Over the years a wide-ranging number of aircraft serving with both the RAF and other allied military air arms have at times been familiar to the RAF’s ‘At Home’ displays. Here listed is a brief service and display history of a selection of those which have at some stage, over the last 60 or more years, been familiar to the display circuit. Although quite comprehensive, this list is by no means all-encompassing but the aircraft selected cover all the more prominent and popular types of the post-war years. Many of the aircraft listed have served with and continue to serve with a number of different air arms, but listed here under ‘Operator’ are only those air arms which have at times supplied the aircraft to the flying and static displays of the RAF ‘At Home’ stations and other UK displays. Some have been available to the air show scene for as long as from the first post-war displays in 1945 to the present; others have made brief appearances and then remained absent for the better part of their operational service and some have disappeared from our skies from the moment they last touched down and taxied to halt under RAF control.
Type: Twin-engine fighter, single or two-seat.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
The Gloster Meteor was the first operational jet fighter in the free world, entering squadron service with the RAF in the last months of the Second World War, when in September 1944 the first aircraft were delivered to No. 616 Squadron. Despite this the Meteor was too late to be directly involved in air combat with enemy aircraft; however, it did see action intercepting V1 Flying Bombs, if not shooting them down then attempting to flip these unmanned one-trip ramjet-powered tubes of explosives over by lifting a wing under the bomb’s wing, but of course without actually making contact. By the start of the 1950s, the Meteor, alongside the de Havilland Vampire, represented the cutting edge of the RAF’s principal fighter force. Developed also as the air force’s first radar-equipped jet night fighter, this aircraft was the cornerstone of Fighter Command throughout the first half of the 1950s. By 1960 the type had been withdrawn from the operational commands but continued to serve with Flying Training Command specifically by now with No. 1 Air Navigational School, which used Mark 14 night fighters converted for training purposes. Apart from this, the College of Air Warfare operated Mk 8s until the middle of the decade. The last operational squadron with Meteors was No. 85 Squadron, which operated converted Mk 8s for the target-towing role and disbanded in August 1970.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The Meteorites were the first post-war RAF aerobatics team to be given a name. There were nevertheless a wide range of Meteor display teams during the early 1950s, when unofficial squadron teams proliferated. The allocation of Meteors to displays includes variously; formation flypasts, formation display teams (official and unofficial), solo aerobatics and set-piece scenarios. Meteors formed a substantial portion of any RAF flying display from the first post-war ‘At Homes’ until at least 1956. From 1960 to 1964 the RAF fielded a team of four Meteor F8 fighters from the Air Warfare College at RAF Manby who displayed regularly at Finningley from 1960 to 1964 and also appeared at Waddington and Middleton St George in 1963 and Acklington in 1964. Solo aerobatics by service-operated Meteors were commonplace, usually displaying more than once at any one display during the 1950s. The last displays by serving RAF Meteors were allocated to the 1969 ‘At Home’ Day, No. 85 Squadron provided an F8 for aerobatics at Biggin Hill, while 79 Squadron 229 OCU sent F8s to Benson, Finningley and Leuchars. Since the removal from RAF service of the Meteor, it has appeared from time to time in the control of the Royal Aircraft Establishment or other such similar organisations and from 1972 the CFS operated a T7 which flew as part of a duo with a Vampire T11; eventually this two-ship team were transferred to the control of the RAF College and continued with air show appearances until tragedy struck in 1986 at the Mildenhall Air Fete, when both aircraft were lost during their display killing the two pilots and a member of the ground crew who was in the second seat of the Vampire. Meanwhile, Air Atlantique Ltd continue to operate a Meteor NF11 on the UK air show circuit but none remain in military hands.
Type: Single-engine, single-seat fighter and twin-seat trainer.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
The Vampire was the second operational jet fighter to enter RAF service, the first squadron forming in 1946. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Goblin turbojet engine, the Vampire has a unique appearance, with its twin-boom tail design and crook-shaped forward undercarriage which appears to extend from the tip of the nose rather than from underneath. Together with the Meteor, this aircraft served as the RAF’s other principal fighter of the late forties and early fifties with versions after the Mk 3 being developed for tactical support; these were the FB5 and 9. A later development of the Vampire was the Venom and, for the Fleet Air Arm, the Sea Venom. This later derivative was operated as a ground-attack fighter, FB1 and 4, and as a radar-equipped two-seater in the night fighter role, NF2 and 3, alongside its contemporary the Meteor NF. From 1952, the Vampire served in its T11 variant with Flying Training Command, starting with the Advanced Flying Schools at Valley and Westonzoyland and then becoming a standard two-seat training mount eventually serving alongside the first dedicated jet trainers, the Folland Gnat and Jet Provost, until 1967. During this period, Vampire pilots of Training Command regularly competed for and won the annual Wright Jubilee Trophy for solo aerobatics, which was often challenged by pilots flying Gnats and Jet Provosts from the other training schools. Between the Vampire and Venom’s combat records are the war against the Mau Mau in Kenya during 1954 and 1955; this action involved Vampire FB9s of No. 8 Squadron, and Venom FB4s, flying from Akrotiri in Cyprus, were used in tactical strike operations against President Nasser’s forces in Egypt during the Suez Campaign of autumn/winter 1956. In the summer of 1957, Venoms of Nos 8 and 249 Squadrons were involved in suppressing the rebellion in the State of Oman, operating from Khormaksar in Aden. These operations took part at the tail end of the operational careers of both aircraft with most Squadrons having re-equipped with Hunters and Javelins by 1958. The last Venom equipped Squadron and to that end the last Squadron to be equipped with aircraft from this generation for front-line service, was No. 28 Squadron, which while based at Kai Tak in Hong Kong had by July 1962 re-equipped with the substantially more potent Hunter FGA9.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The Vampire became the mount of the first RAF jet aerobatics team, drawn from F3s of 54 Squadron of Fighter Command, in 1948 and along with the Meteor, was a guaranteed show participant throughout the 1950s. Until 1956 the majority of RAF aerobatics teams were drawn from Vampire units. By the start of the 1960s, Vampires were still often seen in the form of the T11, which was now widely used by aerobatics teams of Flying Training Command. The T11 faded as a regular sight on the show scene after 1962. Towards the end of the aircraft’s service with Flying Training Command a four-ship display team provided variously by No. 1 FTS in 1965 and by No. 7 FTS in 1966 was allocated to display at Acklington and Finningley in 1965 and at St Athan and St Mawgan in 1966. In 1967 the last Vampire solo display was provided by No. 3 FTS at Leeming and was allocated to display at Acklington and Finningley on 16th September. Following this the last Vampires were withdrawn from service in November. Although an individual aircraft from CFS was billed to display at St Athan in 1968. From the early 1970s, trainer versions of both the Meteor and Vampire were seen together as a dedicated display duo ‘Vintage Pair’ provided by the RAF College until the accident at the Mildenhall Air Fete in May 1986. Like the Meteor, the Vampire continues to be seen in public regularly at various air shows in the hands of private collectors. Various civilian operators of recent years have included the Source Aerobatics team, Jet Heritage and de Havilland Aviation Ltd.
Currently Air Atlantique together with a Venom and Meteor operates a two-seat Mk 55 Vampire on the UK display circuit.
Type: Twin-prop engine, navigation and multi-engine crew trainer.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
The Vickers Varsity is a derivative of the earlier Valetta, differing from the latter by having a tricycle undercarriage but, like the Valetta, is a purpose-built crew trainer. Originally both aircraft were assigned to Flying Training Command for basic and advanced navigation training and equipping Nos 1 and 2 Air Navigation Schools. The type was also used as a multi-engine pilot and rear-seat crew trainer equipping No. 5 Flying Training School at Oakington during the 1960s. Otherwise the Varsity, like the Valetta, was a beast of burden, being used operationally by both Coastal and Signals Commands in specialised roles. Varsities continued to serve with No. 6 Flying Training School at Finningley, following the absorption of No. 5 FTS together with the Topcliffe-based Air Electronics and Air Engineer schools into this one unit, with which the Varsity continued as a rear-seat crew trainer from May 1970 until May 1976, when it was replaced by the Scottish Aviation Jetstream.
Display history:
The Varsity was far more common to the display scene than its predecessor the Valetta and was often seen throughout its service career from the early 1950s to the mid-1970s, although after 1970 the aircraft made rarer public appearances.
The Varsity would usually be seen as a touring item at the Battle of Britain displays in formation flypasts and occasionally would fly individual displays at these and other events. Usually a vic formation of three aircraft, a standard format, appeared in a single formation flypast. No Varsities remain in flying condition.
Type: Twin-engine navigation trainer and executive transport.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
The Dominie is a derivative of the HS 125 executive jet, and entered service as an Advanced Navigation Trainer with the RAF in December 1965. Four months later the first students graduated on this type with No. 1 Air Navigation School at RAF Stradishall. Dominies continued to serve with both No. 1 ANS and the College of Air Warfare at Manby in Lincolnshire until 1970, when all aircraft were absorbed into No. 6 Flying Training School at RAF Finningley, where the type continued to serve until the closure of Finningley at the start of 1996. Since then the Dominies and Jetstreams of 6 FTS have been re-deployed to RAF Cranwell. It is still soldiering on as the RAF’s standard flying navigation classroom; navigation training for pupils usually culminates in long-range exercises which take the pupils as far afield as Malta, Nice and Gibraltar. Typically there are two pupils on a training sortie with replicated navigators’ consoles at the rear of the aircraft where among the assets and aids available for training are a sextant periscope, radio compass and Decca Navigator. Dominies remain in service under the identity of 55 Reserve Squadron, which is curious, as the RAF’s demand for navigators per se is fast disappearing.
Display history:
The first Battle of Britain displays to see a Dominie T1 were Biggin Hill and Tern Hill on 18th September 1965, each being visited by XS712. The following year most of the eight stations ‘at home’ saw a touring formation of three from the Air Warfare College, which flew from St Athan and toured round displays at Benson, Coltishall and Gaydon. A further three from No. 1 ANS flew to Leuchars to display and then to Finningley, while one aircraft gave a solo display at Biggin Hill. Only three ‘At Home’ stations, Acklington, Finningley and Leuchars, planned to have the Dominie on their flying programmes in 1967, of which a single aircraft, XS736 from the College of Air Warfare, managed to make it to all three venues but displayed almost totally in cloud over Finningley. From 1968 to 1969 three-ship as well as solo displays were often seen on the display circuit generally. From 1971 to 1973 No. 6 Flying Training School at Finningley provided a display formation made up of twin-sets of Dominies, Varsities and Jet Provosts while the solo display items continued to be prevalent. From 1980 public appearances by Dominies were restricted to a four-ship segment of the annual station formation flypast at Finningley until the last event held here in 1994. Since then the Dominie, if it appears at all in public, has been confined to the static line-up.
Type: Twin prop-engine twin-seat multi-purpose combat aircraft.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
The de Havilland Mosquito is one of the few aircraft designs which served with distinction in the Second World War and then went on to serve for a considerable number of years after. Originally intended as a lightweight high-speed tactical bomber, the basic design was developed for utilisation by almost every Command in a variety of roles which included; night fighter, tactical bomber, reconnaissance, anti-shipping and close-support. This aircraft served with legendary distinction throughout the latter half of the war. What is a most unique aspect of the Mosquito
is that its fuselage is made of wood, and indeed a furniture manufacturing company was awarded the initial contract to supply this section of the aircraft. Another claim to fame were starring roles in the films 633 Squadron and Mosquito Squadron, the latter perhaps less-acclaimed film seemingly based on the low-level bombing raid by Mosquitoes on 18th February 1944 on the Amiens prison, codenamed Operation Jericho. This raid was mounted to release members of the French Resistance held here and indeed no less than 258 were released courtesy of nineteen Mosquito VIs drawn from Nos 21, 464 and 487 Squadrons and led by Group Captain P.C. Pickard. This raid, although quite significant, was typical of many similar pinpoint sneak-up-style raids launched from airfields across Britain during the war against Fortress Europe at which the Mosquito excelled peerlessly. One last interesting point, Mk XVI and XXV Mosquitos flying from Downham Market on the evening of 2nd May 1945 were involved in the final British bombing raid over Germany.
Display history:
Even though the Mosquito served operationally only until 1955, for some years afterwards it continued to grace the air show circuit in the hands of some of the RAF’s Training and Evaluation units up until the early 1960s and thereafter in the hands of pilots from the British Aerospace field at Chester. Public appearances, not surprisingly, became less frequent from the mid-1950s when the Mosquito’s operational career was at an end. A formation display by three Mosquitoes was billed for Biggin Hill in September 1963. Otherwise the last widespread displays by Mosquitoes were seen on the 1962 ‘At Home’ Day when most if not all the stations received an individual display by either Mosquito TT35 RS712, TA639 or TA634 all from No. 3 CAACU (Civilian Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit) at Exeter. The last airworthy Mosquito, T3 XR299 was routinely seen from the early 1970s through to 1996 when the aircraft and its crew were lost in a tragic accident at an air show at Barton in Lancashire.
Type: Twin-engine jet bomber.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
The Canberra was the first jet bomber in military service. The first aircraft, B2s, joined Bomber Command in 1951, and the type has since gone on to fulfil such a list of roles that its airframe has been in demand by Bomber, Fighter, Signals and Flying Training Commands as well as the various overseas commands over the years. The Canberra continued to serve as a tactical bomber with the RAF until 1971, when the last of the squadrons, based in Germany, were replaced by Phantoms. In the meantime, during the type’s early years of service, B6s of 101 Squadron were used in action against communist guerrillas in Malaya in February 1955. In October to November of the following year during the Suez Crisis, Canberra B2s and 6s operating from bases on Cyprus and Malta from a number of Squadrons flew 278 sorties over Egypt. Aircraft of No. 45 Squadron flew combat operations again in Malaya, continuously from November 1957 to July 1960. Continuing from the early 1970s in reconnaissance, target-towing and electronic warfare (EW) roles, many aircraft were withdrawn from service at the beginning of the 1980s seeing Nos 7 and 13 Squadrons disbanded and 39 Squadron re-designated as No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit. Canberras continued to serve in the electronic countermeasure role with 360 Squadron, in the T17 variant. This unit was disbanded on 31st October 1994, having been formed initially at RAF Watton on 1st April 1966. Throughout 360’s unique existence it was employed simulating Warsaw Pact airborne threats during training exercises. Consequently neither the unit nor its specialised role were replaced.
In addition to bomber, reconnaissance and EW duties the Canberra has also served as a radar-calibration target and met the various demands of the RAF’s College of Air Warfare. The Canberra is indeed one of the most versatile aircraft to serve with the RAF
Aerobatics teams and display history:
Canberras took part in Battle of Britain displays initially during its development and of course increasingly after entry into service, in flypasts or short individual displays at first, and as they increased in number and role, they appeared as a staple participant at many displays, often occupying two or three slots on the flying programme of any Battle of Britain display. RAF Bassingbourn, the home of the Canberra OCU, was ‘at home’ in September 1960 and doubtless because of the station’s role, listed no fewer than seven different displays/role demonstrations by the home-based Canberras, The OCU had its own aerobatics team at the time. Among the various flying demonstrations particular to the Canberra have been Low-Altitude Bombing System (LABS) demonstrations, formation displays, solo aerobatics, photo runs, airfield attacks, height and speed competitions and more rarely demonstrated, snatching a target from the airfield. In 1989 No. 1 Photographic Reconnaissance Unit of the RAF marked the 40th Anniversary of the Canberra’s first flight by allowing a full solo display to be flown at a limited number of air shows including Fairford in July and at Leuchars on 23rd September. For the enthusiast this was a very rare coup. What was thought to be the last RAF-allocated display Canberra, a TT18 from No. 100 Squadron flown by Flight Lieutenant Dave Piper, had its final display at Finningley in September 1991. It was thought this would be the final show of a Canberra in military hands certainly. Since then, PR9s have now and again made appearances at Fairford to carry out photo runs of the crowd line. Canberras have continued to operate on the display circuit in the hands of private operators, which today include Dave Piper in a B6 recently returned to the original metallic finish that was common during the 1950s. More recently the RAF made a rare contribution of a display by one of its remaining in-service T4s in the matt blue colour scheme of the first prototype. This display was a one-off to mark the type’s 50th Anniversary in 1999. In 2006 the RAF’S last three Canberra PR9s were scheduled to stand down at the end of July that year. The opportunity therefore was taken to provide one last solo display sequence for the usual select few displays up to the end of July, and so the Canberra PR9 became the last example of this long-serving beast of burden to fly in public making its final appearance at Fairford on 16th July that year. Since then, at least two of the last three PR9s have ended up in private hands but have yet to return to the air, either for commercial operations or display-flying purposes.
Type: Four prop-engine long-range bomber.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
The Lincoln is a development of the Avro Lancaster, which just missed service during the Second World War, originally designated the Lancaster IV and V.
The first Lincolns were delivered to No. 57 Squadron at RAF East Kirkby in Lincolnshire in August 1945 with the intention of assigning the squadron to Tiger Force, this being an intended allied bombing offensive, in conjunction with an allied land offensive, against Japan which was cancelled by the arrival of the atomic bomb and its subsequent use against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thereafter, the Lincoln became the first nuclear bomb carrier, and continued to serve with the operational squadrons of Bomber Command until December 1955, when the last three such squadrons, Nos 7, 83 and 97, were either disbanded or reformed on V-bombers. The last five Lincolns in squadron service with the RAF served with No. 151 Squadron of Signals Command at RAF Watton, which were finally withdrawn in May 1963.
Display history:
Lincolns were usually seen on ‘At Home’ Day giving either individual or formation, usually three-ship, flypasts. The type made fewer appearances from the middle of the fifties, as in the case of most aircraft types, commensurate with its gradual withdrawal from operations, with the last public appearance being individual displays at the 1962 September displays. The Lincoln’s greatest moment on the display scene was probably at the RAF air show at Farnborough in July 1950 when aircraft from no fewer than fifteen squadrons staged a formation flypast.
Type: Four-contra-rotating prop-engine maritime patrol aircraft.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
Another, if less obvious, derivative of the Avro Lancaster, the Shackleton was the replacement for the Lancasters of Coastal Command in the anti-submarine warfare role, which they began to take on from April 1951. A unique feature of the aircraft was its contra-rotating propellers. The Shackleton fulfilled the maritime role until 1970 when replacement by the four-jet-engine Nimrod was complete. The type continued in service until 1991 as an Airborne Early Warning aircraft with No. 8 Squadron under No. 11 Group Strike Command, since when this role has been carried out by the Boeing E3D Sentry aircraft of Nos 8 and 23 Squadrons now based at Waddington in Lincolnshire.
Display history:
The Shackleton has been seen often as a single performer, usually demonstrating its bread-and-butter role with magnesium flares, searchlights and all. At the 1960 Farnborough Air Show, Shackleton XF708 from 201 Squadron took off each afternoon and returned the next morning carrying out a 22-hour patrol in between. On one occasion the mission was spent below 1,000ft from time on task to time off and covered a distance of 3,700 nautical miles. The last display by a maritime Shackleton was at St Mawgan’s 1970 Battle of Britain display. The aircraft remained absent for the most part from the show scene until the mid-1970s when aircraft of No. 8 Squadron appeared in public again under their new operational identity of Airborne Early Warning. Shackletons made regular appearances again and continued to do so until 1991, when the last display was given at the SSAFA-organised display at RAF Church Fenton in June that year.
