Monday, July 16, 2007

Royal International Air Tattoo

A rather damp 7.30am start to Saturday morning saw Matt and I heading down to RAF Fairford for the annual air tattoo. An hour into our journey the roads had dried out and we had a superb bike ride. I feel sorry for the poor buggers travelling by car though because there was a fifteen mile tailback of stationary vehicles all the way from Cirencester to the RAF base. It took us about twenty minutes to overtake everyone and I have to confess to wearing the biggest ear to ear grin a motorbike has ever given me. Upon arrival it turned out that had we have been travelling by car we would have been stuck in the traffic jam for two and a half hours! Things got even better once we arrived, motorbikes were given privileged parking right by the entrance! None of this parking in grass fields miles away from anywhere. No sir, we had tarmacked parking facilities!


Matt's and my bike in the foreground.


F-15 Fighter - Seriously noisy, seriously fast. A proper chaps toy is that one.




The Eurofighter - Easily the most awesome plane at the show (that we saw).


▲F-117A Nighthawk Stealth fighter▼



A Lynx helicopter doing a loop the loop!


Again, not sure what this was but it was noisy, fast and spectacular.


One of the USAF Thunderbird display planes.


▲Three Spitfires and a Hurricane▼



Three Spitfires and a Hurricane being escorted by the red arrows.







As you can see the weather was fantastic. Lucky considering it chucked it down all day Friday and again on Sunday. I managed to get thoroughly sunburnt and my face resembled a well cooked lobster. The ride home was a real blast and following tradition we ended up in the pub afterwards. Life's a real bitch sometimes.

For the interested, the pleasant journey there was down the A446 past Bassetts Pole, onto the A452, A417 and finally down the lovely A429 to Cirencester. Not a single motorway in site.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a great day. :)))))

Elaine Denning said...

Your breakfast is in the bin.



Glad the sun came out for you!

Mike said...

Kate - We did thanks :)

Miss U - lol, sorry. It's okay though, I had a wild boar and apple sausage bap!

ellie said...

Love the photos! Did you take them? Sounds like a cool day out!

savannah said...

impressive!!! air shows have to be one of the most exciting and frightening things ever! glad you had a great time, sugar!

Mike said...

Ellie - Yip, they're all my own doing I'm afraid.

Savannah - I think it's the noise that makes it so exciting, especially from the fast jets.

Ali said...

Great photos. So, exactly when is my caption competition prize of a Jangle day out meant to be happening?

Dave G said...

I like your blog lads, not least because of the photos, I used to be a biker many moons ago, had various mounts but my pride and joy was a Triton I built in the sixties, oh where has my youth gone, I like two winged vehicles too despite coming down in a Hercules in Chad in the seventies. Keep it up (you live my life by proxy)

Mike said...

Ali - When ever you like :) I thought you might liked to have come to the air show?

Dave - I think we'd all like a Triton. I bet you wished you'd still got it now. I wouldn't mind hearing the full story about the Hercules.

Ali said...

If you had invited me Mike I would have loved to have come to the airshow!!!!

Mustang said...

Those are awesome pics... sounds like you had a really neat time..

D

Old Knudsen said...

The chopper looks like a lynx, not sure from that angle, I just love the Spitfires.

Mike said...

Ali - I'm almost positive you said you couldn't make it that weekend.

Mustang - There were a couple of planes there from the Indian Air Force. They weren't flying, just being displayed on the ground.

Knudson - I've been googling some pictures and I think you're right. I'm with you on the Spitfires.

Anonymous said...

mike, you sure they are all spitfires? the one at the front is different or is it a different model?

Mike said...

Loz - They were all slightly different models in varying degrees but definitely all Spitfires.

Anonymous said...

not a hurricane then?

Anonymous said...

mike, i just scrolled to bottom of page and guess what?........ more planes! is there something you want to share with us?

Mike said...

Loz - There's always one smart arse! I hate to say it but you're right.