RAF version
Sorry for the thread hijack but i'm genuinely excited now! :yahoo:


Assuming you're on the Sunday there Dave, but yes, the programme ran more or less according to schedule, the Tomcat being on towards the end, and was accompanied by the utterly predictable Top Gun theme. It did a fairly basic routine, but was a very welcome sight as F-14s had become rare as flyers. This one also did Mildenhall and Woodford in 92. And yes again, that was 74 sqn from Wattisham flying the Phantom demo, the two shots above between Frogfoot and Tomcat are the display takeoff and the demo bird parked up on the live side. You wouldn't see a USAF F-4 being flown like that, they only really did flypasts with it.

Thanks folks.

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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by Spiny Norman »

The forum that keeps on giving. Terrific stuff, thanks for posting these. So many great things but *that* arrival...

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Canberra TT.18
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by Canberra TT.18 »

Super Report :clap:
Super Photo’s :drool:
Super Show :rock:
Super Weekend :yahoo:
This brings back some great great memories
What a show and weekend it was, with a lot of firsts for me too.

Coming over for the weekend from the Netherlands, the 3 of us doing a mini trip.
We also did:
The Air Show at RAF Coningsby on Saturday with eg. the 16 Phantom Goodbye Formation and a lot of Tornado F.3's
RAF Waddington with 12 Swiss Tigers and Mirages for the ACMI (!?) training (one of each at RAF Coningsby as well)
RAF Lakenheath with an other 4 ‘CC’ F-111D
RAF Midlenhall with 4 KC-10, 4 C-141 an E-3 and a lot of KC-135's and C-130's
And stops at a lot of other airfields and bases in England.

The weekend was finished with the super show at Boscombe Down on Sunday.
That Flanker!!!

Thanks for brighting up my day :smile:

Pieter

o yeah and an car accident with a drunken driver on the way to RAF Brize Norten :dizzy:
but we made it

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Ewart
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by Ewart »

Oh wow. Pure jaw dropping stuff.

I was only 4 when this happened, I'm sure I could have remembered it if I had been taken. Thanks for sharing.

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iainpeden
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by iainpeden »

I seem to remember that the Tomcat was sent out to escort the Flanker in; if I am right it seems strange that it wasn't an RAF Phantom or F3.
(Mark Twain: There are lies, there are damn lies and then there are statistics)

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Red Dragon
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by Red Dragon »

Thanks for posting :smile: It was watching a TV programme on this show that weekend, that tipped the scales for me to dive into this hobby. I just regret that I never had the chance to visit this particular show, and finally broke my "RIAT Virginity" with RIAT 1997, which blew my mind :lol:

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ipso
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by ipso »

Awesome. Remember it well, apart from the flanker sadly. :clap:

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The Flying Barrel
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by The Flying Barrel »

In the top 5 of all the air shows me and my Dad attended alas my Dads health is not as good nowadays and the rigours of an air show weekend especially if was as hot as arrivals day back in '92 it's just too much, recall the CF-188 making a spirited arrival, but nothing like that Flanker! Great pics and brought back some fantastic memories. Thanks for taking the time and effort to post so that those of us old enough can get the remember berries out (South Park ref!)

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Blackbird
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by Blackbird »

Great photos - many thanks :clap: :clap: . I'm sure this is my best show ever :biggrin: - which seems to be a fairly widely held view!

Andy :biggrin:

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centaurus18
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by centaurus18 »

Didn;t go to the show, but remember the sight and sound of a B-52 on finals going over the car in Wilton to this day! Wow.
Mark
'We’re in the stickiest situation, since Sticky the stick insect got stuck on a sticky bun.'

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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by Wes_Howes »

How I would dearly to have love to visit this show, but being only 5 at the time, I would not have been aware of it and my Dad certainly wasn't.

I'm grateful to you Nige for posting these (and the '90 show) so I can live the airshow through your eyes. I implore any of you, if you have photos from this event, please post them. The Golden Oldies section is on fire at the moment, please keep 'em coming :biggrin:

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tankbuster81
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by tankbuster81 »

Great post.I was at Tangmere on Saturday, and saw the Phantom XV408, love that blue scheme.
Don't bother running, you'll only die tired!!

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capercaillie
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by capercaillie »

iainpeden wrote:I seem to remember that the Tomcat was sent out to escort the Flanker in; if I am right it seems strange that it wasn't an RAF Phantom or F3.


Nope, you must have imagined that. Two 11 squadron Tornado F3s departed to collect the Russians, although not in formation over the airfield. :smile:
"The surrogate voice of st24"

My flickr photos https://www.flickr.com/photos/146673712@N06/

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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by King Cobra »

Remember that one well. Overslept and resigned myself to a long wait to get in when I arrived. Much to my surprise I drove straight in without queuing.
Nice shots that bring back great memories.

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The Flying Barrel
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Re: Air Tournament International 1992, Boscombe Down

Post by The Flying Barrel »

One other memory from ATI '92 - back in April of that year I attended the Phancon @ George AFB / California for the retirement of the F-4G (I think) and met a couple of Dutch guys during the meet, jokingly asked if they would be attending the Boscombe show and that we would see you there! So to my surprise after finding a suitable spot at the fence during a 'Jordanian Falcons moment' I was observing the surrounding peeps and low and behold the same Dutch guys not more than 10 feet away! Great memories! Thanks again for posting.

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