Type: Single-seat single-engine tactical jet fighter.
Operators: Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, Belgian Air Force and Royal Danish Air Force.
The Hunter entered squadron service with the Royal Air Force in 1954, the first British-built swept-wing aircraft to join the RAF. Being capable of a top speed of 710 mph and a ceiling of 50,000ft it easily out stripped its immediate predecessors. Furthermore, the Hunter was the first British aircraft which, while not considered truly supersonic, was able to break the sound barrier in a shallow dive. Hunters served the RAF as a workhorse tactical fighter through until the early 1970s in probably every theatre of RAF operations. Hunter F5s of Nos 1 and 34 Squadrons flew from Nicosia in Cyprus on operations over Suez during the 1956 campaign. Later operations in anger involved the Hunter FGA9s and FR10s of Nos 8, 43 and 208 Squadrons operating from Khormaksar in Aden against terrorist enclaves from 1963 to 1967. The last RAF pilot to complete conversion to the Hunter for front-line requirements did so in November 1970 at Chivenor. From 1970 Hunters continued in service as advanced trainers with No. 4 Flying Training School at Valley and as an introduction to tactical weapons familiarisation at Brawdy and Chivenor until the last tactical training course was completed in 1983. The period 1973 to 1976 brought an unexpected brief return to operational squadron flying for the Hunter FGA9 in particular. The RAF determined that it needed to operate two squadrons, Nos 45 and 58 based at RAF Wittering, in order to maintain a healthy supply of fast jet pilots with single-seat ground-attack experience to feed into the then growing Jaguar Force. Thereafter, this venerable fighter continued in its two-seat dual trainer form with the RAF’s Buccaneer units for cockpit familiarisation and for equipment trials with the Fleet Requirements and Directions Unit at RNAS Yeovilton. The last Hunters left the RAF in 1994 with the last Buccaneers, as without the latter there was no longer any need for the former. More recently, a civilian company by the name Hawker Hunter Aviation Limited (HHAL) has set up base at RAF Scampton and today operates a fine stable of mainly former Swiss Air Force F58s.
They provide a similar service operationally but as a private business to that which is also carried out by the Fleet Requirements and Air Directions Unit based at RNAS Culdrose.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The Hunter is widely regarded as the best mount ever chosen for the RAF’s aerobatics teams. Indeed, the year following its entry into Squadron service, 1954, the first Fighter Command display team, the Black Knights, was formed by No. 54 Squadron. From here until 1962, this sleek jet, otherwise nicknamed the Greyhound of the Skies and the Blue Note, due to the unusual eerie howl it created when in a high-speed dive, was the RAF’s standard operational display team mount and while as before with the Meteor and Vampire, various squadron teams proliferated, the command and therefore the service was officially represented during the period 1957 to1962 by first 111’s Black Arrows then from 1961 by 92’s Blue Diamonds. There was also a team based in Germany from No. 93 Squadron, equipped with the Mk 4, which represented the RAF at many prestigious international events across the continent in 1957 and 1958. The Black Dragons of 229 OCU were in 1963 the last official name carrying team. Post-1963, the aircraft continued to make regular appearances at air displays. In the 1960s it was the standard type called upon for airfield attacks in set-piece demonstrations. From 1955 until the early 1970s, the Hunter was a regular solo aerobatics performer. With fewer front-line squadrons from 1965 solo displays were usually provided by F6s of 229 OCU and also by 4 FTS from 1967. Occasionally the FR Mk 10 version was seen in flying reconnaissance demonstrations, to photograph the crowd line. No aircraft was used in such large formations, either for flypasts, aerobatics or tactical displays as the Hunter; on occasion as many as 24 aircraft scrambling from a station on ‘At Home’ Day to return in a formation flypast or airfield attack display, as at Tangmere in 1957. The record number of Hunters in an aerobatics team was seen at Farnborough in 1958 when No. 111 Squadron looped 22 aircraft, or more specifically 9, with the remaining aircraft being provided by Nos 1, 2, 19, 56 and 92 Squadrons, 229 OCU and the Central Fighter Establishment. However, 111’s aerobatics team formed the core and the entire formation was led by Flight Lieutenant Roger Topp. This still ranks as the largest number of fast jets in an aerobatic manoeuvre. Also at Farnborough in the same year, massed formation flypasts by no fewer than 90 Hunters and Javelins was staged. From 1974, the RAF’s Hunters seem to have remained absent from public displays until 1980 when, in all probability prompted by the unavailability of the Buccaneer, 229 OCU once again provided a solo display aircraft, either an FGA9 or an F6 for displays that year and in 1981. The last display by an RAF example was a T7 from 237 OCU during the 1989 display season. Since the end of the 1980s a number of Hunters in private hands have become increasingly available for displays with former IAT Embassy Trophy-winning display pilot Rod Dean, usually in an F6 in 43 Squadron markings, along with former Fleet Air Arm Pilot Jonathan Whalley in his colourful F58, ‘Miss Demeanour’, being two of the most impressive demonstrators of this aircraft in private hands. Indeed, at present there are more Hunters available to air show organisers than any ex-military type save the Spitfire. More recent private operators have included Delta Jets Ltd, Hunter Flying Club and the Hawker Hunter Aviation Limited; the last, as mentioned earlier, also provides its aircraft for display flying.
The Royal Navy operated two official Hunter-equipped display teams between the 1960s and 1980s. They included the Rough Diamonds, a team of four and sometimes five Hunter GA11s drawn from No. 738 Squadron based at RNAS Brawdy. This team displayed often at St Athan and St Mawgan between 1965 and 1969, at Leuchars in 1963 and 1967 and at Acklington in 1967.
The second such official team was the Blue Herons, which operated from 1975 to 1980. Unusually, the team while operating Royal Navy aircraft were in fact piloted by civilians albeit former RAF and RN pilots employed by Airworks Services Ltd. The team were billed to make their final two public displays at Finningley and Coltishall on 20th September 1980; however, their appointment at Finningley was cancelled due to that nemesis of not just UK but most European air shows, the weather.
The Belgian Air Force’s premier display team, the Diables Rouges, flew five Hunter F51s at Gaydon in 1962 and 1963 and at Abingdon also in 1963.
The last military team to fly Hunters were the Swiss Air Force’s Patrouille Suisse. This team flew six Mk 58 Hunters, the export version of the FGA9. Their appearances in the UK with Hunters were limited to the IAT/RIAT at Greenham Common and Fairford and at the same organisers Battle of Britain 50th Anniversary show at Boscombe Down on 9th and 10th June 1990. Their last UK appearance before re-equipping with the Northrop F5E Tiger was at Fairford on 30th and 31st July 1994.
Type: Twin seat twin-engine jet fighter.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
The Javelin was the RAF’s first purpose-built all-weather fighter, entering service in 1956 with No. 46 Squadron at RAF Odiham. This aircraft has a distinct appearance, consisting of a high tail-on-fin arrangement with a large delta wing, giving it for all the world the appearance of a scaled-down hybrid of a Vulcan and Victor. In the space of four years there were nine versions of the Javelin issued to the Royal Air Force including a trainer version, the T3, and eight all-weather fighter variants. The last two Javelin models were fitted with a primitive reheat system to their Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire turbojet engines. Nevertheless, despite a combined augmented thrust of 26,690lb, the last and most powerful Javelins remained subsonic, doubtlessly owing not least to the size and weight of this big, heavy fighter, but also to its thick wing chord and vast span. Operational Javelins were withdrawn from Fighter Command in 1965 when the last Squadron, No. 64, disbanded at Binbrook. Thereafter, Javelins continued to be operated by overseas Squadrons until the final disbandments of No. 11 Squadron in Germany, in January 1966 and No. 60 Squadron at Tengah, Singapore, in April 1968. In 1965, Javelins of 29 Squadron were deployed to Ndola in Zambia from Cyprus in response to the Rhodesian crisis.
Display history:
From the time it entered service the Javelin was seen regularly at Battle of Britain displays and hardly anywhere else, until 1965, after which, because only units in Germany, the Far East and Aden continued to operate the type, Javelins almost never took part in the UK air show scene.
The ‘At Home’ Day debut by service-operated Javelins was on 14th September 1957. Initially provisional planning included solo displays at a number of stations; however, foresightedness by one senior officer saw to it that this was cancelled and all flying participation by RAF Javelins that year was restricted to flypasts, the concern being that the pilots allocated the task of display flying were not sufficiently familiar with the aircraft at that stage. This may have been prompted by the Javelin’s already growing reputation as a reluctant aerobatics performer acquiring the nickname ‘Flat Iron’, as a result no doubt, of its big delta and broad fuselage. No official display teams were ever equipped with them. However, what were billed as formation drill displays were frequently seen by ad hoc provision; these consisted of nothing more than a series of turns and flypasts. Occasionally individual displays were seen, particularly between 1958 and 1962. After 1964 with the last operational Javelin unit either having disbanded as far as UK postings were concerned, or having deployed overseas, Javelins appeared in public only at a couple Battle of Britain displays courtesy of No. 228 OCU, which provided a solo display for Acklington (FAW 9) and Finningley (T3) and a four-ship formation at Leuchars in 1965, and formation and solo displays which flew at the home base, Leuchars, in 1966. The last Javelin allocated to a public flying display was an FAW 9 from A & AEE Boscombe Down, which was meant to fly at Coltishall in 1968. Since then apart from a few static appearances by the Boscombe Down Javelin up to 1977, this type has never been seen and it remains on show only as a museum piece at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford. It is most unlikely that a Javelin may be put back to airworthy condition with a view to flying, for any purpose, such as has been the case with its naval rival, the Sea Vixen.
Type: Four-engine medium bomber.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
The first of the V-bombers, the Valiant entered service in 1955 when the first examples were delivered to No. 232 OCU at RAF Gaydon with the operational squadrons deploying to Wittering and Marham. In later years, the Valiant was also employed both as a tanker and strategic reconnaissance aircraft. Unlike the Vulcan and Victor, the Valiant only served in its basic Mk 1 version although a prototype Mk 2 did fly. The last Valiant units, Nos 148 (Bomber), 543 (SR), 90 and 214 (Tanker), all disbanded in December 1964 due to the early onslaught of metal fatigue. Previously, however, Valiants flew in anger during the Suez Crisis of 1956, when aircraft of Nos 138, 148, 207 and 214 Squadrons flew conventional sorties from Malta.
Display history:
The Valiant was seen everywhere during its short service career, and seemed to be more in demand, or perhaps that should be more often available, for display flying at both civil and military venues than its two contemporaries the Vulcan and Victor. Valiants were regular touring items each September when, like many larger aircraft types, a single aircraft would remain airborne to display at as many as seven venues before returning to its home station. From 1958 to 1960 a vic formation of each of the V-bombers was flown over most of the airfields on ‘At Home’ Day, usually in addition to other appearances by V-bombers. The prototype Mk 2 Valiant appeared on the programme of the 1963 Biggin Hill display. The last displays by Valiants were on 19th September 1964, three months prior to the type’s early retirement, which included a scramble by two aircraft, WZ395 and XD818 at Biggin Hill, in the then new low-level camouflage scheme more usually seen from this time onwards on Vulcans and Victors.
Type: Four-engine medium bomber.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
The second and probably best of the V-bombers, the Avro Vulcan was guaranteed to appear on any ‘At Home’ Day programme throughout its service history, although its attendance at displays organised by other services and civilians organisations was rare to begin with. Even after the aircraft was retired from operations in 1984, the RAF through popular appeal maintained a single aircraft purely for the purpose of display flying. Such was the charisma and appeal of this powerful bomber with its big delta shape combined with the tremendous roar from its four Bristol Olympus engines that in US Air Force circles it was known as the aluminium overcast. The first production Vulcans were delivered to RAF Waddington in 1956 and the first squadrons became operational in 1957, No. 83 at Waddington and No. 101 at Finningley. At peak strength in 1963, nine squadrons were operational with the Vulcan in the nuclear deterrent role. Three units, Nos 27, 83 and 617 based at Scampton, were equipped with Mk 2s and the Blue Steel air-launched nuclear missile, Nos 9, 12 and 35 Squadrons based at Coninsgby, were allocated the Blue Steel role as required while Nos 44, 50 and 101 Squadrons at Waddington remained with Mk 1 and 1A Vulcans and equipped with free-fall weapons such as Yellow Sun until the advent of the seaborne Polaris system in 1968 when all remaining Vulcan squadrons were issued with Mk 2s and were reduced to the standby deterrent role. The aircraft served overseas with Nos 9 and 35 Squadrons at Akrotiri in Cyprus as a part of the Near East Air Force Command from 1968 until 1976. When both units returned to the UK they were assigned to Waddington and Scampton respectively. The last operational Vulcan unit, 50 Squadron, disbanded at Waddington in February 1984 with the type having fulfilled the roles of both nuclear deterrent and low-level tactical bomber (all Squadrons), maritime reconnaissance (No. 27 Squadron) and tanker (Nos 50 and 101 Squadrons). During its service the Vulcan was used in action once, on the eve of its retirement, in 1982 during the Falklands campaign, when what was billed as the longest ever bombing mission was flown from Ascension Island to Port Stanley in order to bomb the runway and therefore deny its use to Argentinian large and high-performance aircraft. If allowed to put down and supply, refuel and re-arm on the airfield, the Argentinians could have reversed the fortunes of that particular campaign, and despite subsequent allegations that the runway was missed, bombs did fall across one end shortening its length as intended.
Display history:
The Vulcan’s first ever public appearance outside Farnborough came on 19th September 1953 when the Avro prototype was tasked to make flypasts at several Battle of Britain stations, including Abingdon, Castle Bromwich, Hornchurch and Shawbury. During the aircraft’s operational service, a regular display item at stations like Finningley and Waddington was the ‘Vulcan Scramble’. Usually Four aircraft would take part in this dramatic quick response demonstration in what had become Finningley’s obligatory ‘At Home’ Day ‘scramble’. The noise generated from this would linger in the air after the last aircraft had disappeared into the heavens. After 1978, Vulcan four-ship scrambles were seen only a couple more times, at station air days held at Waddington in 1979 and 1980 and at Finningley, where the final public scramble took place in 1981. This was most probably in order to indulge in a final opportunity as the aircraft was on the verge of being retired from service. For the most part, Vulcans appeared at most displays giving individual flypasts and demonstrations. Other display sequences, usually reserved for the ‘At Home’ days and Vulcan bases in particular, were a display by a Vulcan B Mk 2 fitted with a Blue Steel nuclear practice stand-off bomb, and brake-chute landing demonstrations. From 1986, the dedicated display Vulcan, XH558, continued to display each year until 1992 when it flew a final public display at Cranfield on Sunday 20th September, following which it was grounded, as the RAF pulled the plug in the face of £1 million being required for a major overhaul including a re-spar despite a high-profile public appeal. Since 1992, under the inspired leadership of Dr Robert Fleming, dedicated enthusiast engineers for the organisation Vulcan to the Sky have at last seen the impossible realised. On 18th October 2007 Avro Vulcan B Mk2 XH558 returned to the air at Bruntingthorpe. With a completely renovated flight deck suite the aircraft requires only three crew members to fly now, dispensing with the operational Navigator Plotter and Navigator Radar. On 5th July 2008, XH558 taxied past the the airframe of Vulcan XM607, which flew the Blackbuck mission over the Falkland Islands in 1982, in order to take off from Waddington’s main runway once again, before the general public. On hand to provide the commentary, appropriately, was Sean Maffett, whose voice has become so familiar to Royal International Air Tattoo pilgrims over more than 30 years.
Other public appearances have been made since then, although, strict CAA operating procedures mean the aircraft can fly in VFR (Visual Flight Rules) conditions only. This has limited its appearances at displays but the plan is, with sufficient sponsorship, to continue as long as the airframe and engine life can last out. To this end, the engines have been limited to 16,400lb from the maximum 17,000lb of thrust each, enough to stretch the life expectancy significantly but not so much as to dissipate the dramatic howling thunder which had spellbound and inspired so many people at air shows years before. Recent problems with funding which threatened the likelihood of XH558 taking to the air ever again appeared to have been resolved. However, at the time of writing, the Vulcan to the Sky fund is struggling again.
Type: Four-engine medium bomber.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
The last of the V-bombers, the Victor entered service in 1958. Operationally, the aircraft was adapted early on for the reconnaissance and tanker roles. In the bomber role, two squadrons, Nos 100 and 139 were equipped with the Mk 2 variant and Blue Steel while operating from RAF Wittering between 1961 and 1968. Four more squadrons, Nos 10, 15, 55 and 57 equipped with Mk 1s and 1As were operational with the Yellow Sun nuclear bomb from 1958 to 1965. Another squadron, No. 543, operated from RAF Cottesmore with Mk 2 Victors converted to the strategic reconnaissance role from 1968 to 1974 when replaced by the Vulcans of 27 Squadron. Nos 55 and 57 together with 214 Squadron operated Victor 1As and 2s as tankers from RAF Marham from 1965 onwards until the last unit, 55 Squadron, disbanded in 1993. The Victor was called to arms on two occasions during its lengthy service, albeit only for in flight refuelling, during the Falklands campaign in 1982 and in the Gulf War of 1991.
Display history:
Like the other V-bombers, the Victor, following its entry to service, quickly became a near-compulsory participant in ‘At Home’ Day flying programmes. Like the Vulcan, the Mk 2 version was seen on occasion flying at displays carrying a practice example of the Blue Steel nuclear stand-off bomb.
Towards the end of the 1960s, as the Victor took on other roles, tanker variants were seen at displays demonstrating in flight refuelling flypasts in the company of a pair of fighters. After 1978, the Victor was seldom seen giving flying displays until its withdrawal from service in 1993, and perhaps its last public sortie was the participation of a 55 Squadron aircraft in an air-to-air engagement set-piece together with Tornado F3s of 29 Squadron and Hawks from RAF Chivenor at the Mildenhall Air Fete in May 1990, the 50th Anniversary year of the Battle of Britain.
Type: Single-engine basic trainer.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
In August 1955, the first Jet Provost T1s were delivered to No. 2 Flying Training School at RAF Hullavington, for primary jet-training trials. The Jet Provost thereafter became the standard basic trainer with the RAF replacing both the piston Provost and for the latter stages of basic training, the de Havilland Vampire. Jet Provosts continued in service until the last aircraft were withdrawn from service with No. 6 Flying Training School at RAF Finningley in 1992. The Jet Provost is as fundamental-looking as the role it was purpose-built to fulfil. That said, it possessed an outstanding aerobatic capability, which the RAF capitalised on during the sixties and seventies, forming a number of official, named aerobatics teams, as the aircraft was seen as the obvious choice of display team mount when front-line jets were no longer considered viable for such a role. A successful front-line derivative of the Jet Provost was the Strike Master, configured for the close-support role and sold to the Royal Saudi Air Force.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
As the Hunter was for the operational display teams, the Jet Provost was in widespread use by the training school aerobatics teams from the early 1960s. The first Jet Provost team was drawn from Mk 1 aircraft of the CFS in 1958 and wore red and white livery, which became the standard training colour scheme for the RAF from the start of the 1970s.
