On July 16 and 17 2005 the largest annual military air show in the world was held again at RAF Fairford, UK. Touchdown Aviation was present during both show days and during the departures Monday morning.

This years show was built around three major theme's: Nato Tiger's roar, Surveillance and 60 years UN. These themes were mainly showed in the static area but the Surveillance theme was also present in the flying display with the first European display of the Boeing ScanEagle. Every year there are prices presented for the best display, best solo display etc. This year the winners were:

• The King Hussein Memorial Sword (best overall flying display):
  Frecce Tricolore, Italy
• Lockheed Martin Cannestra Trophy (Best Overseas Flying Demonstration):
  Mirage 2000 pilots Capt Yannick Vallet and Capt Fabrice Camliti / EC02.00 FAF.
• Steedman Display Sword:
  Flt Lt Carl Zarecky - RAF Chinook / 18 Sqn.
• Sir Douglas Bader Trophy (Best Individual Flying Demonstration):
  Major Wandert Brandsen - AH64D Apache / 301 Sqn RNLAF.
• Paul Bowen Solo Jet Trophy:
  Capt Olli Siivola, Finnish Air Force F-18.
• As The Crow Flies (Friends of RIAT Best Overall Flying Demonstration):
  Major Wandert Brandsen - AH64D Apache / 301 Sqn RNLAFRIAT
• 2005 Best Livery:
  KC-135R / 77 ARS USAF Reserve.

During both show days there were some special formations. The first one was a formation of four C-130 Hercules aircraft. They performed a missing man formation in honor to the crew which were killed when their Hercules crashed in Iraq, on january 30^th 2005.

Besides this respectful formation the Royal Navy showed several formations with two types in service. First there were four Jetstream T2s and later on the day there were four Sea Harrier FA2s. This was one of the last opportunities to see the Sea Harrier in action. They are withdraw from service in spring 2006. Four RN FRADU Sea Hawks with two Falcon 20 showed a simulated missile attack on a Royal Navy ship. The Falcons were the bombers and the Hawks the missiles.

The Airshow

Words and photography Remco Donselaar additional photography Michael van der Mee

This years RIAT showed a lot of solo display teams during both show days. The weather and chosen location from outside the public area made it possible to shoot some unique pictures.

To start with the displays from the RAF, which were a lot; The EF Typhoon showed last year a non-official display, this year it was an official display and this was a little bit disappointing compared to last year. The two Tornado displays were great as usual as well as the Harrier.

The Jaguar GR3A display was flown with two different aircraft carrying two different special tails. At Saturday this was the St Georges cross Jaguar 2005 display scheme and at Sunday this was the RAF Coltishall 65^th Anniversary tail scheme. This was one of the last times the Jaguar could be seen in action at an air show. It will be withdrawn from operational service in 2006 and Coltishall will close in Spring 2006.

The RAF showed also their two 'work horses', the C-17A Globemaster III and the C-130J Hercules. Also two helicopter displays (Chinook and Merlin) were shown.

From outside the UK were two F-16 display teams, first one was the West Coast demo team, USAF and the second, and best one of the two was the F-16 Solo Display team, RNLAF.

A not common seen display was the Finnish Hornet display. Also a rare sight was the Civil Boeing 757 operated by DHL.

The most disappointing display was the Boeing Scan Eagle, from the public area this small aircraft was hard to see. We luckily could see it during the landing.

The Display Teams

Words and photography Remco Donselaar additional photography Michael van der Mee

At this years RIAT three major display teams showed up during both days; The Red Arrows, Frecce Tricolore and Patrulla Aguila. Also present were the RN Black Cats and AAC Blue Eagles and last but not least; the Royal Jordanian Falcons.

As said on the introduction page, there were some special formations at RIAT 2005. Also the Red Arrows showed a special formation like they did before with the F-117. This time they performed a special fly by with three Spitfires. These Spits were two MK. XIX and one MK. XI. They performed some fly by's before the Red Arrows showed their fantastic formation flying. The main picture shows the Corkscrew, this time from an other position because we were standing on the opposite of the runway at the first show day.

The Royal Navy Black Cats and Army Air Corps Blue Eagles are a well known sight at shows in Great Britain. The Black Cats are outstanding in synchronized formation flying. And the Blue Eagles are famous for the Lynx which shows the loop.

The largest (in number of aircraft) demonstration team in the world is the Frecce Tricolore. This team celebrated their 45 years anniversary in 2005. Founded in 1961 at Rivolto, Italy with the F-86 and later on flying with the Fiat G-91Y, they nowadays are flying with 10 Aermacchi MB-339's. At RIAT 2005 they showed they are not only the largest team in the world, but also one of the best teams.

The last large demonstration team was the Patrulla Aguila from Spain. They are not well known at the general public but their show can meet the show of the Patrouille de France for example.

The Staticdisplay

Words and photography Remco Donselaar

At the RIAT, the static show is always almost even important as the airshow. The number of participants is huge and aircraft from all over the world are taking part in this impressive exhibition.

Although the static area is spread out over some square miles, the aircraft are standing close to each other and in little groups. This makes it difficult to make some good pictures of the single aircraft. Besides this there are always pylons in front of the aircraft and tents or cars at the background. For this reason we only show the aircraft were these annoying factors are limited. Also aircraft which are photographed during the departures are not shown.

Some area’s within the static show represented the theme’s of this years RIAT as said on the introduction page.

For the 'Tigers roar' theme for example a lot of aircraft were painted in a tiger scheme or were wearing a smaller tiger paint. The most striking aircraft was a RAF Puma HC1 from 230 Squadron. This one was the only one in full tiger marks. The price for best livery was presented to the KC-135R from 77 Air Refueling Sqn, USAF Reserve. This tanker arrived 'clean' at Fairford, the stickers were put on the night before the show!

Besides the participants for this theme there were no less then five RAF Tornado's with a special tail present! Also worth mentioning are a Hellenic Air Force TA-7C Corsair from 335 Mira, three AB-412s from Italy, one from the Army and two from the Guardia di Finanza and a mock up of the RQ-4A Global Hawk, this for the 'Eyes in the Sky' theme.

The departures

Words and photography Remco Donselaar, additional photographs Michael van der Mee

As said on the introduction page we decided to visit the departure day instead of the arrival days, this year. Every year the departure day of the RIAT is a highlight for those who want to see more than 150 aircraft in action at one single day! This is limited in most cases to only a quick taxiing in front of you and the take off with the lot's of noise. But spectacular it is!

The organization of the RIAT knows this and gives the opportunity to stand close to the taxi way. Off course again a fee to get in. But what you get back for this price is the opportunity to photograph a lot of aircraft which were standing in the static show, this time without the annoying pylons in front.

It is off course too much to show all departing aircraft, the pictures showed are an selection of the morning. Because of changing weather, rain and low clouds, we decided to leave earlier as planned. During this morning some remarkable things happened. The HAF RF-4E Phantom II for example had the intention to take off but aborted the start. This due to problems with one of the engines. It still departed some hours later back to Greece.

For the Sea Harriers it was the last time they departed the RIAT after the displays given on both show days. They will be withdrawn from service in Spring 2006. The two WAH-64Ds were very impressive to see with their Longbow radars on top. Perhaps we will see this also at the Dutch Apache's within a couple of years. The loudest departure of all came from the most beautiful aircrafts of the 'oldies'. These were the four! Romanian MiG-21s.

For us this was also the reason to say goodbye to RIAT 2005 after two sunny show days and a morning of departures.