Fairford RIAT Road Trip Friday-Sunday 19th-21st July 2019

[mrbluesky]

Set off from home on Friday heading for our two night accommodation at the Premier Inn Evesham Country Park- once on the M56- the weather was awful and the traffic was stop start- so decided to go cross country on the A49 and A41 and A5 to Cannock where we joined the motorway again- travelling down the A41- passed Tilstock- which was devoid of any aircraft and Ternhill- where a Juno was seen landing at 12:30. After a stop on the M6 toll road services- headed to Evesham- where we had a meal and a few drinks- before retiring early to bed- to watch the golf.

Up early Saturday- and after breakfast headed A46-A44-A424-A429-A424-A417 to Fairford arriving at 10:15- weather was very good with plenty of blue stuff on view, albeit quite windy- the grass in the car parks and on the airfields was dry. Even after the rain Friday- parked the good lady down in her chair- and I walked the static- which as always was impressive. 


Then returned to my wife and sat down until 16:30 when we started to walk back to the car- overall one of the best RIAT's after the rain when we have been during the past two years. Flying displays were great my favorites were the Fleece de Treacle who were fantastic with nice music coupled with their display- the Romanian Mig 21 was impressive as were the Spanish Harriers and the reds and Patroille de France double Concordes were great as well. Nice to see the BA 747  with the reds also. Think I made in the region of a hundred - but will check same off when I get around to it.


Got back to the hotel just after six and again had a nice meal- coupled with a few beers- before again retiring to bed to watch the golf.


That's me for 2019- apart from my Cyprus holiday in a few weeks- but you never know- may throw a cheeky one in before the end of the year. Will more than likely be Fairford bound again next year.


Arrived home at 12 noon this morning after a nice breakfast. So it will be golf again today- coupled with a few beers- back to work tomorrow.


Bob

[andypspotter]

Yes, I too had an enjoyable time there yesterday.

As for highlights, although I never thought I'd hear myself saying it, having seen them hundreds of times before, I thought some of the 'one off' flybys involving the Red Arrows were cool.

I'm planning to post some snaps later, when I've managed whittled the 1,300 down!

[mrbluesky]

Jul 21, 2019 13:17:37 GMT andypspotter said:

Yes, I too had an enjoyable time there yesterday.

As for highlights, although I never thought I'd hear myself saying it, having seen them hundreds of times before, I thought some of the 'one off' flybys involving the Red Arrows were cool.

I'm planning to post some snaps later, when I've managed whittled the 1,300 down!

Wow, did not take that many only took photographs of some of the new stuff- ie the Mig 21, Spanish harriers etc. I agree about the Red's all their displays were excellent. We were blessed with good weather Saturday, the last two years I have been it was raining- and the RAF 50 flypast was cancelled, but hey ho you pays your money you take a chance- but at least this year we saw the double Concorde flypast. One other excellent display was the RAF Typhoon the way he threw that plane around was something to behold- anyway back to normality with work today- final total for RIAT was 125 cops which takes me over the thousand for this year.

Happy Days

Bob