From 1958 onwards the Jet Provost was rarely absent from the display scene. Doubtless its small size and low power but quite aerobatic performance as well as its ready availability made it a popular choice for air shows. During the early 1960s, apart from the Redskins and the Red Pelicans, which were the official named teams, the RAF operated three-, four-, and even six-ship aerobatics teams from No. 1 FTS, Linton-on-Ouse, 2 FTS, Syerston, 3 FTS, Leeming and 6 FTS at Acklington, and eventually from the College of Air Warfare at Manby, whose team the Macaws continued until 1973.
Between 1967 and 1976, the Jet Provost was the mount of seven official name-carrying aerobatics teams from the flying training schools and the air warfare college. The standard number of aircraft in the Jet Provost teams now set at four, which included the leading team, the Red Pelicans, which during 1963 and 1964 flew a team of six Day-Glo red smoke-generator-equipped aircraft, thereafter reduced to four machines painted postbox red with the smoke generators removed. From 1970 the team were back to four aircraft painted in standard training scheme with low-key team markings, in line with the other Jet Provost teams.
RAF Jet Provost team assignments to Battle of Britain displays included the following:
As a popular solo aerobatic performer throughout its service life, the Jet Provost followed the Vampire T11 as a regular winner of the Wright Jubilee Trophy. Recently, Jet Provosts have appeared in a variety of private hands. In 2009, a new civilian aerobatics formation, Team Viper, equipped with the more robust Strikemaster variants, appeared at some events including the RAF displays at Waddington and Leuchars.
Type: Single-engine twin-seat advanced jet trainer.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
A noticeably diminutive aircraft, the Gnat first flew in 1955 when its potential as a single-seat lightweight fighter was being investigated, a role in which it later served the Indian Air Force. However, the aircraft’s application as an advanced trainer far more impressed the RAF and as such it served with the CFS, at RAF Little Rissington, and No. 4 Flying Training School at RAF Valley from 1962 until 1978. The Gnat superseded the Vampire T11 as the principal mount for introducing to high-performance flight those pilots who were intended for front-line fighters and tactical strike aircraft, filling this role until its eventual replacement by the British Aerospace Hawk between November 1977 and November 1978.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The Gnat began appearing on the air show circuit in 1959, a couple of years before its entry into service, being displayed regularly by pilots from Hawker Siddeley and those RAF pilots involved in the aircraft’s trials and development. The type was seen giving individual aerobatics displays throughout until the early 1970s. The Gnat’s solo appearances continued until 1976. In 1964, the first official display team equipped with Gnats made their public debut at the Naval Air Day at Culdrose in August that year as the Yellow Jacks, they being the forerunners of The Red Arrows. The following September the team displayed at the Farnborough SBAC show and made their last appearance at that year’s Biggin Hill and Gaydon Battle of Britain displays.
The Red Arrows: The first public display by this the most venerable RAF aerobatics team of all time was at the Biggin Hill International Air Fair in May 1965. Later that year they displayed at the Paris Salon at Le Bourget in June and Biggin Hill and Tern Hill for the Battle of Britain displays. Throughout the remainder of the sixties and early seventies The Red Arrows’ appointments at the annual September displays were as follows: Biggin Hill 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975 and 1976; Abingdon 1967, 1971 and 1973; Benson 1968 and 1969; Finningley 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975, and Coltishall 1970.
From 1977 the reduction in the number of official ‘At Home’ displays, together with the introduction of an alternate ‘At Home’ Day as a result of the need to hold the Finningley event on a separate date to the nearby Doncaster St Leger, The Red Arrows were able to display at all the remaining Battle of Britain ‘At Homes’ each year. The last public display by The Red Arrows with Gnats was at RAF Abingdon on 15th September 1979.
An ad hoc display team of Gnats from No. 4 Flying Training School, based at RAF Valley, cropped up from time to time flying a formation of four aircraft, mostly between 1965 and 1973, usually managing to take in at least three displays as a touring formation. The last Gnat four-ship team appeared at St Athan in 1973, but was usually a six-strong team.
Type: Tandem two-seat advanced and tactical jet trainer.
Operators: Royal Air Force
The BAE Hawk was originally designated the HS1182 in October 1971. The RAF placed an order for 175 of these future jet trainers the following April. Its true company of origin is Hawker Siddeley with the first aircraft, XX154, flying from Dunsfold on 21st August 1974 and taking part in the Farnborough display the following month. The first deliveries of Hawks to the RAF were made in November 1976 and the following year Hawks began replacing both Gnats and Hunters of No. 4 Flying Training School at RAF Valley. Since this time, the Hawk has been sold to the US Navy as the T45 Goshawk and also to the Finnish Air Force. During the 1980s the greater number of Hawks were deployed in a second-line fair-weather fighter role within No. 11 Group Strike Command in addition to the routine role of tactical weapons training. These aircraft were allocated to Nos 63 and 151 Squadrons of No. 2 Tactical Weapons Unit at Chivenor and to Nos 79 and 234 Squadrons of No. 1 Tactical Weapons Unit at Brawdy. Since options for change, these bases have closed down and the units disbanded with all remaining Hawks being concentrated at RAF Valley under the squadron designations 19 and 208 (until recently, 74 as well) save for those operated by 100 Squadron for air defence target acquisition training, based at Leeming, and the RAF Aerobatics team, The Red Arrows. Apart from the RAF the Fleet Air Arm’s FRADU (Fleet Requirements Air Direction Unit) have replaced their Hunters with Hawks and today operate from RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall alongside the unit’s French-built Dassault Falcon 20s of Cobham Air Services. These aircraft have a unique role, the larger and heavier Falcons acting as hostile aircraft while the nippy small Hawks assume the role of launched anti-ship missiles in order to test the Royal Navy’s seaborne air defences. The immediate future should see a much smaller number of Hawk 128 aircraft (Designated Hawk T Mk2) replacing the existing now-well-used airframes. The new aircraft will have a state-of-the-art all-glass cockpit.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The RAF showed off its first Hawk at various displays across the UK in 1977 and apart from displays at Valley’s own open day that year the aircraft appeared in the flying at Finningley on 29th and 30th July to mark the Queen’s official Silver Jubilee that year. This included a formation flypast by four Hawks in a vic formation together with four each of Hunters and Gnats, all from Valley. The RAF has allocated a solo display Hawk each year since from the Valley-based aircraft and when Strike Command operated a number of the type from Chivenor and Brawdy an annual solo display pilot was allocated from within these units as well. However, from 1998 to 2000 inclusive, Hawk solo displays were for reasons of operational demands discontinued, but have been resumed from 2001. Despite the absence for some years of the solo Hawk, this aircraft has nevertheless been represented by the Royal Air Force aerobatics team, The Red Arrows, who took delivery of their first Hawks in October 1979, in time to work up for the 1980 display season and continue to operate the type to this day. The RAF has continued to field the Hawk on the air show circuit in comparatively significant numbers; from 2003 to 2006 two solo displays were once again allocated each year. In 2007 and 2008 while only one solo has been authorised, two aircraft from 100 Squadron have been allocated each year as part of the service’s new set-role demonstration. Rumours suggested the RAF would not be approving any more solo displays from 2009. However, at the time of writing, a solo display for the 2009 season was approved and one for 2010 is expected.
Type: Single-seat twin-engine supersonic all-weather interceptor.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
Developed from the English Electric P1A supersonic prototype, first flown in 1954, the Lightning for all its preceding reputation never saw combat. However, if air defence exercises are anything to go by, it would be fair to assume that this beast would have proved a most formidable interceptor if ever flown in anger.
The English Electric Lightning was the first and so far only truly supersonic aircraft of 100 per cent British design which went into production. The first operational Lightnings were delivered to No. 74 Squadron in 1960 despite Defence Minister, Mr Duncan-Sandys’ infamous White Paper of 1957 calling for the decimation of the manned fighter force, claiming that the all-missile defence force was the way of the future. Eventually equipping nine squadrons, the Lightning continued to be operated in its original role of quick response all-weather interceptor throughout its service. A little-known call to action, however, came in 1967 when Harold Wilson’s Government requested the RAF to fly Lightnings over London and other major cities in order to create sonic booms. The idea was to test the public response to supersonic overland flights by the forthcoming Concorde supersonic airliner. Evidently, reaction was quite strong and well reported. The result was that the Government were convinced that overland supersonic flights would not do. The peak of the Lightning’s career was during the period 1965 to 1971, when units were deployed overseas to RAF Tengah, Singapore; No. 74 Squadron, RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus; No. 56 Squadron and RAF Gutersloh, West Germany; Nos 19 and 92 Squadrons. From the end of 1971 the Lightning Force began winding down, gradually being replaced by the McDonnell Douglas Phantom, which in turn was being removed from the tactical role by the Jaguar. By 1977, the Lightning Force had been reduced to two operational squadrons, Nos 5 and 11 at Binbrook, which continued until eventual replacement by the Tornado F3 in 1987 and 1988.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
Along with the Vulcan, the Lightning is without question one of the two most popular military aircraft to appear on the United Kingdom air show circuit over the years. The first appearance by operational Lightnings at Battle of Britain displays was on 17th September 1960. Three aircraft were provided by 74 Squadron to give individual displays at Biggin Hill, Wattisham, Bassingbourn, Gaydon, Cottesmore and Waddington while a single aircraft from the Air Fighting Development Squadron flown by Squadron Leader Ernie Babst was allocated to display at Leconfield and Finningley. Elsewhere flypasts by Lightnings operated by English Electric pilots were allocated to a number of other ‘At Home’ stations while a formation of five was provided by 74 Squadron for the home base at Coltishall.
Lightnings equipped two official display teams from 1961 to 1963, while two lesser-known display teams operated from 1963 to 1965. From 1964 to 1968, Lightning squadrons also formed three, four and five-ship display teams of an ad hoc nature for the Battle of Britain displays. A highly popular solo aerobatic performer, the Lightning seemed to carry an attraction which made it preferable to other operational jets of similar performance which were also available for display flying for many years before the Lightning’s retirement. Despite its popularity, however, displays by Lightnings at even the more predominantly military shows were not always billed. During the 1980s, perhaps because of the need to extend airframe life, due to uncertainty over the entry date into service of the Tornado, the type was seen increasingly rarely on the display circuit, although the RAF continued to task a solo display pilot each year except 1982 and 1985. The last Lightning solo display to be officially tasked by the RAF was in 1987 and was flown by Flight Lieutenant John Fynes of No. 5 Squadron. Although Lightnings continued to be flown for trials and development purposes by British Aerospace until 1992, no Lightnings were displayed in public after its withdrawal from service. Hard fought efforts to put at least one Lightning back in British skies eventually relented, seemingly before the ever-taxing demands of the Civil Aviation Authority in the interests of ‘safety’. However, a number of Lightnings can now be seen flying in South Africa where, I’m sure, safety is taken no less seriously but is perhaps regarded a little more pragmatically.
The Tigers; This, the first official Lightning display team, was formed within No. 74 Squadron at RAF Coltishall. While the squadron was working-up on the type, a formation of four aircraft were tasked to work up a display sequence in time for the September 1960 Farnborough SBAC show. Later that month, individual pilots from the squadron toured some of the Battle of Britain displays, flying short aerobatics sequences and individual flypasts. The following year, the squadron display team flew for the first time as the Tigers, with nine aircraft, and flew at that year’s Farnborough show. The Tigers were allocated to display at; Biggin Hill and their home base, Coltishall, in 1961 and 1962 and provided a formation flypast at Wyton in 1962. The team flew a formation of nine Lightnings for the 1961 display season and a seven-ship team for the 1962 season.
The Firebirds: This team was drawn from No. 56 Squadron and ran for the 1963 display season officially billed as operating nine Mk 1A Lightnings, and displayed at various venues throughout the year including the Paris Air Salon, where the team leader Squadron Leader David Seward having been assured by the weather check aircraft that the grey cloud above was at 6,000ft. To loop the entire formation without entering cloud, as regulations required, demanded a base no lower than 5,000ft. So the full show was to go ahead and Squadron Leader Seward successfully took nine Lightnings in close formation through heavy cloud at 2500ft and back out again, still in line with the runway, leaving all impressed but continuing with the poor-weather display sequence just the same. Evidently, Air Marshal Sir Douglas ‘Zulu’ Morris, the AOC in C Fighter Command, was looking on and would doubtless be wanting an explanation upon the team’s return to terra firma. The Squadron Leader, Seward, was spared having to supply an explanation when everyone’s attention was drawn by an incident involving the prototype Harrier (Kestrel).
Displays by just five aircraft were also provided by the team if circumstances prevented the ten-strong line-up appearing. This was the way matters had to be arranged in order to appear at as many stations as possible during the 1963 ‘At Home’ Day on 14th September. The team flew with ten aircraft at Biggin Hill and gave five-ship demonstrations at Gaydon and Wyton. The team breakdown was as such, a solo, a main formation of nine and a spare making a total of eleven aircraft. The spare aircraft would join up with the four-strong section after the team split into smaller formations of the same display. The second formation would be known as ‘white section’. If the full line-up was flown, the main team would fly past or stream off the runway into a needle-threading climb in reheat followed by a display of individual aerobatics by the solo, after which a series of rolling and looping formation changes would be flown by the nine-ship, which would split into the two alternating formations. Whether a nine- or five-strong display sequence, the finale was a bomb-burst manoeuvre towards the crowd line. This type of finish to a sequence seems to be favoured by most aerobatics teams now, with the proviso today of course that each aircraft climbs and turns away from the crowd line within the MSD (minimum separation distance). A somewhat more spectacular finale was flown by the Firebirds at Paris with one section bomb-bursting down and away with the second bomb-bursting up through the smoke of the first formation.
No. 92 Squadron: This squadron operated a team of five Lightning Mk 2 aircraft for the 1963 and 1964 display season. They displayed each year at Finningley and at Farnborough in 1964. Although the team had no official name, they were recognised as an aerobtics team. No. 92 Squadron provided a further four-ship team for the 1965 Battle of Britain displays held at Abingdon, Colerne and St Athan.
The Black Diamonds: This was the last of what can be described as the official Lightning teams and operated the Mk 3, the most powerful version, and hitherto the most powerful mount of any official RAF aerobatics team. The Black Diamonds flew nine aircraft for the 1965 display season. Before displaying at Biggin Hill in September, they displayed at that year’s Paris Air Show.
Type: Four-engine long-range heavy transport.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
At the time of its entry into service, the Beverley was the largest aircraft on the RAF’s inventory. It certainly looked the part with its huge square double fin and deep fuselage section to accommodate freight in addition to passengers. An unusual feature of the aircraft was its fixed undercarriage. The first Beverleys entered service with the RAF in March 1956 with 47 Squadron at Abingdon and served in passenger, troop and freight transport roles throughout its service with the RAF until the last aircraft were withdrawn from service in 1968. Other squadrons to receive the Beverley included 30 and 53, which also operated from Abingdon. No. 34 Squadron served the Near East Air Force and No. 84 the Far East. As far as campaign service went, Beverleys were involved, during 1961, with the Kuwait crisis and flying supplies and personnel in and out of Kenya during operations here.
Display history:
Beverleys seldom made appearances at displays; among notable exceptions are Abingdon and Benson, where Beverleys were prominent on the flying programmes. Usually at Abingdon, a stream take-off of three to six would be planned, which would be followed by a tactical set-piece or other role demonstration. The last display at an ‘At Home’ was as the transport for the Falcons freefall team at Abingdon on 16th September 1967.
Type: Four-engine long-range heavy transport.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
Slightly smaller than the Beverley, carrying approximately two-thirds the load, the Argosy was another of the purpose-built transport designs that proliferated from the end of the Second World War until the early 1960s. Along with the Beverley, the Argosy fulfilled the roles that today are the domain of the Lockheed C130 Hercules.
The first squadron, No. 114, equipped with Argosies in February 1962. In due course three Squadrons served with Transport and later Air Support Commands, and overseas with both the Middle East and Far East air forces, where the type was also equipped to carry out in-flight refuelling. The last Argosy Transport Squadron was No. 70, which was reduced to a strength of two aircraft by 1974 then re-equipped with the Lockheed Hercules. The last squadron was No. 115, which operated the E. 1 version for radar calibration, up until 1977. Argosies of 215 Squadron were involved in operations against Indonesia in Borneo during August 1963, for which they operated from RAF Tengah, Singapore.
Display history:
Individual displays in public by Argosies were regularly seen for the first three or four years; thereafter, from 1966 the type was to be seen as the standard platform for freefall display teams including the Falcons and the Black Knights, and more recently the Blue Knights, until 1972, after which the Lockheed Hercules took over. As with the Beverley, set-piece displays and role demonstrations involving formations of Argosies were seen at those ‘At Home’ display stations with a connection, often Abingdon or Benson.
Type: Long-range all-purpose transport.
Operators: United States Air Force, US Air National Guard, US Marine Corps, Royal Air Force, Royal Swedish Air Force.
The original concept for the C130 Hercules dates back to 1951, when the USAF was looking for a turboprop-powered transport. The original prototype YC130 flew on 23rd August 1954. The first production aircraft entered service with the Unites States Air Force in December 1956.
Like many types reviewed in this section of the book, the actual number of operators of the C130 are far more numerous than those listed so I have listed only those which have at some stage or another appeared at flying displays in the UK. However, a good many more air forces, including those of Brazil, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Jordan, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, are other operators of this aircraft, perhaps the most successful military transport of all time.
The first of sixty-six C130s for the Royal Air Force, XV176, made its maiden flight on 19th October 1966 from Marietta, Georgia. Two months later the first C130s arrived in the United Kingdom. The initial planned deployment for the RAF was to have four home-based squadrons with two at Lyneham and two more squadrons, at the time, based at nearby Fairford, the Operational Conversion Unit No. 242, was based at Thorney Island, where they received their first Hercules in April 1967. The first operational squadron, No. 36, received its first aircraft on 1st August 1967. Since that time the C130K, to use the original UK mark designation, has continued in service through to the present day. Its most comparable American variant is the C130E. So successful an aircraft is the Hercules that it has been developed in the United States as a gunship, tanker and surveillance-and-jamming platform.
Thirteen Hercs in RAF service were withdrawn following the defence cuts of 1975, by which time all UK-based aircraft were concentrated at Lyneham as Nos 24, 30, 36, 47 and 70 Squadrons. One overseas squadron, No. 48, was based at Changi near Singapore. Over the years, RAF Hercules have been involved in various operations including the Falklands, supply-drop operations in Ethiopia following the much-publicised Live Aid campaign in the United Kingdom and then the States, and more recently the Gulf conflict in 1991 and Balkans conflict from 1993. Presently, C130s of the RAF, alongside those of other air arms, are involved in constant service in Afghanistan and, until recently, Iraq, where one was shot down in 2006 with the loss of all on board.
