Radom Air Show 2023 (26-27 August)

[Agg]

Didnt know Pat Swiss used flares. They have a great display already and it makes them in a league of their own as a spectacle..

Only for the last 20 years.

They have used flares for the final break for a long time, but they use flares throughout the whole routine now, which I think is new(ish) - granted I haven't seen them for a while.

[spellow3010]

It was a great event at Radom, the Finnish, Belgian and Polish F-18/F-16 demos were great. Very underwhelming was the RAF Typhoon demo.
The Polish showed all they got with almost every type of aircraft and helicopter involved.
Only minus for the event (Saturday), after 15.00 almost no drinks for sale, only beer and Red Bull still available.
But all in all a great event, the sunset and fireworks demos were entertaining as well.

Everyone entitled to their opinion, naturally. But by far, the Typhoon was not the most underwhelming fast jet display of the weekend, which for me was Zeus this time.

Although there was no sign of the Finnish blue tail hornet in the display all weekend, that was my favourite fast jet display of the weekend, especially when viewed from the naughty field on Sunday. A once again, that Belgian F-16 routine will live long in the memory. That pilot must be super-fit, and just the right amount of 'insane.'

Enjoyed my weekend in Poland. Will be back.

[Andyph]

There were some cons with the show. But some of the highlights for me.

Mass flypast was brilliant. If only the RAF did half this at an airshow . BTW is Poland trying to operate every type of military helicopter available? They have a ridiculous number and adding more.

The airfield attack I totally enjoyed - just wish it went on longer. Sad to see the Migs and Fitters go. Was great to be in the naughty fields for this. The Fitters going either side me - yeah!

Flares - just adds so much to fast jet displays
The Polish F16 was a perfect example of how to use them.

Radom has great viewing spots. Naughty fields are great and if you go on the base the display line is close (not over the next county like in the UK). It makes such a difference when the aircraft are flying close to you or over you head in the naughty fields
Also the taxiway in front of the crowd adds a lot.

The night show was awesome. I thought the Fitter attack with flares was a real highlight.
But before dark the evening fast jets shows were sublime. Super light. Flares it was just magic. Pat Swiss was captivating.
How much better would Fairford or Cosford be if they started flying after lunch and ran till dark!

Sad the Rafale canned but there were still probably more fast jets flying here than any European show this year.

I have some awesome memories from 4 days here.

[DeanW]

I'm feeling a bit flat after the long weekend at Radom, although that could be down to getting home at 2am after the flight delays.

I thought the line-up was solid but it was missing that extra something special, an uncommon item such as a Krila Oluje or Hungarian Hind. After the flypast and Polish fast jet set piece there wasn't really that stand-out highlight that'd get you back to the crowd line. That said shout-out to the Danish F-16, who was fantastic as ever, and the Hellenic F-16 who was far more impressive than at UK events thanks to the flares. I also really enjoyed the Polish C295 on the Saturday - demos from transport types are too rare these days!

Static quality was certainly quality over quantity, but the clutter meant nothing was really to be had photographically there. You've got to hope that with the new civvie terminal at Radom there's going to be new opportunities in future to get more aircraft on the deck and in some potentially less cluttered settings.

Very underwhelming was the RAF Typhoon demo.

Completely agree. The display is clearly not optimised for operating out of the show venue so the start of the demo was very slow and disjointed, and the rest of the routine really struggled to recover any of the impact it lost straight after take off.

The show's organisation was completely dire. We had to park 3 km away, paying 50 PLN for the privilege, and walk to the showground as the local cops weren't letting us access the spotters car park that we'd been directed to in the joining instructions. There clearly weren't enough entrance points to the show as the queues were HUGE, especially on Saturday. Judging by the moans on Facebook some people were queuing for several hours.

I wasn't at all impressed with the spotter set up. The spotter area itself was way too narrow, the grandstand could have done with being a couple of rows higher and the huge speaker to the side of the enclosure was a massive annoyance for photography. All comms for the spotter pass holders were at the eleventh hour too and their messaging was rarely reflective of the reality, whether it was the parking location, arrival/departure times for base access etc.
The enclosure for departure day was ridiculous too. We were placed 300m+ away from the runway and almost all the way down the 25 end of the runway which meant shots on the deck were either hazy or painfully undynamic. ATC clearly weren't aware that we'd have liked some departures to come our way as the majority of the helicopters entered the runway from the midpoint and departed straight out to the West. Similarly I'd have expected a few more flypasts from the departing aircraft, but they were few and far between. When you have a spotter experience like that you realise how tuned in FRIAT are when it comes to the wants of the enthusiast!

TLDR; everything was just a mega faff and far harder work than it should have been. I won't be racing back to Radom for the next few events.

