Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

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capercaillie
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Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by capercaillie »

2002 was a strange Tattoo. The return to a larger area Fairford with bigger aprons may have heralded even bigger shows than the massive line ups seen in the 1990s. The two shows at Cottesmore has seen the static filled to the brim with aircraft. However both had occurred before the terror attacks on New York. We were also seeing a changeover in Eastern European air arms, the huge variety of types the Czechs had entertained us with through the nineties were being replaced by single squadrons of Gripens and L-159s, Hungary was doing the same although their MiG29 hung on a little longer. The Poles hadn't been that frequent yet with their MiGs and the Ukrainains were just days away from taking a long hiatus following the worst of airshow disasters. Other notable types such as Drakens and Viggens would just about hang on till mid way through the decade but would not appear again at the Air Tattoo in service. Most European air arms were becoming monotypic with grey dominating the paint box.
It didn't help KB holding a spotters photocall the week of arrivals, many of the special schemes on the circuit heading there rather than Fairford, with only the Italian AMX and Tornado and a German Army Bo105 gracing the static with colour. That said looking back it had its high points - perhaps the rarest a pair of Portuguese AF TB-30 Epsilons making the types only IAT appearance despite 30 years of service just across the Channel, a Chilean 707 and Gulfstream IV, a large line up from the US including C-38, T-43 and a rare P-3C from VQ-2 and further P-3s from Australia and New Zealand with the latter also sending the gorgeous 727 for the last time. Let 410s came from three nations including Lithuania and the Polish Air Force and Navy sent M-28s but most noticeable was the large amount of civilian operated items in the static, most of Air Atlantic's fleet, Gnat, Hunter, Sea Vixen, Vampire, Sabre, T-33 etc etc and still it looked fairly empty.
The flying display also lacked that really stand out star, yes there was F-117, but it had been seen before, the standard high B-2 pass zzzzzz, and what we would give now for the then routine B-1 and B-52. The US contribution was excellent considering with four Aviano F-16s and the F-15 solo and heritage display also on offer. Voltige Victor were the pick of the European acts, suffering their own tragedy in training in March the following year.
There were certainly worse line ups in years to come, especially with the US wind downs, but it was an uneasy return to its IAT home and not a classic in any form.
Imageimg993 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg992 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg016 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg033 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg045 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg048 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg032 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg990 by Paul Downes, on Flickr
"The surrogate voice of st24"

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

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capercaillie
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Re: Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by capercaillie »

Imageimg991 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg985 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Image[url=https:/
flic.kr/p/2jsfLYB]img987[/url] by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg989 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg995 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg996 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg004 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg017 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg019 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg050 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg038 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Arrivals highlights included crew ferries and visitors such as the ETPS Gazelle and FONAC Dauphin
Imageimg042 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg044 by Paul Downes, on Flickr
"The surrogate voice of st24"

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

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capercaillie
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Re: Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by capercaillie »

Imageimg998 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg002 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg020 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg035 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg040 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg047 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg039 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg003 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg997 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg006 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

I'll put a few more up tomorrow if folks are interested.
"The surrogate voice of st24"

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

Sundowner
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Re: Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by Sundowner »

Always interested.....looking forward to more.

Thanks for sharing.

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LN Strike Eagle
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Re: Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by LN Strike Eagle »

This was my first RIAT. I remember the F1 with that lovely tail art.
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Blackbird
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Re: Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by Blackbird »

Cracking set Paul.

Andy

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Daz
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Re: Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by Daz »

Excellent set of images from my first RIAT. If memory serves wasn't this the year the Italian G.222 suffered a nose wheel collapse on landing after its display slot?
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Re: Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by MiG_Eater »

I remember this well. Anybody that experienced the 90s and early 2000s RIATs knows not to take anything for granted; which is perhaps why i'm often found guilty of being overly enthusiastic regarding RIAT's recent shows.

I loved RIAT '02 of course, but i'd pick '17, '18 or '19 over it in terms of quality!

... but you gotta love that Chilean 707!