Display history:
XV181 was the first C130 in RAF markings to fly on the UK display circuit, on 16th September 1967, and toured Coltishall, Biggin Hill, Gaydon, St Athan and St Mawgan. A second aircraft was supposed to tour Acklington, Finningley and Leuchars but was one of a number of weather cancellations on this day. Since, the Hercules has been a regular individual display participant particularly during the seventies, eighties and early nineties. A popular party piece of the Hercules is to demonstrate the Ke San approach (from Vietnam), more recently nicknamed the Sarajevo Drop (The Balkans), so-called because the aircraft in the theatres from where these nicknames are derived have had to master the technique of approaching an airfield surrounded by hostile small-arms fire by leaving the beginning of descent from about 2,000ft until the aircraft is virtually on top of the airfield boundary, then entering a steep dive, pulling out in time to place the aircraft safely on the runway. From 1969 the Hercules has been the standard platform for the Falcons freefall team and continues to ferry the ground crew of The Red Arrows to various venues. The dawn of the 21st century has seen the introduction into service of the C130J, which so far has been demonstrated by crews from Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems, flying an example from the C130’s home at Marietta, Georgia. So far UK displays by the J model have been seen at Farnborough and at the RIAT shows at Fairford and Cottesmore, the first such demo being seen at Fairford in 1998. C130Js have been on the UK display circuit throughout the early noughties, the last appearance being as a part of the 2007 role demo. However, operational tempo overseas has precluded any appearances since. Displays by the Royal Swedish Air Force version, the TP84, have been seen at displays in the UK at the International Air Tattoo in 1987 and at Waddington in 1996. Displays by US-operated C130s have mostly been confined to the US air fete at Mildenhall, where role demonstrations by locally based aircraft of the 7th Special Operations Squadron are a regular feature and have included in recent years aircraft of the US Marine Corps. During the 1970s the Hercules was often seen at Battle of Britain displays demonstrating its tactical role in set-piece demonstrations involving other assets from No. 38 Group, usually including Andovers, Pumas, Wessex, Harriers, Phantoms and Jaguars in a protracted display of air-landing troops and heavy weapons against a fake enemy while the fast jet element provided the low fast tactical support. The C130 continues to be used as a mount for the Falcons freefall team.
Type: Long-range four-engine jet transport.
On 2nd May 1952 the Comet Mk 1 entered service with BOAC and so became the world’s first jet airliner. Four years later, on 7th July 1956, the Comet became the first jet liner in RAF service, when the first of two trainer Mk 2 Comets was delivered to RAF Transport Command. In due course a total of fifteen Comets, including eight C Mk 2s and five C Mk 4s were delivered to Transport, later Air Support, Command, all of which were operated by No. 216 Squadron at RAF Lyneham. A further three Comets served with No. 90 Signals Group operated by No. 51 and No. 192 Squadrons. The last Comets (Mk 4s) were withdrawn from service on 30th June 1975.
Display history:
With respect to the air show scene, RAF Comets were a regular feature throughout the early to middle 1960s; in particular, displays by Comets were a mandatory staple of the RAF ‘At Home’ flying displays, a usual party piece being an auto-land technique demonstration. From 1967 displays by Comets were less frequent. The last public flying demonstrations by an RAF Comet was seen on 20th September 1969 at RAF Finningley. Thereafter any public displays were given by aircraft operated by Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) Bedford until 1971. The last display by a Comet was seen on 24th July 1996 at the RNAS Culdrose Air Day when a last impromptu flying appearance was made by the last airworthy example from the Defence Research Agency at Boscombe Down. Today no airworthy examples of the aircraft exist.
Type: Four-jet long-range maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft.
Derived from the aforementioned aircraft, the Nimrod is unique in that it is the only jet-powered anti-submarine aircraft in the world. The first of two prototypes flew at Chester on 23rd May 1967. The following year the first production Mk 1, XV226, took to the air on 28th June, though XV230 was the first aircraft delivered to the RAF at St Mawgan on 1st October 1969. Eventually 46 Nimrods were issued to No. 18 Group Strike Command to form Nos 42, 120, 201 and 206 Squadrons, to be based at St Mawgan in Cornwall and at Kinloss in Morayshire. The OCU, No. 236, was based at St Mawgan and allocated the reserve squadron number 38. A further squadron, No. 203, was based at RAF Luqa in Malta from October 1971 then in Sicily at Sigonella until its disbandment on 31st December 1977. Nimrods were used to monitor the situation during the Icelandic Cod War in 1973 and for a more direct military purpose during the Falklands conflict, operating out of Ascension Island with tanker support from Victor aircraft giving them a range of some 3,800 miles. During the war in the South Atlantic, Nimrods were fitted with Sidewinder air-to-air missiles on under-wing pylons for self-defence, for which they were somewhat flippantly regarded as the world’s largest interceptors. Since the end of the Cold War, the OCU has been re-designated as 42 Reserve Squadron while 42 Torpedo Bomber Squadron has consequently disbanded and all maritime Nimrod operators concentrated at Kinloss have abandoned St Mawgan once and for all. Another little-known operator of the Nimrod, 51 Squadron, previously based at Wyton and since options for change based at Waddington, operates a small number of Nimrods for specialised reconnaissance duties. Presently, the RAF’s Nimrod fleet are being upgraded to MRA4 standard. However, the perceived requirements for future defence needs mean that the fleet is being cut back to a total of 9 aircraft. The one further development of the Nimrod was the Mk 3 Airborne Early Warning prototype which remained only that as the Government took the decision in 1986 to award the contract for a Shackleton AEW replacement to Boeing’s E3D AWACS development of the 707.
Display history:
XV226 displayed at Finningley and the Nimrod’s future home base, St Mawgan on 14th September 1968, making this its first non-trade show appearance. Apart from Farnborough the Nimrod’s next public appearance was at St Mawgan’s ‘At Home’Day on 19th September 1970, when the aircraft took part in a maritime set-piece display as well giving a general handling demonstration. From 1971, the Nimrod has been absent only once from the display circuit, during 1996 following the loss of an aircraft with all its crew during an overseas display the year before. Up until 1982 the Nimrod on the display circuit was the Mk 1 and that year both Mk 1 and 2 aircraft flew at the Battle of Britain displays as part of the Falklands tribute flypast. The Nimrod AEW was displayed at Abingdon and Finningley in 1981. At the time of writing, Nimrods are only likely to been seen flying in public at the annual Waddington show, usually involving flyovers by one of the home-based R1s. MR2s can still put in an appearance for a single flypast if time and circumstances allow. A single flypast was allowed at the Leuchars air show on 9th September 2006 in tribute to the 14 airmen, soldiers and Royal Marine who were lost with their MR2 while on operations over Afghanistan. Looking to the future, while conversion to the new MRA4 is going ahead, a more subsantive return to display flying by RAF Nimrods is not expected until all have been converted. Indeed, a recently announced proposal for defence cuts again has seen the axe fall on the remaining MR2s as of March 2010. This will leave a gap, euphemistically called a ‘capability holiday’, a phrase unheard of until quite recently, until the MR4As become operational.
Type: Long-range four-turboprop engine transport.
Operators: Royal Air Force
Nicknamed the Whispering Giant, the Britannia, like the Comet, is a commercial airliner acquired by the RAF for the like purpose of passenger transport. The first Britannias entered service with No. 99 Squadron, Transport Command, in March 1959. The Britannia served with just two squadrons, first with Transport and subsequently Air Support Commands, No. 511 Squadron being the other unit. Both squadrons served continuously until January 1976, when both were disbanded due to defence cuts.
Display history:
Britannias, like many service transport types, were regular performers at displays from the end of the 1950s through until the early 1970s, when, a couple of years before retirement from service, they stopped appearing on flying display programmes. The Britannia was another typical touring heavy of the old Battle of Britain display circuit, following the usual drill of circuits with slow and fast runs. The last squadron disbanded in 1975. Two squadrons operated the Britannia in Transport Command and subsequently Air Support command, Nos 99 and 511.
No. 99 has since stood up again, equipped with the Lockheed Globemaster III.
Type: Long-range four-engine jet transport.
Operators: Royal Air Force.
A beautiful aircraft if ever there was, the VC10 joined RAF Transport Command in July 1966, with No. 10 Squadron at RAF Brize Norton. The VC10 continues to serve in the tanker role. In the early 1980s a number of aircraft operated by British Airways were handed over to the RAF as converted tanker replacements for the Victor, in which role they continue to operate with No. 101 Squadron, also from Brize Norton.
Display history:
It was in 1968 that VC10s started making regular appearances in public in RAF markings. The type flew regularly in displays, usually a touring item getting to most if not all displays, up until 1987. VC10s have seldom been seen at any displays since other than as static displays. However, public appearances have included participation in a tactical set-piece with Tornados and Hawks on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary Battle of Britain display at Leuchars on 16th September 2000. The other outing was a single flypast at RAF Valley’s own 60th Anniversary open day on 18th August 2001.
Type: Single-seat single-engine vertical short take-off and landing fighter.
Operators: Royal Air Force and Royal Navy.
A unique aircraft, the Harrier is probably the only truly successful VSTOL combat aircraft to date. Initially two prototypes, the P1127 and a supersonic example, the P1134, were tested during the early 1960s. Subsequent defence cuts introduced by the incoming Labour Government of 1964 saw the P1134 project cancelled along with a raft of others. However, the P1127 survived to become the Harrier. Since the first Squadron, No.1, traded in its Hunters for Harrier GR1s in 1969 at RAF Wittering, this venerable aircraft has gone on to serve, in a number of versions, with the US Marine Corps (AV8), Royal Navy (Sea Harrier FRS1 and FA2), Spanish Navy (Matador), Italian Navy and Indian Navy. The Harrier continues to serve with the RAF today in its latest incarnation, the GR9A. This version incorporates a number of improvements to the original airframe, including a raised cockpit canopy, all-weather capability, increased wing span, increased stores capacity and an uprated engine, the Rolls-Royce Pegasus MK 107, previous versions being powered by the Mk 102 (GR1) and the Mk 103 (GR3, FRS1 and FA2 and Mk105 (G5 and 7). RAF Harriers in the GR3 form and Royal Navy Sea Harrier FRS1s were the most prominently engaged combat aircraft from the British side during the Falklands conflict of 1982. The RAF Harriers flew tactical bombing and strafing runs on Argentinian positions using BL755 cluster bombs on over 150 missions for which two aircraft were lost to anti-aircraft fire. The Sea Harriers were most successfully employed in the air defence role. More recently Harrier GR7s have been involved in enforcing the no-fly zone over Northern Iraq, operating from bases in Turkey and were heavily engaged in Operation Telic, the second Gulf war in 2003. The Harrier remains in operational service today, and has been operational for a grand number of years. However, an end is in sight to the Harrier’s longevity. The Government in 2002 announced its decision to withdraw the Sea Harrier FA2 from operational duties some time short of the time when its intended replacement, the Joint Strike Fighter, is actually due. In the meantime, the Naval Strike Wing of the Fleet Air Arm have stood up again at RAF Cottesmore with redundant Harrier GR7s and 9s made available by the re-equipping of 3 Squadron RAF with the new Eurofighter Typhoon. Recently, further proposed defence cuts expect to see the RAF lose another squadron and the Joint Harrier Force move to RAF Wittering leaving Cottesmore to the local council.
Display history:
The first appearances in public outside Farnborough by any Harriers were static displays of the P1127 prototype at Biggin Hill and Coltishall, both in 1966 and 1967. The first operational Harriers to appear at air shows displayed at all of the Battle of Britain displays on 20th September 1969. Highlights of the Harrier’s display flying history include: a tactical demonstration by six GR3s from No. 3 Squadron at the Queen’s Royal Silver Jubilee review of the RAF and the following air show at Finningley on 29th and 30th July and virtually the entire strength on No. 1 Squadron taking part in a protracted tactical set piece at the 1996 International Air Tattoo at Fairford on 20th and 21st July. Since its first appearance at service air displays in 1969, the Harrier has been absent from the display circuit only partially during 1991, when all aircraft were grounded for technical reasons following a display accident. From 2007, operations by the type with both the RAF and Royal Navy over Afghanistan have put paid to any solo displays, although the Navy has been able to make a couple available each year to take part in its ‘Junglie Assault’ display at RNAS Yeovilton. As things stand, with recent operational deployments to Afghanistan drawing to a close, it was been announced that, as of 9th March 2009, a single tactical demonstration Harrier would grace the display circuit once again, albeit at a selected number of display venues. This idea was later abandoned.
Type: Twin-engine carrier-borne strike fighter.
Operators: Royal Navy.
The Scimitar was the Fleet Air Arm’s first carrier-borne all-weather strike aircraft, first seen as Supermarine 113 prototype at Farnborough in September 1956.
Scimitars introduced powered flight control systems and were the first naval aircraft tasked with and therefore equipped to deliver nuclear weapons. Entering service with No. 803 Naval Air Squadron in 1958, the Scimitar eventually equipped four front-line FAA squadrons, two Training squadrons, a trials unit and an air-refuelling unit, No. 800B Squadron. Unusually, the Scimitar carried a purely fighter designation, F Mk 1, despite its operational role. Powered by two Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet engines, the Scimitar had more thrust than its successor, the Buccaneer, which replaced it by 1966.
Scimitars flew from HMS Eagle with 500 Flight, to refuel the Mk 1 Buccaneers until 1967 when the arrival of Mk 2 Buccaneers rendered this unnecessary.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
Scimitars were a regular feature of many ‘At Home’ stations during the period 1958 to 1965. Before 1963, the Royal Navy provided a number of aerobatics teams equipped with the Scimitar; 803, 804 and 807 Squadrons provided aerobatics teams from 1958 to 1961, usually with four aircraft, 804 in 1961 with nine! 736 Squadron provided the final team of four in 1962. They displayed with coloured smoke and were at Farnborough and Leuchars that year. On its last outing in public, among those stations where the type was billed to display were Abingdon, Acklington, Biggin Hill, Colerne and Leuchars on 18th September 1965.
Type: Twin-seat twin-engine high-performance all-weather carrier-borne jet fighter.
Operators: Royal Navy.
A twin-engine development prototype of the existing de Havilland Vampire, the DH110 was intended as one of the first purpose-built radar-equipped fighters to replace the Meteor NF. The DH110 was passed over by the RAF, who favoured the Gloster Javelin. It is believed its selection was prompted by the loss of a prototype at the 1952 Farnborough Air Show in an incident which claimed the lives of 29 members of the public as well as the pilot, John Derry, and his observer, Tony Richards. The aircraft fell apart following some hard manoeuvring. Even so, the Sea Vixen was selected by the Fleet Air Arm. This aircraft became the Sea Vixen in 1958 when it entered squadron service with the Royal Navy, as its principal carrier-borne interceptor. Sea Vixens remained in operational service with the Navy until 1972, both carrier- and shore-based. The Sea Vixen saw action of sorts during its service. Aircraft flying off the deck of HMS Victorious flexed military muscle over Iraq in 1961 as part of a larger British military effort to ward off the threat by Iraq’s then President, Abdul Karim Kassem, to invade neighbouring Kuwait, which he claimed was a part of his country. In January 1964, Vixens of 892 Squadron provided a similar role, flying off the deck of HMS Centaur, to provide air escorts for RAF transport flights and to support British troops being landed in Tanganyika on the East African coast. This action took place to support Government forces, although the country ceased to be a British protectorate on 9th December 1961. The Sea Vixen’s final call to arms, as such, was again to provide air cover, this time in support of the withdrawal of British forces and subjects from Aden in the latter half of 1967. Aircraft of 893 Squadron, along with Buccaneers of 801 Squadron, flew from Victorious again. The rundown of the carrier force and introduction of the F4 Phantom spelled the end for the Sea Vixen’s operational career by 1972.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The Sea Vixen was a popular air show item from 1959 to 1970, and in 1962 an aerobatics team of five Sea Vixens called ‘Fred’s Five’, drawn from 766 Squadron, toured some ‘At Home’ displays, appearing at Benson, Gaydon, Tangmere and Hullavington on 15th September. The following year an unnamed team of four aircraft displayed at Biggin Hill and Tangmere, and in 1964 two drill teams of three aircraft each toured most of the Battle of Britain stations. From 1963 until 1966, Sea Vixens were seen at some Battle of Britain displays in pairs demonstrating ‘buddy-buddy’ flight refuelling. From 1967 until 1970, Sea Vixen solo displays, not often seen before, were during this period popular enough to be allocated to virtually all of the RAF’s ‘At Home’ displays. Another aerobatics team, ‘Simon’s Circus’, consisting of six aircraft, drawn from 892 Squadron, was operated in 1968, appearing at the Coltishall display, which was most likely their last public appearance. After 1970 this aircraft was seldom seen at air shows but a solo aircraft was seen on the circuit in its last operational year, 1972. Since 2001 a privately operated Sea Vixen from de Havilland Aviation Ltd has been seen at a number of displays flying quite unbelievably scintillating aerobatics sequences for such an old bird, in the hands of either Dan Griffiths or Brian Grant, and more recently in the hands of Lt Cdr Matt Whitfield, a serving RN officer. Quite surprisingly, this unique and impressive aircraft has yet to be put through its paces at some of the more prestigious military shows, and for no apparent reason managed to get itself no further than the static park at the Fairford RIAT in July 2002.
In 2007 a lack of sponsorship meant no Sea Vixen displays and to rub salt in the wounds of the purists. This news came about just after the aircraft alas had been repainted in its original operational scheme when serving on board HMS Eagle with 899 Squadron. The aircraft XP924 did however return to display flying in 2008 making its public debut at the Yeovilton Air Day on 5th July. Seen again in 2009, it managed to fly at Fairford, this time as part of the Fly Navy 100 Flypast. One can only hope that we will see much more of this rare and vintage high performer.
Type: Low-level strike aircraft.
Operators: Royal Navy, Royal Air Force.
The Buccaneer has only recently retired from service with the RAF, the first examples having entered service with No. 801 Squadron of the Royal Navy in July 1962. The Mk 1 version was powered by 2 x Gyron Junior turbojet engines each rated at 7100lb static thrust. No. 801 Squadron was also the first front-line unit to receive the Rolls-Royce Spey engine Mk 2 version, with which it became operational in October 1965. The Buccaneer served with four front-line squadrons of the Royal Navy until 1972, from 1973 just 809 remained operational on board Ark Royal as its principal carrier-borne low-level strike aircraft. Conversion training for RN crews was carried out by Lossiemouth-based 736 Squadron. During this period, the Buccaneer’s chief claim to fame was its role in the sinking of the stricken oil tanker Torre Canyon in 1966. The following year, Buccaneers of 801 Squadron were involved in overseeing the withdrawal from Aden of British dependants and troops. From 1969, the Mk 2 version of the aircraft was operational with the Royal Air Force as an overland and maritime tactical strike bomber. Shortly after withdrawal from the Navy, in 1980 the RAF’s Buccaneers were grounded temporarily following an incident during a NATO exercise over the Nevada Desert when two aircraft disintegrated while manoeuvring at low altitude. The result of this incident was a purge of a number of airframes worn by metal fatigue. Nevertheless, the Buccaneer continued to serve in the anti-shipping role until the last squadron, No. 208, disbanded on 1st April 1994. During this time it returned to the overland strike role. The war in the Gulf in 1991 provided a twilight operational call-up, just like the Vulcan and the Falklands in 1982. Buccaneers from RAF Lossiemouth were sent to Muharraq in Bahrain to assist the Tornado GR1s by providing a target-illuminating capability via use of the Pave Spike Target Laser Designator pod. The Buccaneers of 12 and 208 Squadrons became directly involved in bombing sorties delivering ordnance on targets as well as assisting the younger Tornados.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
Buccaneers arrived on the UK air show scene in the hands of Fleet Air Arm pilots in 1962. However, the prototype, NA39, made flypasts at some of the 1960 displays. From 1962 until 1969 the Buccaneer, in the hands of either a Royal Navy crew or an example from the manufacturers’ base at Holme On Spalding Moor, would be found at most Battle of Britain flying displays. Despite the provision of an official Navy display team of five Buccaneers in 1968 called the ‘Phoenix Five’ all RN Buccaneer displays assigned to the RAF ‘At Home’ days that year were solo performances, and the following year No. 803 Squadron provided a solo display aircraft, XV867, for displays at Benson, Biggin Hill, Gaydon and St Athan on 20th September. For no apparent reason no Buccaneer displays were allocated to the 1972 ‘At Homes’. In 1973 the Royal Navy provided two solo display aircraft; one to display at Abingdon and Biggin Hill and one for St Athan while a four-ship display team was sent to Leuchars. Otherwise from 1970 the majority of Buccaneer displays were provided by the Royal Air Force, and with the exception of 1980 and 1981, due to temporary grounding for technical reasons, the Buccaneer continued to be displayed each year until its last public display at Cranfield aerodrome in September 1993. At least one Buccaneer is maintained for display flying purposes at Thunder City in South Africa.
