The final day of RIAT for me, and my annual trip down to England was the departures day. Â A chance to see those aircraft listed as static for the show in the air. Â The only downside is watching RAF Fairford go from being nothing, to having aircraft all over the place reduced back to the quiet base it is. Â So under cloudy conditions, the couple of hundred attendees took off (some in a spirited fashion) homeward bound!
A lot of people were looking forward to seeing the Ukranian IL-76 'Candid' and Su-27UB 'Flanker' in the air once more, and seeing the other tiger aircraft such as the German Tornados and Belgian F-16 kick in the afterburners and blast off for home!Â
The departures day is always a great day to see some of those static aircraft in action, and often a little showboating for the enthusiasts is included.
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Best departures came from the Belgian F-16AM in the tiger scheme who crabbed it along FRIAT, and along the park & view from the far end! Â The Bronco also did a lovely departure turning it over very low with the smoke on as it passed FRIAT! Â The French Mirage 2000C also gave us a lovely bank. Â The Ukranians did fantastic departures too although at first the IL-76 burst a few tyres on the runway before keeping it very low along the runway! Â The Su-27 then went off straight afterwards and barrel rolled - superb!
Wordswise, I'm going to leave it there! Â It was a superb week and a bit down in England and RIAT was a spectacular finish - looking forward to next year now!
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