AARDVARK wrote:GWD to be expected but display ,IMHO,is lost at such a large event and aircraft would be better suited on static...
It’s a shame Cosford has been slated for a round up of static RAF 100 airframes as RIAT organisers could have put on an excellent display as they did for the flight
100 show,Cosford is small ,cramped and best visited outside airshow events !
Whilst you are of course entitled to your opinion, I'm going to have to disagree with you on a number of points:
I would say the GWDT is less lost at a large event than say a solitary helicopter display, due to the number of aircraft in the air at once - 7 or more aircraft fill a lot more sky than one helicopter for example.
Nothing wrong with Cosford for static airframes, granted it's not the best for flying displays due to some limitations such as crowd orientation, runway length, etc, but for statics it's fine. I took some nice shots of the statics at last years Cosford show with far less background clutter than you usually get at RIAT, and certainly less brightly coloured cones! I guess it helps that the museum is already there, and also the RAF units, so they have access to plenty of RAF airframes already. I guess it's also easier to get other airframes moved there ahead of the show (i.e. Black Mike, Bucc, and Lightning), not sure how easy that would be at Fairford, would they be allowed to take up valuable hangar space prior to a show at an active airfield?
I'm sure RIAT have something special up their sleeves....