Type: All-weather twin-engine twin-seat supersonic tactical fighter.
Operators: United States Air Force, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, German Air Force.
(Many other countries operated this type, but the above-named opreators allocated aircraft to UK air shows.)
The F4 Phantom is, if nothing else, a jack of all trades among fighters. Built by the American company McDonnell Douglas, and originally intended for the United States Navy as a carrier-borne all-weather interceptor, the aircraft was soon selected by the other major US military air arms, the Marine Corps and the Air Force, in whose hands the aircraft was employed in virtually every conceivable tactical combat role. Like the UH1 ‘Huey’ helicopter, it has become synonymous with the USA’s long and fruitless military commitment to the war in Vietnam. F4s of all three US air arms were deployed in this theatre from the outset. On 5th August 1964 the US Navy F4Bs flew the initial sorties off the USS Constellation. Despite initial successes by USN and USAF Bs and Cs in dogfights (USMC F4s concentrated on low-level close-support missions) against MiG 17s, many subsequent losses of F4s to North Vietnamese MiG 19s and 21s could be attributed to the Soviet design’s superior manoeuvrability and the early F4’s lack of gun armament; many having to turn and run after running out of missiles or when returning from offensive support missions. The US Air Force was the only one of the three American operators to rethink the defensive armament of its aircraft, putting a Vulcan Gatling gun in the nose blister. American F4s continued to participate in front-line operations in Vietnam through to the final sorties flown by US forces in January 1973. Indeed, the last operational American combat aircraft unit to leave the Vietnam theatre was the US Marine Corps’ VMFA-232. F4Js remained operational at its base at Nam Phong in Thailand until August 1973, some seven months after the peace accord was signed. In all probability, they flew the last operational sorties over Vietnam.
The US Air Force deployed F4s under its European Command in the mid-1960s as a replacement for the F100 and F101. The Phantom entered service with both the RAF and the Royal Navy in 1968, with which it served in close-support, strike, reconnaissance and air defence roles, until 1978 with the Navy and until 1993 with the RAF. A key difference between the UK F4s and those serving the US and other air arms is the engine. British F4s (F4M andF4K), save for 15 bought as a stopgap to cover the Falklands deployment in 1984 to equip the then purposely reformed 74 Squadron, were fitted with the Rolls-Royce Spey Mk 202 or 203 turbofan engine developing 20,515lb thrust with reheat. All other F4s are fitted with the General Electric GE J79 turbojet engine rated at 17,000lb (F4B, F4C, RF4C and F4D) and 17,900lb (F4E, RF4E, F4F, F4G, F4J and F4N); the specially bought 15 for No. 74 Squadron were F4Js. The height of the F4’s military career was undoubtedly its role with the US Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy throughout the Vietnam War. Elsewhere the Israeli Air Force used the aircraft to devastating effect in the Middle East War of 1973. In more recent times, the RAF deployed aircraft of 19 Squadron from Wildenrath to Akrotiri during the period of the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait as an additional defence measure in anticipation of the conflict expanding the theatre of operations wider across the region. In addition, until the introduction of the Tornado F3, RAF Phantoms of first 29 then 23 Squadron were deployed to the Falkland Islands after the war and remained until their replacement in 1988 by the newly established 1435 Flight equipped with the Tornados F3.
Elsewhere, F4s flew in action with the Israeli Air Force during the Yom Kippur War against MiGs of Egypt and Syria in 1973. Currently, only the German, Hellenic and Turkish Air Forces continue to operate F4s within the European theatre. The Luftwaffe expect to convert their last wing to Typhoons by 2012.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The first of this mighty fighter’s appearances on the UK air show scene was announced for most of the Battle of Britain displays in September 1965, when pairs of F4s from either the USAF or the US Navy were expected to make flypasts. However, weather indications on the day were sufficient to convince the USAF that to go aloft was less than prudent despite other display items making their slot times.
The USAF nevertheless provided four-ship formations of F4s and RF4s respectively from the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing and the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing for the 1966 RAF ‘At Home’ Day and continued to provide flypasts at successive ‘At Homes’. During this time flypasts by USAF F4s at air displays generally across the UK became a not unusual feature, continuing in the 1980s although by then flypasts were usually singles or pairs. In 1969, the Royal Navy provided the first solo displays by Phantoms at that year’s ‘At Home’ stations while Squadron Leader John Owen flew two solo aerobatics displays in an aircraft of 43 Squadron, Royal Air Force, over the home base at Leuchars. Elsewhere in 1969 two four-ship formations of Royal Air Force Phantoms, drawn from 228 OCU and 54 Squadron, flew past at the Battle of Britain displays. In 1970, the RAF and the Royal Navy each provided a solo aerobatics aircraft. After 1971, however, it was RAF Phantoms that were almost exclusively seen in public, and almost always a solo aircraft from No. 43 Squadron. Formations of RAF aircraft were, after 1974, seen only at Leuchars or other F4 bases holding their own open days. Apart from a couple of absences from the air show scene, notably in 1989 and 1991, the Phantom was always to be seen at the ‘At Home’ displays. Today the German Air Force continues to operate F4s, and since 1994, each year at one or more of the four major military shows in the UK, Mildenhall (USAF Air Fete), Waddington (RAF premier event), Royal International Air Tattoo and the RAF’s sole remaining Battle of Britain commemorative display at Leuchars, a solo F4 from this service has given an impressive display, usually culminating in a high-speed, all-burners-blazing vertical climb. RAF Leuchars has been the most regular recipient of the Luftwaffe F4, providing a nostalgic link with this station’s previous association with the type, the last appearance in the air over the UK being at Leuchars on 13th September 2003.
Type: Twin-engine single-seat tactical strike and reconnaissance aircraft.
Operators: French Air Force, Royal Air Force.
The Anglo-French built Jaguar was originally intended as a high-performance advanced trainer. However, the design outgrew its original specification and came to be an operational strike aircraft initially for both the French Air Force and Royal Air Force. The first Jaguars were delivered to the RAF in 1973, and by 1977 the introduction of this aircraft to RAF service was complete with eight squadrons and an Operational Conversion Unit. Jaguars were expected to continue to serve with the RAF in their original roles of close-support, strike and reconnaissance, and to remain in front-line service until replaced by the Typhoon. To that end, a midlife update resulting in the Jaguar GR3 took place recently introducing a new state-of-the-art cockpit suite and uprated Adour turbofans providing an overall thrust increase of 10 per cent. In action the Jaguar did the allied forces proud during the Gulf conflict and it was a Jaguar pilot, Flight Lieutenant Steve Thomas, who flew the largest single number of sorties accounting for 27 ops over targets and incidentally returned to the UK in time to become the 1991 Jaguar display pilot. More recently the aircraft has been involved in peacekeeping operations over the Northern Zone of Iraq and in Bosnia, and in direct action over Kosovo. In the summer of 2004, the Government announced yet another round of defence cuts (this at a time of two recent protracted overseas operational deployments, billed as ‘Delivering Security in a changing world’, which suggests objective thinking and no expense spared, if necessary. However, as with the three previous rounds of defence cuts since 1990; Options for Change, Front-line First and the Strategic Defence Review, this fourth exercise proved to be a badly disguised Treasury-driven demand to withdraw another hefty chunk of money from the defence budget. Among those who found themselves without a chair when the music stopped playing was the RAF’s much-prized Jaguar Wing. The last squadron to disband was No. 6 at Coningsby, having moved there earlier at the beginning of 2007 to allow the speedier closing-down and sale of RAF Coltishall. Even then, the previously announced disbandment date was revised to July and communicated at such short notice that the RAF’s hitherto plans for a standing-down ceremony and private flying display were all but scuppered. The further impact of this quite indecent haste to fleece the defence budget was to disrupt the RAF’s expectations of building a cadre of experienced single-seat jet pilots with ground-attack experience for the smoother build-up of the new Eurofighter Typhoon squadrons. As yet, albeit partly due to the commitment to deliver aircraft to the Royal Saudi Air Force, a third operational Typhoon squadron, expected to be No. 6, has yet to stand up.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
Only one aerobatics team has ever equipped with the Jaguar, that being a close-formation pair operated by the French Air Force since 1992, and seen at Leuchars in 1996. Otherwise, the Jaguar has appeared at UK displays exclusively in Royal Air Force markings invariably as a solo display item and on occasion, although hardly ever today, as part of a set-piece airfield-attack display or even rarer, carrying out a reconnaissance demonstration, again usually part of a tactical set-piece. Jaguar solo displays have been obligatory at Battle of Britain displays since 1974. That year and in 1975, two solo display pilots were detailed, since when 226 OCU and more recently 16 Reserve Squadron has provided the single solo display each year. There have been two years, 1987 and 1988, when no official Jaguar displays were sanctioned for reasons not explained. The last official Jaguar display was flown at Yeovilton Air Day on 17th September 2005, 41 Squadron taking the final honour after 16’s standing down.
Type: Twin-engine twin-seat variable wing multi-role combat aircraft.
Operators: Royal Air Force, German Air Force, German Navy and Italian Air Force.
The Panavia Tornado has now served the air forces of Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom for 30 years and is expected to continue until at least 2018. For all its length of front-line service the Tornado has had few incarnations, unlike the Second World War-era Spitfire, for example, which by the end of the Second World War and no more than seven years into its squadron service had evolved through 24 marks. The Tornado, after all its service thus far, has been updated to the Mk 4. If nothing else this can justifiably stand as testimony to just how advanced modern combat aircraft are, when so little development work is required, or perhaps to be more down to earth, affordable. The Tornado fulfils a wide range of tactical combat roles, which include air defence, interdiction strike, close-support, maritime strike, electronic warfare and reconnaissance. This has all been provided by one basic airframe and three variants. Outside the three manufacturing nations, Tornados have been sold to Saudi Arabia. Like the Jaguar, the Tornado accrued an impressive war record over the last decade of the 20th century which included the Gulf, peacekeeping operations and flying round-the-clock bombing sorties from home bases during the air war over Kosovo, involving various units. Since 2003, RAF Tornado GR4s maintained a continuous operational deployment of about four to six aircraft at Al Udeid in Iraq to support coalition operations there. This detatchment came to a close in 2009. However, the operational deployment tempo has continued with GR4s. As of the summer of 2009 Tornado GR4s have been deployed to Kandahar to take over the role hitherto fulfilled by RAF and RN Harriers. Indeed, the ground attack version of the Tornado is probably the most combat-proven type the RAF has operated since the Second World War. As of 2009 the air defence Tornado F3s of the RAF have been run down to a single squadron with only two Typhoon (swing-role) squadrons stood up. The eventual replacement for the GR4 remains unclear, but the Government is expected to remove at least another squadron’s worth from the inventory before we get that far.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The Tornado has been a staple part of the air show scene since its entry into service in 1981. The RAF typically allocates a solo aerobatics display from each variant, although it’s usually the RAF’s own displays, particularly Waddington and Leuchars, which could as much guarantee both solo displays. Up until 1995, F3 formation displays were a routine feature of the Leuchars show; however, like most ad hoc operational display teams and military set-pieces, present funding and insurance restraints have been suggested as reasons for the near-demise of this particular feature. That said, formations of front-line aircraft for various set-piece demos continue to be seen at the Royal International Air Tattoo and the role demonstration remains a feature of the Navy Air Days. Leuchars Battle of Britain air show did, it would then seem, manage to gain dispensation for the 60th Anniversary display on 16th September 2000 for four F3s together with Hawks and a VC10 to put on an impressive air defence demonstration. Similar intercept demonstrations by Tornados were staged at Mildenhall in 1990 and at Finningley in 1991 which in each case followed mock combat air patrols by the Tornado F3s which in turn were followed by interception of attacking enemy aircraft. Otherwise Tornado GR1 aircraft once regularly carried out simulated airfield-attack displays, but these set-pieces became far less frequent, with lack of funds cast as the villain again, in the 1990s. That said, the organisers of the Leuchars display had returned to tradition sufficiently to re-introduce similar role demonstrations to that seen in 2000, and laid on some fairly impressive tactical set-pieces in 2004, 2005 and 2006. On the down side the RAF withdrew solo displays by the F3 Air Defence version in 2006 and GR4 strike aircraft from 2007. Author’s note: This is covered further in History. Meanwhile, the F3 has a party piece unique to the Leuchars Battle of Britain ‘At Home’ Day each year when a single aircraft gets airborne at the end of the flying display to take part in the Traditional Sunset Ceremony. Whether the RAF will detail any more solo displays by either version, perhaps as a swansong in the final year of service from each, we will have to wait and see. As far as the other NATO operators of the Tornado are concerned, examples from these air arms made appearances far more readily at UK displays once the German forces had display restrictions lifted and it is they who provide the bulk of displays by non-RAF Tornados. Indeed, an example of loops in regulations has seen a number of impressive displays by German Air Force and Navy Tornados take place at UK displays under the proviso that they are demonstrating the aircraft’s tactical and handling techniques. Evidently as long as the show commentator avoids referring to these technique demos as actual or aerobatics displays then what takes place is perfectly legal. The RIAT Chief Commentator, Sean Maffet, was obviously mindful of this very fine point when he described a rip-roaring demonstration of handling techniques and tactics by a German Navy Tornado over Fairford, as a very good ‘not a display’.
In 2007 and 2008 the RAF fielded pairs of both fighter and bomber variants to participate in the much-vaunted role demonstration over this period. There have been no solo displays by Tornados of any variant and, indeed, of any nationality seen on the UK air show circuit since 2006. The last was a 15 (R) Squadron GR4. The last was a 15 (R) Squadron GR4. As we approach the summer of 2010, there is little prospect of any Tornados flying publicly for the foreseeable future. Although as 2011 is expected to be the year that the F3 version retires from service, the chance of an F3 solo display or some other arrangement in 2010 may be possible, but it remains an outside chance in the current military and political climate.
Type: Eight-engine strategic bomber.
Operators: United States Air Force.
The B52 still holds the record as the largest and heaviest bomber to enter operational service in the West. Despite the first aircraft having been delivered to the USAF, the sole operator of the type ever, in 1956, the B52 still serves in its original role as a strategic bomber. Over the years, B52s have been deployed in anger by the US Air Force in two conflicts, Vietnam and the Gulf. Despite the outcome of the former, the B52 acquitted itself with success both as a tactical bomber and in the strategic role during which round-the-clock raids were carried out against the North Vietnamese cities of Haiphong and Hanoi under the Linebacker II operation. Despite the controversy at the time, these raids are credited as the cause of driving the North Vietnamese authorities back to the negotiating table when the future of American POWs was at stake. In the Gulf and Kosovo wars, these aircraft flew non-stop round-trip missions from Fairford in Gloucestershire to targets as far away as Baghdad and Belgrade. They were in action in Iraq in 1991 and 2003 and Afghanistan in 2001; these missions were also flown from Fairford. The arrival of the B1B Lancer and B2 Spirit in more recent years has not yet seen the end of service for the B52; the aircraft is expected to continue operationally into the 2020s!
Display history:
Despite, or perhaps because of the remarkable career (the operational demands prevented it being seen more often on the display circuit) of this magnificent aircraft, the B52 was seen flying on only two Battle of Britain Days, in 1960 and 1993. In the first instance a number of stations were lucky enough to be among those selected to receive a visit by a touring aircraft, among which were Halton, Gaydon, Bassingbourne and Waddington. In 1993, a B52 gave a series of flypasts at Finningley and Leuchars; the final flypast at Finningley culminated in a steep power climb at the peak of which the aircraft’s nose was pushed down towards a level attitude, just before disappearing into the high cloud base. As far as USAF displays in the UK are concerned, the B52 became a regular performer at Mildenhall and continues as a regular feature at the greatest air show on earth, Fairford.
Type: Four-jet supersonic strategic bomber.
Operators: United States Air Force.
That the B1 exists at all is largely thanks to the Reagan administration. The aircraft started life as a non-starter called the B1A, a much higher specification design that was expected to reach Mach 2. Budget restraints imposed by the Carter administration on defence procurement put paid to development of the B1A by the end of the seventies, the chief reason given for the cancellation being the future deployment of land-launched cruise missiles. The arrival of Ronald Reagan to the White House brought along a revival of fortune for an aircraft which otherwise might have met a very similar fate to the British-built TSR2 in the early sixties. Indeed, the B1’s origins trace back to when the US Defence Department was looking to the future and a replacement for the B52. The decision to press ahead with development of the B1 was made in 1969 under the Advanced Manned Strategic Aircraft programme. The B1A prototype made its initial flight on 23rd December 1974. With all that happened in between due to political climate change, it was almost ten years later that the first production B1Bs rolled off the production line, on 18th October 1984. Production of a total of 100 B1Bs was authorised by the Reagan administration. One might point out in addition to the deployment of cruise and Pershing II missiles. The B1B has a crew of four, has a variable-geometry wing, supersonic performance and is powered by four General Electric F101 turbofan engines developing about 31,000lb of augmented thrust each. Currently all B1Bs have been deployed to four US-based wings under the Air Combat Command; the 7th Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, the 28th at Ellsworth, South Dakota, the 366th at Robins and the 184th at McConnell in Kansas. The latter unit forms part of the Air National Guard. Like the B52 the B1B has a link with the UK in so far as strikes against targets in Iraq and more recently Afghanistan are concerned, as many of these sorties have been flown from Fairford in Gloucestershire, which continues as a primary forward operating base for USAF strategic aircraft.