[Tommy]

Ouch.

[Wissam24]

It was a great event at Radom, the Finnish, Belgian and Polish F-18/F-16 demos were great. Very underwhelming was the RAF Typhoon demo.
The Polish showed all they got with almost every type of aircraft and helicopter involved.
Only minus for the event (Saturday), after 15.00 almost no drinks for sale, only beer and Red Bull still available.
But all in all a great event, the sunset and fireworks demos were entertaining as well.

Everyone entitled to their opinion, naturally. But by far, the Typhoon was not the most underwhelming fast jet display of the weekend, which for me was Zeus this time.

I have to agree, it's pretty clear the RAF Typhoon demo is very much up there this year, a very fast and punchy routine for the crowdline. I think a lot of people want everything RAF to be bad so convince themselves it must be, but it's solid, decent display this season.

[ThatDutchDude]

Sorting thousands of photos from Radom, does anyone by any chance know the registration of the C130 which did the night flare dump display on saturday?

[Mike]

1505 according to ADSBexchange

[Stagger2]

Interesting negative view on the RAF Typhoon Display, especially as I was struck by just how slick it's become over the Season. The Saturday show featuring 'Blackjack' was a particularly patriotic experience from take-off to landing.
The Weakest Link imo was Zeus who's adopted a very American approach to just hooning up & down in standard configurations? Quite possibly 'Vrieske' could've taken first place, but the lack of flares (why?) compared to the Dannebrog 800 initial turn-out & flares pushed him into 2nd behind the Danish. Honourable mention to the PAF Thunder Tiger too. Regarding Patriotic sentiment, did I see the Union Jack below the parachutist on Saturday was upside-down? Novice mistake! Also the guy making the flags must've mis-read the dimensions for the Polish flag as it was 4 times bigger than the rest.

[Wissam24]

My only disappointment with the RAF Typhoon from the weekend was that they went back to the grey jet on the Sunday when I was back outside so I never got any nicely lit shots of the special scheme!

[Rick]

What kind of flares were these that the SU-22 dropped, they were new ones on me ?

[Leadfoot]

What kind of flares were these that the SU-22 dropped, they were new ones on me ?

They are illumination flares for night photography developed for the KKR recon pod. Basically, the camera in the pod takes photos in sync with the flashes that illuminate the target.

[Agg]

I agree about the Typhoon, I thought it was pretty good. Zeus on the other hand, not so much. It was a bit better when viewed from the "naughty field", but from the crowd line it was simply too far away and to high to have any real impact.

[ThatDutchDude]

Interesting negative view on the RAF Typhoon Display, especially as I was struck by just how slick it's become over the Season. The Saturday show featuring 'Blackjack' was a particularly patriotic experience from take-off to landing.
The Weakest Link imo was Zeus who's adopted a very American approach to just hooning up & down in standard configurations? Quite possibly 'Vrieske' could've taken first place, but the lack of flares (why?) compared to the Dannebrog 800 initial turn-out & flares pushed him into 2nd behind the Danish. Honourable mention to the PAF Thunder Tiger too. Regarding Patriotic sentiment, did I see the Union Jack below the parachutist on Saturday was upside-down? Novice mistake! Also the guy making the flags must've mis-read the dimensions for the Polish flag as it was 4 times bigger than the rest.

Is it me, or did Zeus not use flares on Saturday, as I heard stories about it using them on Sunday? As well very obvious that Vrieske didnt use flares for almost his first show outside of the UK!

[ThatDutchDude]

What kind of flares were these that the SU-22 dropped, they were new ones on me ?

These were not flares, but a technic used for ages now by the Soviet styled countries operating the SU-22 and MIG29, it is used to lighten up the spotting camera during night missions as it does not have a built-in NVG system, at least how far I heard from 1 of the SU crew members at the static

[Rick]

What kind of flares were these that the SU-22 dropped, they were new ones on me ?

They are illumination flares for night photography developed for the KKR recon pod. Basically, the camera in the pod takes photos in sync with the flashes that illuminate the target.

Thank you, every day's a school day.

[Gt5500]

What kind of flares were these that the SU-22 dropped, they were new ones on me ?

That looked something else, would have loved to have seen that.

[UK Airshow Review]

• "Water Palaver" - Sam Wise battled the Polish heat to report for UK Airshow Review.
  
  

[Stagger2]

What kind of flares were these that the SU-22 dropped, they were new ones on me ?

That looked something else, would have loved to have seen that.

It's probably relevant to note that the sight portrayed in that video is not what one could actually see?
This video www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw4px7SSr7k shows the actual reality that it was fireworks with a jet noise!
It was only possible late in the flyby to see the jet with the naked eye. 'Brilliant' display in any case!