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Wrexham Mackem
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Re: Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by Wrexham Mackem »

Ah the return to Fairford, which mis-fired on a couple of levels. Traffic was chaotic, and the G-222 shut the runway for quite a spell on the Saturday. The now not-so brand new runway.

Definitely one to file in 'not a classic', but there's no denying there are some memories worth sharing nonetheless. Another pleasure to view Paul.

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Re: Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by Skyflash »

Wrexham Mackem wrote:
Wed 05 Aug 2020, 4:44 pm
Ah the return to Fairford, which mis-fired on a couple of levels. Traffic was chaotic, and the G-222 shut the runway for quite a spell on the Saturday. The now not-so brand new runway.

Definitely one to file in 'not a classic', but there's no denying there are some memories worth sharing nonetheless. Another pleasure to view Paul.
I wasn't there (it was the last year I didn't go, if you see what I mean) but I well remember the fallout from the show afterwards both on here and elsewhere.

IIRC the big disappointment was the v late cancellation of two Italian Starfighters, less than a fortnight before the show I think. Up til then most enthusiasts were lukewarm-positive, but when the F-104 cancellation was announced there was a bit of a backlash. I guess it served to highlight the lack of a genuine 'wow' item.
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capercaillie
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Re: Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by capercaillie »

Yes I think I went Sunday as I missed the G222 incident. A few more.
Starting with an old dinosaur, a real tail-dragger
Imageimg054 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg005 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg009 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

toilets, fairground, its RIAT
Imageimg022 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg034 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg056 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg055 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg058 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg057 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg994 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg049 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Imageimg012 by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Please feel free to add more from the show.
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Re: Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by POD »

Great stuff :thumbsup:
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PeterR
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Re: Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by PeterR »

Lovely images Paul. There is a mild irony about the critical reviews of RIAT 2002... Looking at the aircraft in your images, I'm sure there's plenty of enthusiasts today who'd give their left arm to have the chance to see some of those aircraft types again (those still operational of course). Moral of the story, never take anything for granted as you'll miss it once it's gone!

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Re: Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by Gt5500 »

PeterR wrote:
Tue 18 Aug 2020, 8:45 am
Lovely images Paul. There is a mild irony about the critical reviews of RIAT 2002... Looking at the aircraft in your images, I'm sure there's plenty of enthusiasts today who'd give their left arm to have the chance to see some of those aircraft types again (those still operational of course). Moral of the story, never take anything for granted as you'll miss it once it's gone!
Hear, hear, and yet we still get the same old comments every year, why isn't xyz coming?, why is such and such coming its been before?, the organisers are so lazy they should get more interesting aircraft...

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capercaillie
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Re: Fairford RIAT 2002 - the unloved one

Post by capercaillie »

PeterR wrote:
Tue 18 Aug 2020, 8:45 am
Lovely images Paul. There is a mild irony about the critical reviews of RIAT 2002... Looking at the aircraft in your images, I'm sure there's plenty of enthusiasts today who'd give their left arm to have the chance to see some of those aircraft types again (those still operational of course). Moral of the story, never take anything for granted as you'll miss it once it's gone!
Absolutely Peter, its still a quality line up and far better than anything else available in the UK if modern military is your thing. It was unfortunate coming off the back of the mega shows of the 1990s and even the high quality Cottesmore pair. It was followed by the mammoth 2003 effort bolstered by all the historics and museum pieces and even through the mid 2000s there was some great line ups, 2005 with the tiger stuff, Italian Harriers, Italian Customs trio, GABRIEL Transall etc or 2006 new tech of Osprey and MiG29OVT. I still think the KB photocall arrivals week still took some of the sting. People rave away at a grey Canadian Herc appearing nowadays, so imagine most of the 2002 line up arriving!

One thing is certain looking back through and scanning the older stuff, I certainly missed having RIAT this year. Lets hope you can get it back on track for next year.

Thanks everyone for all the comments. Try and scan some of 2003 for the next chapter.
"The surrogate voice of st24"

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

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