Display history:
After the B1A prototype appeared at the 1982 Farnborough show, following the aircraft’s revival, the B1B in operational form turned up at Mildenhall Air Fete in May 1989, where the aircraft was demonstrated by a series of slow and fast runs, which may not sound electrifying unless one has been present for one of these beasts making a low, fast pass culminating in a steep climb-out or a sharp climbing turn away. This has been the standard display format for the B1 at most shows, and since its debut at Mildenhall ’89 this aircraft has been a regular display item both here and at Fairford. Displays at the RAF main events have taken place from 1996 to 1998 at Waddington and in 1996 at Leuchars, but the aircraft’s presence at these events has never become the regular feature that it has at the previously mentioned two military shows. Some B1 display bookings, like those of many US military aircraft, have been cancelled at short notice due to the US Government’s decision on certain occasions to place its armed forces on an immediate war footing. A planned appearance at Leuchars on 15th September 2001 was swiftly cancelled following the World Trade Center tragedy only four days earlier, and a much earlier planned appearance on 22nd September 1990 at Finningley, which would have been a first for an RAF event, was scrubbed, this time due to the crisis in the Gulf. A coup for the organisers of the Eastbourne air show in August 2005 was to become perhaps the only civilian-organised UK event to secure the appearance of a B1B.
Type: Single-seat single-engine supersonic fighter.
Operators: United States Air Force, Royal Danish Air Force.
The F100 Super Sabre was the first of the truly supersonic fighter types in the West, and was operated in the UK by units of the United States Air Force between 1957 and 1971. For the majority of this period, the F100 was the principal American tactical fighter contribution to NATO’s European theatre. The far superior F4 Phantoms began replacing the F100s and their contemporaries, the F101 Voodoos, from 1965. Although not quite as well known as the F4, the F100 (The Hun) was another stalwart of certainly the earlier years of the Vietnam war, largely flying close-support operations, its original air defence fighter role having been long since discarded. Otherwise, for a good many years the F100 remained in the service of a number NATO air arms including the Royal Danish Air Force until 1983.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
Appearances by Super Sabres at Battle of Britain displays from 1957 until 1971 usually consisted of a four-ship flypast. As was always the case with the United States Air Force European Command, until the arrival of aircraft such as the F15 and F16, American military aircraft rarely gained clearance to provide anything other than flypasts for air shows. The Americans have, despite restrictive display regulations, always been well represented on the European air show scene. The exception to this rule was the Skyblazers aerobatics team who flew four F100 Super Sabres from 1957 to 1961. In 1963, a solo Danish F100, 52769 of 730 Squadron, gave a number of individual flypasts at Finningley. Unnamed display teams of five Royal Danish Air Force F100s operated from 1964 to 1966, usually drawn from either 730 or 727 Squadrons, and were billed to display at the following Battle of Britain displays; Coltishall 1964 and 1970, Waddington 1964 and 1965, Acklington 1965, Leuchars 1965, Finningley 1964 and 1966, Benson 1966 and Biggin Hill 1966. Among the Skyblazers’ appointments were Tangmere 1957, Biggin Hill 1957, 1959 and 1960.
More recently, Danish F100s have appeared at St Athan in 1975 and 1979 and Abingdon the same year. One of the last airworthy examples flew in civilian hands (Tracor) at Fairford in July 1997.
Type: Twin-engine single-seat tactical fighter.
Operators: United States Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force
The F101 Voodoo was one of the world’s first true supersonic fighters, first being delivered to the US Air Force in May 1957. Compared with its contemporaries, it was a particularly large and heavy aircraft. Voodoos were operated in the European theatre, originally as air defence and tactical fighters. Within the UK base 3rd Air Force the aircraft were issued to the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing as F101Cs, based at Bentwaters and Woodbridge in Suffolk, until they were replaced by F4 Phantoms from 1965. They were assigned from 1962 to the tactical reconnaissance role as RF101s equipping the 66th Tactical Fighter Wing based at Upper Heyford until 1969. Within NATO the F101 was also operated by the RCAF but none of these examples are likely to have been seen in public in the UK.
Display history:
F101s were first seen at Battle of Britain displays in 1959 as pairs touring most stations to fly past at each. From 1964 they usually appeared in formations of three or four, making their last public flypasts at some of the ‘At Home’ displays in 1968. Due to the comparatively restrictive practices of the USAF at air shows, this highly capable supersonic fighter was, like many others from the USAF confined to flypasts, although some display programmes in the early sixties occasionally billed a pair of F101s or F100s under the description ‘display’ rather than ‘flypast’, and allotted a reasonable amount of time to make a display rather than a single flypast possible. However, this was usually nothing more than a series of slow and fast runs in close formation.
Type: Twin-engine medium jet bomber.
Operators: United States Air Force
The first B66s arrived in the United Kingdom in the mid-fifties. They remained deployed with the USAF in the European theatre until 1965 when RF4C Phantoms took over the role performed by the RB66s of 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. The US Navy operated its own version of the B66, known in that service as the Sky Warrior.
Display history:
B66s were regularly seen at many ‘At Home’ displays during the period 1958 to 1964, usually either as part of a formation or giving individual flypasts. The aircraft was also seen from 1959 to 1963 as part of a regular USAF touring display, flight refuelling from a KB50J tanker, often in the company of an F100 and an F101.
Type: Single-engine single-seat supersonic tactical fighter.
Operators: United States Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Norwegian Air Force, Royal Netherlands Air Force, Royal Danish Air Force, Belgian Air Force, Italian Air Force, West German Air Force and West German Navy.
Another early high-performance jet type from the United States, the F104 owes its existence to demands by fighter pilots who flew the F86 Sabre against Soviet-built MiG 15s during the Korean War, and expressed a desire for improved performance in terms of acceleration and ceiling. The F104 began operational service with the USAF in 1958 and despite its near-disastrous record of service with the West German Air Force, earning the nickname the ‘Widowmaker’, was deployed with many different air arms. No fewer than 11 air forces and one Naval Air Arm within NATO have deployed the F104 in the front line over the years from 1961 to 1999 until when the Italian Air Force was still operating the 104 as an interceptor. It is doubtless fair to say that the proliferation of this aircraft is owed to a combination of relatively undemanding production cost with possession of Mach 2-plus capability, a yardstick of fighter performance which carries as much prestige in the air forces of 2009 as it did in 1959. It has often been said that the disastrous peacetime attrition record of the F104 was due to its deployment by European air forces as a jack of all trades when the initial and sole intention was for it to be flown as a high-altitude quick response interceptor. Weighting this aircraft down with all manner of ordnance was not for the best. Although this alone was not necessarily the reason why so many ended up turning German farm fields into scrap-metal dumps, but the requirement for low-flying operations, again in an aircraft for all reasons of handling and design, was simply not the most suitable. The US Air Force deployed F104s for a short while to Vietnam in the early stages of American military involvement there, from 1964 to 1965 after which they were withdrawn. Elsewhere the Pakistani Air Force could claim a slender amount of success in the 1965 war with India. Time and again F104As of the PAF were scrambled to intercept Indian Air Force Canberras without success. Evasive action by the Indian Canberra pilots, warned by intercept controllers and/or by on-board warning radar, gave sufficient time for successfully shaking off the Pakistani 104s. Indeed, the first PAF claim of the war fell to an F86 Sabre flown by Flight Lieutenant Cecil Choudury. It was at the war’s end when the first and only F104 success was made by Wing Commander Khan Jamal, who claimed an Indian Canberra at 33,000ft with a Sidewinder missile at night. F104s in the European air arms were gradually replaced, for the most part, by F16s or Tornados from 1980 onwards.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The F104 had been operational in the European theatre for some four years or so before making a flying appearance at any UK air shows and this in all likelihood would have been at a number of RAF displays on 18th September 1965. However, despite being an aircraft with probably less aerodynamic capability and therefore less aerobatic capability than its contemporaries the F100 and F101, the F104, in the hands of pilots from European air forces at air shows, was often scintillatingly put through its paces with displays usually consisting of high-speed runs at grass-top height, finishing with a zoom climb to contrail height. The first F104s entering service with the various European air forces from 1961, the first appearance of this aircraft at any Battle of Britain display was in the static displays of Finningley and Coltishall with 60890 and 6899 respectively, from the USAF. Flying participation was first recorded on 18th September 1965, when a four-ship team of Starfighters from 331 Squadron of the Royal Norwegian Air Force toured to give displays at Finningley, Tern Hill and Waddington, while a single F104G of the Royal Belgian Air Force gave aerobatics displays at Coltishall and Cottesmore. Thereafter, Starfighters usually appeared as formation teams variously from the Danish, Dutch and Canadian air forces. In 1966, 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973, the Dutch provided a solo F104 for the Leuchars display and for Finningley in 1969. From 1974 until 1979, they assigned the same pilot, Captain Hans Van Der Werth each year, making appearances at Biggin Hill in 1975, Finningley in 1974, 1978 and 1979, and Leuchars in 1974, 1976, 1977 and 1978. From 1968 until 1975, a pair of Belgian Air Force Starfighters, the Slivers, flew a synchronised display sequence and were seen many times throughout this period at RAF and other displays. Other than this, despite the various NATO operators of the type, the F104 was rarely seen in any other guise. The Italian Air Force operated a number of F104s, but rarely displayed the type in public, the most recent outing being at Fairford in July 1999. F104 teams were billed to appear a number of times including the following ‘At Homes’: The Belgian Air Force Slivers at Coltishall 1969, Biggin Hill 1973 and 1974, Leuchars 1970, 1971 and 1972.
A Danish Starfighter team was billed to display at St Mawgan, St Athan, Gaydon and Coltishall in 1967, although the team only managed to display at the host station, Coltishall, due to weather elsewhere. A team from another Squadron were re-scheduled to display at the same stations, operating from Coltishall again in 1968 and another four-ship team were allocated to display at St Athan on 14.9.74.
Canadian Starfighter teams flew at Leuchars 1969, Finningley 1970 and 1971, Biggin Hill, St Athan and St Mawgan 1972, Abingdon 1971 and 1973, Coltishall and Cottesmore 1973. A Canadian team, together with the Slivers, were billed in 1973 at the first of the International Air Days organised each year locally at St Mawgan, and became a regular feature of the early International Air Tattoos carrying various titles such as the Red Indians, the Tiger Romeros or other references, depending on which squadron was selected to provide a team until the last public display in 1981.
The Dutch Starfighter team, the Dutch Masters, displayed at Leuchars in 1967 and 1968. The last team appearance ever was provided courtesy of the Federal German Navy pair, the Vikings, at the US Air Force Tattoo at Alconbury in August 1985. Author’s note: this is covered earlier.
Type: Single-seat twin-engine lightweight tactical fighter.
Operators: United States Air Force, Royal Norwegian Air Force and Royal Netherlands Air Force.
The F5 was probably one of the first jet fighters to have been designed and built with a view to selling affordable front-line hardware to ‘developing’ countries.
The F5 has a slight build appearance to it, and proved to be the export success it was intended to be, also selling to industrialised western countries and serving, as it continues to do, with the USAF, with which it first deployed in 1964 and later used in Vietnam from 1966 to 1967, to test combat-capability. Among those countries to buy the F5 were the Netherlands and Norway. The F5 possesses an outstanding performance for such a moderately powered fighter, able to reach Mach 1.4 at altitude. F5s have been operated by NATO air forces predominantly as close-support fighters, and from 1977 until 1989 equipped the 527th Aggressor Squadron of the USAF based at Alconbury in Huntingdonshire. Today the Austrian Air Force and the Turkish Air Force continue to operate the type within NATO and wider within Europe by the Swiss Air Force.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The first F5s expected at Battle of Britain displays were a four-ship team from the Royal Norwegian Air Force in September 1967, which were assigned to display at Acklington and Leuchars. The RNoAF continued to provide a four-ship display team on occasion and returned to Finningley on 20th September 1969. In 1970 and 1971 a display pair from Norway and a solo were allocated to Leuchars and St Mawgan respectively. Since then, F5s of the Royal Netherlands Air Force, Royal Norwegian Air Force and United States Air Force continued to make occasional appearances on the air show circuit. F5s have often appeared at air shows as solo aircraft, the RNLAF, however, provided an official close-formation duo called Double Dutch for the 1988 display season, to mark 75 years of military aviation. The aircraft of Double Dutch had standard grey colour scheme with red, white and blue cheat lines running from the fin tip along the fuselage with the number 75 in orange on the fin. The team ran for just the 1988 display season and that year made their final UK display slot at RAF Leuchars on 17th September. F5s continued to be operated by the Norwegian Air Force in the European theatre until 2005; the last display in Britain was by an example from this country, at Finningley in 1989. More recently F5s of the Swiss Air Force has given displays at Waddington, as a pair in 1995 and the Swiss display team, the Patrouille Suisse in 1997 and 1999. The Patrouille Suisse continue to appear at UK venues from time to time, usually at Fairford.
Type: Single-seat single-engine advanced jet trainer.
Operators: Royal Netherlands Air Force, United States Air Force.
The Lockheed T33 Shooting Star is the tandem two-seat trainer derivative of the first American-built jet fighter, the F80 Shooting Star. The basic airframe design and powerplant belong to the same vintage as the Gloster Meteor. The first flight and production took place in 1948. The engine was an Allison J33-A35 Turbojet, rated at 5,400lb of static thrust. T33s were the standard advanced jet trainers of the USAF until the middle 1960s when they were replaced by Northrop T38 Talons, a similar derivative of the F5. T33s served as advanced trainers with the RNLAF until 1967.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The first appearance by T33s at an air show in the UK was possibly by a US Air Force aerobatics team called the Acrojets, who were provisionally allocated to display at Biggin Hill on 17th September 1955. USAF T33s appeared on static display at Finningley and Colerne on 19th September 1964.
Otherwise, T33s were more regularly seen during the 1960s as the mount of the last premier Dutch Air Force display team, Whisky Four, who operated the type from 1956 to 1967. The aircraft of the Dutch team were resplendent in the then-standard metallic and orange Day-Glo training livery until 1965. This team appeared in 1963 at Finningley and Waddington, and Benson, Colerne and again Waddington in 1964.
For the 1966 display season Whisky Four adopted a new white with mint-green trim as the colour scheme, and were assigned that year to display at Coltishall and Gaydon. After 1966, T33s would only be seen again at RAF displays in the hands of private collectors from the middle of the 1980s.
Type: Twin-engine twin-seat all-weather strike aircraft.
Operators: United States Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force.
The first operational variable-geometry-winged aircraft in the West, the F111 entered service with the USAF in 1968, having made its maiden flight as a prototype in December 1964. It was about this time that the F111 was chosen by the British Government as the substitute to replace the TSR2, which in turn was intended to replace the RAF’s V-bombers and Canberras. While its service with the RAF was never to be, it became the principal tactical and medium bomber of the US Air Force in the 1970s and 1980s. Propelled by two Pratt & Whitney TF30 augmented turbofan engines, F111Es equipped the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing at Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire from the first arrival on 12th September 1970, and from 1st March 1977 the uprated F111Fs replaced the F4s of the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing at Lakenheath in Suffolk, by which time F111s equipped the Royal Australian Air Force, which had first taken delivery in 1973.
With the arrival of the end of the Cold War the F111’s days in the European theatre were numbered, in common with many other combat aircraft types, and at the end of 1993 the last of the UK-based F111s left Upper Heyford to return to the United States. The aircraft operated by the 48th at Lakenheath had disappeared the previous year, in this case having been replaced by the F15E Strike Eagle. Active service for the F111 came in plentiful supply with the first sortie flown by six aircraft over Vietnam in March 1968, resulting in the loss of three of the aircraft due to fatigue in the tail section. Further sorties flown in anger came on 15th April 1986 when the F111Fs of the 48th took off from Lakenheath to bomb Tripoli in response to a number of terrorist bombings, which were linked to the Libyan leader Mohmar Gadaffi. Next came Operation Desert Storm in January 1991, which saw the F111Fs of the 48th operating from Taif near the west coast of Saudi Arabia, and the F111Es of the 20th operating from bases in Turkey to hit targets in Northern Iraq. During the Gulf War, two F111Fs destroyed the pumping station at Al Ahmadi oil station, which resulted in preventing oil from here flowing into the Gulf. USAF F111s were finally retired from service in 1998. In 2010, the RAAF will retire their last F111Cs, replacing them with F/A18 Super Hornets.
Display history:
For the most part, between 1977 and 1986, USAF F111s were quite often seen at air shows giving what were usually a series of individual flypasts showing differing wing configurations but nothing more. The first public appearances by this high-tech bomber came in 1972 with two aircraft allocated to give what were billed as individual displays at each of the seven ‘At Home’ Day venues. The following year pretty much the same provision was made again, after which air show appearances tapered off with no displays or flypasts at the ‘At Home’ stations until 1977. A rare but spectacular demonstration seen at some UK displays was an individual display by a Royal Australian Air Force F111, the party piece of which was the torching of waste fuel to give a noisy flaming-rocket effect. This was seen at Finningley’s Royal Silver Jubilee display on 30th July 1977 and again at the 50th Anniversary Battle of Britain air show held at A & AEE Boscombe Down on 9th and 10th June 1990. After 1986, F111s were rarely seen at air displays other than those held at American, Australian and New Zealand air bases, which in the UK were usually formation role demonstrations at Mildenhall, Lakenheath and Upper Heyford. The last planned public display by F111s, in Britain, however, was at Leuchars on 18th September 1993, when aircraft of the 20th Fighter Wing were scheduled to give a formation drill demonstration and simulated airfield-attack display.
Type: Twin-engine single-seat air superiority fighter.
Operators: United States Air Force.
The F15 is perhaps the most able high-performance fighter, which has been operated by the United States Air Force or for that matter, any air force anywhere in the European theatre since 1978.
F15s have been sold to a number of the USA’s client-state customers and until the arrival in service of the Russian-built Sukhoi Su27 ‘Flanker’ had no rival in terms of airframe and engine performance. In 1988 the F15E, the strike variant, started to replace the F111 with the first F15Es, deployed at Lakenheath in the United Kingdom in 1992. F15s, both strike and air superiority versions, continue to operate with the US Air Force’s 48th Fighter Wing at Lakenheath. Both air superiority and strike variants have been in action in the Gulf and Kosovo as well as other peacekeeping operations over the Middle East and Balkans regions. Like the F16, the F15 specifications emphasised high agility – in this case following an altered requirement for a new fighter in 1967. Again, a lot of the push for higher agility came from the experience of fighter pilots in the Vietnam theatre. The first F15s for the USAF operational front line arrived at the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron in January 1976. The Israeli Air Force used F15s as a fighter escort for the strike on the Osirak nuclear reactor on 7th June 1981. The aircraft is now being replaced by the F22 in the air superiority role but is expected to remain operational until 2025.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The first F15 displays in the UK other than at Farnborough were at Greenham Common in July 1977; the first RAF display appearance were at Finningley and Leuchars on 2nd September 1978. Thereafter, displays by USAF F15s have been very much now and then. The air superiority F15s have given displays again at Leuchars and Finningley in 1981, Finningley and Leuchars in 1983 and Leuchars and St Athan in 1985 and at a number of other, mostly service events with similar regularity through the eighties. The most recent F15 solo displays to be seen in the UK were at Fairford in 2007 F15E by the Demo team. But perhaps the best of all was in 2001 at that year’s Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Cottesmore, when the USAF’s East Coast Demo team aircraft gave, in near enough perfect weather conditions each evening, the most scintillating display by this aircraft seen for a long time. Even more rare, that year, an F15I of the Israeli Air Force gave a combat techniques handling demonstration while carrying practice weapons and other stores on wing pylons, twice at Waddington on Sunday 1st July 2001, and if the display at Cottesmore was the best ever, then the Israeli ‘handling demo’ was definitely a very close second-best. Since 1992 formation and individual flypasts by the F15E have been seen occasionally, but today these aircraft are far more likely to be seen in the static line-up of only those air displays with a military bias.
LOCKHEED MARTIN F16
Type: Single-engine single-seat high-performance tactical fighter.
Operators: US Air Force, Belgian Air Force, Royal Netherlands Air Force, Royal Danish Air Force and Royal Norwegian Air Force.
This aircraft was built by General Dynamics in the USA as a lightweight economic answer to the F15, and has without doubt come to symbolise the agile fighter. The F16, like the F86 and F4 before it, has become a marketing success, being in service today with a wide range of air arms, and it is expected to be the most likely candidate to be sought after by former Warsaw Pact air forces seeking to re-equip and modernise. The first F16s entered service with the United States Air Force in 1978 at Hill Air Force Base. However, re-equipment with the home-based tactical wings took priority and it wasn’t until 1981 that the first examples for the USAF European Command arrived. Meanwhile, the first F16s for the other NATO air forces arrived at the end of 1979, and the following year No. 350 Squadron of the Belgian Air Force became operational at Beauvechain. Today the F16 remains the most prolific fighter type among western air forces. Indeed, the air forces of a number of European countries operate the type as the sole operational fixed-wing combat type covering all front-line roles including air defence, strike, close-support and reconnaissance.
Like the F15, Tornado, F18 and Mirage, the F16 continues in operational service after all these years, with no end in sight to its military contribution. Such is the standard of modern military high-performance aircraft design. F16s of other NATO air arms including Belgium and Holland, along with the US Air Force, have been in action in the Balkans regions in recent times and with the Israeli and US Air Forces in various Middle Eastern conflicts, not least during the 1990s against Iraq. In more recent times, F16s of the USAF have been deployed on operational duties in the second Iraq conflict and Afghanistan. F16s of the Royal Netherlands Air Force have since 2006 maintained a round-the-clock detachment of about six aircraft here as well and have been involved in operations against Taliban positions.
Display history:
Since 1981, the F16 has been as likely to be found on the few remaining ‘At Home’ display flying programmes as any of the current in service types of the RAF Sometimes with more than one example taking part in the display. The most commonly seen examples over the last 15 years or more have been provided by the Royal Netherlands and Belgian air forces. In keeping with the majority of present-day fast-jet participation at air displays, however, just about every display by F16s has routinely been in the form of a solo aerobatics sequence. Displays by F16s from the Royal Norwegian Air Force and more recently from the Royal Danish Air Force has been known, although they are much rarer. Danish F16s made a welcome return to public display flying outside of Denmark in 1996 after an eight-year absence. The USAF European Command initially appointed a regular solo display aircraft. However, since the tragedy at Ramstein in 1988, individual displays by USAF F16s have been absent, apart from Farnborough and very occasional flypasts at USAF-ORGANISED events, or those events which usually attract a significant USAF contribution, such as Fairford. The US Air Force aerial demonstration squadron the Thunderbirds are rare visitors to Europe and when they do pitch up there displays are usually confined to US military establishments. The team were billed to display at Abingdon on 15th September 1990, which would have been their very first Royal Air Force venue, but the threat of war in the Gulf brought about cancellation at short notice. However, the team did manage to take in Waddington on 29th June 2000 making this the first display by the Thunderbirds in the UK at a non-USAF venue and correspondingly makes Waddington the only RAF host station of the team so far. The Thunderbirds were back in the United Kingdom in 2007 for the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford; this time two of the six pilots in the team were women. Interestingly enough, the Red Arrows have introduced their first female display pilot in the 2010 display season.
Type: Single-seat twin-engine tactical fighter.
Operators: US Navy, US Marine Corps, Royal Canadian Air Force and Spanish Air Force.
The F18 was the direct rival to the F16 in the US competition to find a lightweight economical high-performance fighter for the US Air Force. The F16 won the competition. However, the greater potential of the F18, for instance its twin-engine design, wasn’t lost on the US Navy and Marine Corps, which chose this aircraft as the replacement for its F4 Phantoms, with the first aircraft being delivered to the US Navy in 1984. The F18 has also since been chosen as the key operational tactical fighter of the Spanish and Canadian air forces, each of which have displayed the aircraft at air shows in the UK. US Navy and Marine Corps F18s were heavily involved in operations during the Gulf War and have also participated in various strike missions over Iraq since, and most recently over Afghanistan following America’s declaration of war on Terrorism!
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The first F18 displays at RAF displays were in 1989 when two Canadian pilots, Kirt Leuty and Jim Glover, managed to display at all RAF displays including the local station air days as well as that year’s four official ‘At Home’ stations. Afterwards with the change of the political scene in Europe, the Canadian 1st Air Group, which was at the time the sole F18 operator in western Europe outside of Spain, was repatriated to Canada leaving the Spanish Air Force to provide rare but welcome public appearances of the F18. The US Navy aerobatics team the Blue Angels made a very rare appearance at Finningley in 1992 when they displayed their team of six aircraft in low cloud, which forced a flat but nevertheless scintillating close-formation display, which was their first and only at an RAF station. A Finnish Air Force F18 displayed each year of the RIAT when it was held at Cottesmore, and Spanish F18s made a welcome return to the UK display circuit and at RAF Waddington in 2000, 2001 and 2002. The Royal International Air Tattoo in 2009 fielded solo displays each day by F18s representing in turn the Swiss Air Force, Finnish Air Force and Spanish Air Force.
Type: Twin-engine twin-seat basic jet trainer.
Operators: French Air Force, Belgian Air Force, Irish Air Corps.
The Fouga Magister was probably the most commonly seen foreign military aircraft at air shows in Britain. The Fouga Magister is a contemporary of the Folland Gnat and the Jet Provost, although in terms of speed it comes nowhere near the Gnat and struggles to compare with the Jet Provost. A number of Fouga Magisters served with the Belgian Air Force for familiarisation and utility roles until September 2007. The aircraft has long since been succeeded by the Dassault-Breguet-Dornier Alpha Jet as the standard advanced trainer of the Belgian, French and German air forces.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The first Magister displays at Battle of Britain displays were in 1962 in the form of a team of six from the French Air Force at Biggin Hill and Tangmere. A six -ship team returned to the same two stations again in 1963, and a solo display from the Belgian Air Force was seen at Benson and Gaydon in 1962, and the following year at Abingdon and Gaydon. In 1964 Belgian solo Magisters were billed to display at Colerne, Coltishall, Finningley, St Athan and Waddington, after which solo displays were absent until 1968 when billed to display at St Athan and St Mawgan. In 1964 both the Belgian and French premier aerobatics teams, Les Diables Rouges and La Patrouille de France, respectively, re-equipped with the Fouga Magister. Both teams appeared at Battle of Britain displays most years thereafter until Diables Rouges disbanded after the 1975 display season and Patrouille de France re-equipped with Alpha Jets in 1981. A pair display team from Belgium were allocated to St Athan in 1972. One more official Fouga Magister team has graced the RAF air display somewhat late in the aircraft’s service history; the Silver Swallows, a team of four Magisters flown by the Irish Air Corps were seen in 1997 at Fairford and Leuchars. Since 1991 the Belgian Air Force has fielded a Fouga Magister Solo Aerobatics mount once again. This aircraft continued to appear at British air shows each year and has appeared numerous times at the Waddington Air Show. The last appearance in the UK was at the Duxford Autumn Air Show on 8th October.
Display allocation of the teams with Magisters included; Diables Rouges at Coltishall 1971, St Mawgan and St Athan in 1965 and 1967, Benson and Gaydon in 1966 and Gaydon and St Athan in 1969, St Mawgan and St Athan in 1970 and Finningley in 1975.
Patrouille de France displayed at St Athan and St Mawgan in 1964 and 1971, Biggin Hill and Coltishall in 1965, Finningley in 1968, 1969 and 1978 Coltishall in 1969, Benson in 1970, Biggin Hill in 1970, 1974, 1975 and 1976, Abingdon in 1972 and Wattisham in 1972, Cottesmore and St Athan in 1973.
The Silver Swallows displayed for the last time at Leuchars on 13th September 1997.
Type: Tandem twin-seat and twin-jet advanced trainer and lightweight tactical fighter.
Operators: French, Belgian and German air forces.
Built jointly by Dornier of Germany and Dassault-Breguet of France, the Alpha Jet is largely comparable in performance and role classification to the British Aerospace Hawk and was developed during the same period, with the first aircraft being delivered, surprisingly, to the Belgian Air Force rather than the French Air Force, in December 1978. In the 1980s, the Luftwaffe of West Germany replaced its ageing Fiat G91s with the Alpha Jet in the front-line role of close-support fighter, re-equipping two wings based at Oldenburg and Fuerstenfeldbruck. The Belgians and French, while camouflaging their aircraft, use them primarily as advanced and tactical trainers, although that there is no doubt they would be depended upon if the circumstances so demanded operationally.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The first appearance by Alpha Jets at a UK military display was provided by the French premier aerobatics team, La Patrouille de France, on 12th September 1981 at RAF St Athan. Individual Alpha Jets had been displayed first at Farnborough in 1974. Over the years French, Belgian and German Alpha Jets have been seen providing solo aerobatics displays at various UK shows since 1983, the Belgians providing the bulk of the displays. Quite surprisingly, the Duxford Autumn Air Show (not a predominantly military event) has been a regular recipient of the Patrouille de France over the last five years.
Type: Single-seat single-engined transonic and supersonic tactical fighters.
Operators: French Air Force.
The Dassault Mystere IV was designed and built in the 1950s as a high-performance fighter. The original design kept pace with contemporaries like the British Hawker Hunter; however, this aircraft was developed significantly, the result being the Super Mystere B2, which was introduced to the French Air Force in 1957. Significant differences were the introduction of the SNECMA Atar 101G turbojet engine fitted with afterburner to the latter, which resulted in some improvement in performance increasing the climb rate from 9,000ft per minute to 17,500ft per minute. However, speed was increased only marginally from 717 mph to 745 mph. The last of the Super Mysteres were retired from service with the French Air Force in 1968.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
These aircraft were seen at some displays in the UK during the early 1960s. Until 1963 the Mystere IV was the mount of the French Air Force aerobatics team La Patrouille de France and were expected to display at Biggin Hill that year. However, the official programme only billed ‘French Air Force Formation Aerobatics’ and it was Magisters that turned up. The following year two pairs of Super Mystere B2s were billed to display, one each at St Mawgan and Benson. After this, Super Mysteres were seen usually only as static examples until 1967; that year a Solo Super Mystere B2 was billed to fly at Finningley but was grounded along with a substantive chunk of the rest of the programme due to low cloud and poor visibility. This aircraft was also assigned to display at Gaydon in 1968, the last likely appearance.
Type: Single-engine single-seat all-weather interceptor.
Operators: French Air Force, Belgian Air Force.
The same vintage as the Lightning and F104 Starfighter, the original Mirage is unique in that the name has been given to more than one airframe design. The first of the Mirage series entered operational service with the French Air Force in 1961. This, the Mirage III, was designed to meet the then standard of performance demanded of a primary air defence fighter, that being the ability to reach supersonic speed in level flight at altitude and to possess all-weather interception capability through the combination of radar and stand-off weapons. Since the original Mirage III there has been the Mirage V, a close-support variant, the Mirage IV, a twin-engined twin-seat strategic bomber variant, the only non-delta Mirage, the F1, employed as both an interceptor, strike and reconnaissance aircraft and the latest model, the Mirage 2000, serving as a single-seat interceptor and a twin-seat strike aircraft. Mirage IIIs saw action with the Israeli Air Force during the Yom Kippur war of 1967. More recently, Mirage F1s have seen action with the French Air Force in Chad in 1984 during Operation Manta, and again in 1986 during Operation Epervier. In October 2007 three F1s deployed to Afghanistan where, alongside Mirage 2000s, they flew close air support and reconnaissance missions.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
Despite the first Mirages entering service with the French Air Force in 1961, none were seen at Battle of Britain displays until 1965, when two IIIs graced the static park at Waddington. Another pair were expected at St Mawgan but failed to materialise despite the presence of the Nord Atlas support aircraft. In 1966 another pair of IIIs was on static display at Coltishall, and the following year one was billed to give a solo display at the same station. In 1968, it was Leuchars’ turn to receive Mirage IIIs again with one for the flying display. Thereafter, extremely rare appearances by Mirages of any service were seen at UK displays, of which the International Air Tattoo would have been the most likely recipient, although a solo display by a Mirage V of the Belgian Air Force was allocated to St Athan on 16.9.72 and Biggin Hill on 14.9.74 and at Finningley in 1985. Since its entry into service, the most recent addition to the Mirage family, the Mirage 2000, has made far more frequent solo display slots in the UK including a number of the remaining Battle of Britain displays. The 2000’s first UK display outside Farnborough was at Mildenhall Air Fete in May 1987. The Mirage 2000 has also displayed at Coningsby 1989, Abingdon 1990, Leuchars 1991, Finningley 1994, Leuchars 1997, and Waddington and Leuchars 1998. Most recently the Mirage 2000 displayed at Leuchars on 15th September 2001 with the last appearance being at Waddington on 6th July 2008.
Displays by Mirage IIIs, Vs and F1s at Battle of Britain displays have been seen as close-formation pairs in recent years. These slightly less robust demonstrations by aircraft pairs, known as Bravo displays, concentrate on close-formation station-keeping rather than high-G manoeuvring and have been seen at; Finningley in 1990, a pair of French Vs, 1973 and 1993 pair of IIIs, and a pair of F1s (Voltige Victor) at Fairford, Cottesmore, Waddington, Leuchars and even some civilian-organised events, particularly rare in this case, over the years since 1996. Voltige Victor were last seen at Leuchars on 15th September 2001.
Types: Single-seat single-engine carrier-borne strike aircraft.
Operators: French Navy
The Etendard IV was first flown in 1958 as a carrier-borne strike aircraft. The aircraft continued in service until July 2000, by which time the Super Etendard had largely taken over from its predecessor. Some IVP models continued until as recently as 2004. Today the Super Etendard continues to serve as the French Navy’s principal carrier-borne strike aircraft. The Super Etendard came to notoriety in the Falklands conflict in 1982 when an aircraft of the Argentinian Air Force launched a successful missile strike against the Royal Navy frigate HMS Sheffield. Super Etendards were deployed in the Afghanistan theatre in 2001, initially on board the carrier Charles de Gaulle. They flew in 2007 and 2008 over Afghanistan illuminating targets for French Navy Rafales. In 2010, it is expected, the Rafale will have replaced all remaining Super Etendards.
Display history:
This aircraft is not one which is readily synonymous with the RAF air display scene. However, both the Etendard IV and the Super Etendard have been seen a number of times at those displays in the UK with a more predominant military flavour. Among the Battle of Britain displays, Etendards have been allocated to display at Biggin Hill in 1975 and 1976, Leuchars in 1981 and more recently the Super Etendard displayed at Finningley in 1993. The last display by a Super Etendard in the UK was seen at Biggin Hill Air Fair on 3rd June 2002. The absence of the Super Etendard from the UK air show scene since this time is probably due to recent system updates, prolonging fatigue life and operational handover to the Rafale. The older Etendard IVP made a final and very rare solo flying appearance at the Fairford RIAT in July 1998.
Type: Twin-engine single- and two-seater long-range high-performance air superiority fighter.
Operators: Soviet, later Russian Air Force, Ukrainian Air Force, Indian Air Force.
This huge and most impressive fighter first came to the attention of western observers at the start of the 1980s when grainy photographs of prototype aircraft first appeared. By 1984 the diagrams were made public in the West. Two years later another one was photographed operating from one of the Soviet Naval Air Force bases east of Finland. Since then, with the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact this aircraft, which once held nearly as much mystique as an alien spacecraft has become regularly seen in western airspace. Powered by two Lyulka AL-31F turbofan engines rated at 27,558lb of thrust with reheat, the Flanker continues to be developed, and improved designs have already been displayed in public. They include the canard-winged Su35 and Su37, which have performance superior to the already dazzling agility of the Su27 and its two-seat trainer and operational long-range interceptor version, the Su30. Although I could not say for certain, Flankers have almost certainly been involved in the post-soviet war in Chechnya. Today, the Flanker remains the primary interceptor and air superiority fighter of predominantly Eastern Air Forces.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
The first displays in public, in the West, by the Flanker were seen at the Paris Le Bourget air salon in 1989, the following year the aircraft displayed at Farnborough. The first display by Flankers at a military-organised air show in the UK was when the Soviet Air Force display team, the Russian Knights, took part in both the Leuchars and Finningley displays on 21st September 1991. Since then the most regular performances by Flankers in the UK have been provided by the Gromov Flight Research Institute, which is situated near Moscow. The Gromov Flankers carry the name ‘the Test Pilots’, and have appeared with nearly as much regularity at UK air shows as any locally based display aircraft save The Red Arrows until the end of the 1990s. Other displays by Flankers at Battle of Britain displays have been rare by comparison. Since having a display by a Russian Air Force example in 1992, Leuchars has attracted no former Soviet Bloc aircraft. Finningley had the Test Pilots billed for the 1993 display but they unfortunately pulled out within literally the last 24 hours, to attend a trade show in the Far East. But last-minute negotiations secured the appearance of the Test Pilots’ solo Flanker flown by the highly acclaimed Anatoly Kvochur, at Finningley’s last display before closure, on 17th September 1994. Since RAF Waddington was selected to take over from Finningley the mantle of staging the RAF’s premier official ‘At Home’ display, the Russian Test Pilots Flanker team have had star billing here in 1995 and 1996. Although some 10 years previously, the idea of seeing such impressive Russian hardware on display in public anywhere in the West was not so much fanciful as bizarre. The most recent appearance was by Su30MKI Flankers of the Indian Air Force at Waddington and Fairford in June and July 2007.
Type: Single-seat all-weather air superiority fighter.
Operators: Russian Air Force, Ukrainian Air Force, Slovakian Air Force, Hungarian Air Force, Polish Air Force and German Air Force.
About the time that grainy pictures of the Su27 were being analysed in the West for the first time, similar photos of the MiG 29 were also turning up at Intelligence Briefs. Indeed, if the Su27 is the former Soviet Bloc’s F15 then the MiG 29 is its F18 or F16. The most impressive aspect of the Fulcrum is its ability to fly gut-wrenching manoeuvres despite being fitted with the more traditional hydraulic power control surfaces as opposed to the computer gadgetry of fly-by-wire. Its engines are two Tumansky RD-33 turbofan engines rated at 18,300lb with afterburner and, like the Flanker, it uses raw power to push it round all manner of turns. The change of the political map in Europe at the end of the 1980s meant that about 30 of these aircraft changed hands from the former East German Air Force, to which had only just been delivered, to the West German Air Force, an almost absurd state of affairs considering that the latter were hitherto expecting to meet the MiG 29 as one of its most potent adversaries in the skies over Europe. Despite the recent demise of communism in the East the most up-to-date former Warsaw Bloc aircraft remain the most likely opponents of NATO fighter pilots. The Gulf War of 1991 initially looked as though state-of-the-art technology in the air from both East and West were about to be pitted against one another, in which case the most comparable Warsaw Pact fighter on the Iraqi inventory was the MiG 29. The opportunity, if that’s the proper term to use, never arose, as Saddam, clearly fearing the loss of his air force to enemy action, took the risk of losing his air force by impoundment by deploying them, with permission, to their neighbour Iran’s bases. This move, to get his aircraft out of harm’s way, if nothing else demonstrated a supreme lack of confidence – I would say, not in his aircraft, but the pilots entrusted to go to war in them. A number of former Warsaw Pact, and now budding NATO, air forces still operate the MiG 29 as their primary tactical and air superiority fighter. The desire for more reliable (supposedly) western technology together with a need for a degree of standardisation within NATO means that these impressive aircraft may sooner rather than later disappear from European skies. In an ironic twist, the German Air Force has handed over its surplus MiG 29s to the Polish Air Force, which continues to operate them alongside F16CJs from the USA. MiG 29s are still operational with Russian, Hungarian and Slovak Air Forces.
Aerobatics teams and display history:
As a general rule if an impressive military aircraft type has had to travel far, both geographically and politically, i.e. from outside of north-west Europe and the United States, to appear at an air show in the UK then the much greater the likelihood is that if it gets here at all its most probable venues will be restricted to Farnborough and/or RIAT. Next the pecking order opens up to the official main military-organised/sponsored events such as those providing the key focus of this book, Battle of Britain displays, or to be more up-to-date Waddington and Leuchars. However, where the MiG 29 and its partner the Su27 have been concerned, their participation at a number of ever civilian-organised events has not been unknown. This can be put down to the recent availability of these aircraft on the display circuit since the early 1990s and the need for cash in former communist states by whatever means, which has meant displays by these astounding fighters has become available to anyone who wants to pay the money and accommodate the rather high insurance premiums. But all that said, the best place to see a MiG 29 in the UK has remained Fairford, Farnborough, Waddington, and Leuchars. The first time two MiG 29s were planned to appear in the UK was in 1988, still during the Cold War. The much-publicised arrival of the Soviet fighters was such that a televised escort of RAF Tornado F3s was mounted for their arrival at Farnborough. This was impressive stuff. Then by 1996 you were as likely to see a MiG 29 twisting about the skies at a UK display as a Mirage or F16. So far, MiGs in the markings of the air forces of Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Germany have all been seen in the skies over a number of British air show venues. Admittedly, the majority of appearances in the UK, particularly those outside of RIAT, have been provided by the Slovakian Air Force. A speciality of the MiG performed by most demo pilots is the tail-slide, in which the aircraft is pulled into a steep climb then the engines throttled back until the energy to continue the climb is lost and the nose falls forward as the aircraft starts to fall back to earth, following which the engines are re-lit when the tail is uppermost. Perhaps the most prestigious display secured was that of the Ukrainian Air Force display team, the Ukrainian Falcons, at Fairford on 19th and 20th July 1997 flying six of these aircraft. With regard to their appearances at RAF displays, Fulcrums of the Slovak Air Force have so far been put through their paces over Waddington, and one of the German Air Force displayed at Leuchars on 16th September 2000. More recently what was billed as the last ever display by a German example of this aircraft was seen at Waddington on 29th and 30th June 2002. Surprisingly these two displays appear to have been the only demos by MiG 29s in the UK that year. Leuchars was the most recent venue, with displays by Polish MiG 29s in 2006 and 2009. Almost certainly we can expect to see more from the MiG 29, but as appearances have reduced considerably one can only wait to see what the future holds for them on the UK display scene.
Type: Single-seat, single-engine air defence fighter.
Operators: Royal Swedish Air Force, Finnish Air Force, Royal Danish Air Force and Austrian Air Force.
The first truly Mach 2-capable fighter produced by Sweden for its own air force, the J35 Draken is powered by the Rolls-Royce Avon turbojet but for its Swedish-designed afterburner. Entering front-line service with the Royal Swedish Air Force in 1960, the Draken eventually equipped 15 squadrons in 6 wings all primarily deployed in the all-weather air defence role. Two other Scandanavian air forces, those of Denmark and Finland, deployed this aircraft as well. However, the Danish Air Force deployed the type as a tactical ground-attack fighter and tactical reconnaissance aircraft, using instead the American-built Lockheed F104G Starfighter for the air defence role. All Drakens have now been withdrawn from these air forces and replaced by Viggens then Gripens (Sweden), F16s (Denmark) and F18s (Finland). The former Swedish Drakens found a home in the early 1990s, having been sold to the Austrian Air Force, providing that country with its most potent fighter until the recent arrival of the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Display history:
Despite its age the Draken didn’t make its first appearance at British displays until 1971, in the hands of the Royal Danish Air Force. A team displayed at the first International Air Tattoo, when it was held at North Weald that year. The team of five Drakens from 725 Squadron also displayed that year in September at St Mawgan and St Athan, and a team of RF35s from 729 Squadron displayed at these two venues the following September. In 1973 a similar formation of Danish Drakens displayed at Coltishall and Cottesmore on 15th September 1973. The next time Danish Drakens flew at an RAF display was at Abingdon and St Athan on 15th September 1979. Apart from occasional appearances since, notably from the Swedish Air Force at Fairford in July 1994, the last displays by a Draken in the UK were at Mildenhall, Southend and Leuchars by an all-red-and-white example from the Austrian Air Force in 2000.
Type: Single-seat, single engine multi-purpose fighter.
Operators: Royal Swedish Air Force.
Often seen as making its debut in service with the Royal Swedish Air Force as an interceptor, it was in its tactical fighter bomber variant, AJ37, that the Viggen first became operational, in June 1971, eventually equipping the F15 Halsinge, F7 Skaraborgs and F6 Vastgota wings respectively, comprising six squadrons in all. The next version to enter service, the SH37, the first of two reconnaissance variants, did so in June 1975 with sea-surveillance this aircraft’s speciality. Next came the overland reconnaissance version, the SF37, in 1978. The interceptor version, the AJ37 which first flew in November 1977, was the last operational variant and began replacing the Saab Drakens from 1980 beginning with F13 Bravalla wing at Norrkoping. Powered by an almighty Volvo Flygmotor RM8B turbofan engine producing 26,000lb of static thrust with reheat, the Saab Viggen, whatever its guise, is a formidable fighter and dramatic in appearance with its canard double delta wing design, where the elevators are situated forward of the main wing. The last variant, the JA37 was the first out as they are now being replaced by the JAS39 Gripen.
Display history:
The first display in the UK by a Viggen was by an AJ37 prototype 37002 at Farnborough in September 1972, after which the aircraft was demonstrated quite regularly here through the seventies. The first display by this aircraft at an RAF display came on 20th September 1986, when JA37 37330 of F13 wing was put through its paces over Finningley, returning to this location again for the final display here on 17th September 1994 this time from the F4 wing. Viggens, usually the JA37 variant, have displayed from time to time at the International Air Tattoo at Fairford. Although never a guaranteed UK performer, the Viggen seemed to be on its way to becoming a regular feature at the new Waddington Air Show, appearing on the programme here in 1996, 1999 and 2000, this marking its last appearances in the UK giving its last display at Leuchars on 16th September that year. A rare display was seen by an SH37 at the 1996 Fairford IAT.
Type: Single-seat swing-role tactical fighter.
Operators: Royal Air Force, German Air Force, Italian Air Force and Spanish Air Force. Also expected to equip air forces of Austria and Saudi Arabia.
Originally intended as the answer to the generation of Soviet fighters which first appeared in the 1980s, the Typhoon has, now that circumstances have changed, come to be seen as an aircraft that might well have been designed purposely for the present day global anytime anywhere concept of rapid force deployment. That said, it’s still perhaps a little early to measure its credibility, but from so far it can do no wrong in the eyes of those involved with it. As this book goes to print, the first front-line operational units of the air forces of the countries which built the Typhoon are being formed. For the RAF that means No. 3 (F) Squadron, which moved from Cottesmore, where it was part of the Joint Harrier Force, to Coningsby, where it has since been joined by 11 Squadron. If matters progress according to current plans, then the RAF will purchase a total of 160 of this aircraft to equip at least five front-line units. The next to stand up is expected to be No. 6 Squadron at RAF Leuchars by the end of 2010. The figure of 160 has been revised down from 232 as a result of increasing financial pressure. Deliveries have been slow as well, as far as the RAF are concerned, due to 72 aircraft having been bought by the Royal Saudi Air Force. Doubtless, whatever happens, the future of the RAF, it appears, will rely on the Typhoon as the most important and capable platform in the inventory until possibly 2030. Indeed, it could be much longer; 25 years is nothing in a front-line combat type’s service use. However, to put a bet on anything would be far from doing so on a certainty. Most recently, the Tornado F3s of 1435 Flight have been replaced by Typhoons.
Display history:
The first appearance by a Typhoon at a public gathering with a serving Royal Air Force pilot at the helm was at Cosford on 13th June 2004. The aircraft, a T1 trainer variant, rather than the definitive single-seat F2, came from No. 17 Squadron, the operational evaluation unit for the type. However, this was a handling demonstration rather than a full aerobatics sequence. After limited appearances that year, due to training commitments, at the three official RAF displays and RIAT only, a more comprehensive display sequence was worked on for 2005 and a wider range of public appearances booked, including a number of civilian-arranged events. This time the aircraft, another T1 and flown by Squadron Leader Matt Elliot, was drawn from 29 Squadron, the Operational Conversion Unit, and for once, after a lengthy gestation period, the Typhoon has been allowed to give a more realisitic taste of its dramatic performance and potential. Since 2005 the definitive single-seat F2 now being developed as the FGR 4 version has become more prominent in solo displays. Displays have also been seen in the UK if only at the Royal International Air Tattoo by examples from the Spanish Air Force. There have been no UK displays yet by the Germans or Italians. However, Luftwaffe Typhoons have been seen in tactical displays at the Berlin ILA (aerobatics by Luftwaffe aircraft remain banned). As for any other display flying format regarding RAF Typhoons, there is nothing as yet, in public that has been seen publicly, but No. 11 Squadron, the RAF’s second operational unit with the type, provided a short display with four aircraft over Fairford on the occasion of the Queen’s presentation to the Royal Air Force of the new standard on the occasion of the service’s 90th Anniversary on 11th July 2008. The display finished with a bomb-burst break from behind the base hangars and for a moment a certain nostalgia for such showmanship from an earlier less restrictive era was felt. What the future now holds for this remarkable aircraft, only time will tell, but solos remain the order of the day.
Helicopters ‘At Home’
I have afforded only a general overview of helicopters as, while they have for the most part been found on just about any flying programme, their contribution has often been little more than token at RAF displays. Given the helicopter’s applicability to many operations and roles fulfilled by the Royal Navy and the Army Air Corps, not surprisingly, these services have always given the rotary wing element pride of place at their own displays. In any case, for the helicopter enthusiast who decided to purchase this book I hope you will not be too disappointed by the following content and the participation listings at the Appendices.
In earlier times, the RAF’s first search-and-rescue helicopter, the Sycamore, was seen on occasion from the late 1950s through to 1963. Thereafter displays by this aircraft’s successor, the Whirlwind, were the staple of helicopter displays throughout the sixties and seventies.
Like the Sycamore, the Whirlwind was first utilised by the RAF in the role of tactical transport and troop assault but is better remembered in its custard-yellow search-and-rescue livery. Often because of the flexibility of these aircraft, one would at some events be tasked to punctuate the flying display throughout the afternoon with abseiling and handling demonstrations. From 1968, the RAF and the Army each fielded a helicopter display team with the bubble-cockpitted Siouxs.
These two teams, the Blue Eagles (Army) and the Tomahawks (RAF), displayed at a number of Battle of Britain displays in 1968 and 1969. The Blue Eagles displayed at Biggin Hill in 1968 and 1969 and at Benson and Gaydon in 1969. The Tomahawks displayed at Finningley in 1968 and Leuchars in 1969. Nevertheless, helicopter teams, no matter how many, have never been regarded as anything more than complementary to the rest of the flying programme. That they performed impressively is certainly not in doubt, but the main show has always been the territory of the jet display teams. A rare display team from the Czech Air Force in 1995 consisting of two Soviet-made Hinds give a quite spectacular display at the Fairford IAT and in September that year at the now-occasionally held civilian-organised Battle of Britain display at Biggin Hill, but has not returned since.
The Army team, the Blue Eagles, have been through a number of transformations since they first formed, and continued until 2006 equipped with four Gazelles, with a Lynx as the lead aircraft. All three of the armed services have fielded official helicopter teams, aside from the Blue Eagles in recent times. The RAF had, for the 1974 season only, the Gazelles, flying four Westland/Aerospatiale Gazelles, and the Sharks also flying four Gazelles, in this instance from the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy has also operated a number of Sea King teams variously named the Whales and the Piranhas although these latter two teams tended to display only at Royal Navy events and air shows nearby to their home base at Culdrose. The Royal Netherlands Air Force has until quite recently operated a helicopter team, the Grasshoppers, equipped with four Alouettes. However, like the majority of official helicopter teams, they too have been deemed an unjustified extravagance and gave their last public display at the end of the the 1995 display season. Today, apart from pair displays by the Black Cats RN Lynx teams, there are no more official heli teams.
Individual displays from operational RAF helicopters have become seldom seen until 2004 when the RAF returned the Chinook to the display circuit, providing some of the most impressively brutal flying by such a large helicopter. The Chinook has had starring roles in the the new role demos organised by the RAF and the Navy’s Junglie Assault at Yeovilton, where it has become a regular feature alongside the home base Sea King HC4s. Otherwise RAF Pumas, Merlins and Sea Kings are rarely seen at air shows outside the static park. The Navy, though, perhaps due to its bigger fleet, continues to display its various Sea Kings, albeit these days at Naval Air Days only. However, the Navy’s new EH101 Merlin can be seen from time to time out and about at other display venues. Meanwhile, the operational demands on all these aircraft remain very high so now is probably as good as it will get for quite some time.
More so today than ever before, the aircraft that actually fought the Battle of Britain have become familiar to just about any air event. For many years since its formation, the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight has grown in strength and popularity. Today the BBMF is able to draw on four Spitfires, including two of the original three Mk 19s delivered to the flight upon its formation at Biggin Hill in 1957, two Hurricanes; PZ865 and LF363 and one Lancaster; PA474. In earlier years most notably during the 1950s and 1960s, aircraft of Second World War vintage were rarely seen, however, together with a growing number of enthusiastic private collectors, the BBMF today are able to virtually guarantee an appearance at any air show by wartime era aircraft.
The proliferation in recent years by Hurricanes and particularly Spitfires, has enabled some remarkable scenes recently, which just 20 years ago could not have happened. This includes a diamond 16 formation of Spitfires to mark the aircraft’s 60th Birthday in 1998. Hurricanes have appeared in four-ship formations at Duxford’s Imperial War Museum air shows. Apart from these their have been an increasing variety of Second World War types now gracing the air show circuit in private hands. They include; Mustangs, a Lysander, Martlett, F4U Corsairs, P47 Thunderbolt. To delve into just a brief operational History of any of these aircraft requires a book on its own and plenty of them there are and will be to come. Meanwhile, suffice to say, we are extremely lucky that over the last 20 years, the number of ‘Warbirds’ have increased and continue to do so.
UAVs, or unmanned aerial vehicles, are in pure military terms the way that the future seems likely to develop. In part, anyway, the Royal Air Force is already looking at the feasibility of a remotely piloted aircraft as a possible contender for the service’s FOAS (Future Offensive Air System), a title which itself was urged by the desire to be more vague about the format of the Tornado’s eventual successor than the original reference ‘Future Offensive Aircraft’ suggested. As far as the public arena is concerned, already the organisers of the Royal International Air Tattoo were aiming to make air show history by presenting the first ever display by a UAV at the 1998 Fairford RIAT. Personally I would not want to prejudge what may turn out to be a thoroughly enjoyable and impressive flying demonstration, but whatever happens, I do believe that I will forever remain far more appreciative of the skill and discipline displayed by those who are among the world’s finest airmen, and the inspiration and aspiration engendered by these people, among what have always been and continue to be, for now anyway, tomorrow’s pilots. The first display by a UAV in the United Kingdom was given at the 2005 RIAT. The machine on show for all the world had the impact and apparent size of radio-controlled model. However, once again, for what the future holds for UAVs and manned aircraft alike, we can only wait and see.
‘At Home’ Stations 19th September 1953
ABINGDON, Oxon
ASTON DOWN, Glos
ANDOVER, Hants
ALDERGROVE, NI
BENSON, Oxon
BIGGIN HILL, Kent
BINBROOK, Lincs
BRIDGNORTH, Salop (now Shropshire)
CARDINGTON, Beds
CASTLE BROMWICH, Warwicks
CATTERICK, North Yorks
CHIVENOR, Devon
COLERNE, Wilts
CONINGSBY, Linc
COSFORD, Staffs
DEBDEN, Essex
DISHFORTH, North Yorks
DUMFRIES, Galloway
DUXFORD, Cambridge
DYCE, Aberdeen
FELTWELL, Norfolk
FILTON, Avon
FINNINGLEY, South Yorks
HALTON, Bucks
HAWARDEN, Clwyd
HEADLEY COURT, Surrey
HEMSWELL, Lincs
HENDON, Middlesex
HENLOW, Beds
HOOTON PARK, Cheshire
HORNCHURCH, Essex
HORSHAM ST FAITH, Norfolk
HULLAVINGTON, Wilts
KINLOSS, Moray
KIRKHAM, Lancs
LEUCHARS, Fife
LINTON-ON-OUSE, North Yorks
LOCKING, Somerset
MANBY, Lincs
MARHAM, Norfolk
MELKSHAM, Wilts
MERRYFIELD, Somerset
NEWTON, Notts
NORTH LUFFENHAM, Rutland (RCAF)
NORTON, East Yorks
OAKINGTON, Cambs
OUSTON, Durham
PEMBREY, Dyfed
PERSHORE, Worcs
St ATHAN, Glamorgan
St MAWGAN, Cornwall
SCAMPTON, Lincs
SHAWBURY, Salop (now Shropshire)
SOUTH CERNEY, Glos
SUTTON-ON-HULL, Humberside
TANGMERE, West Sussex
TERN HILL, Salop (now Shropshire)
THORNABY, Yorks
THORNEY ISLAND, Hants
TURNHOUSE, Lothian
VALLEY, Anglesey
WATTISHAM, Suffolk
WELLESBOURNE MOUNTFORD, Warwicks
WEST FREUGH, Grampians
WEST KIRBY, Merseyside
WESTON ZOYLAND, Somerset
WOODVALE, Lancs
WYTON, Cambs
‘At Home’ Stations 18th September 1954
ABINGDON, Berks
ALDERGROVE, NI
ANDOVER, Hants
ASTON DOWN, Glos
BENSON, Oxon
BIGGIN HILL, Kent
BINBROOK, Lincs
BISHOPBRIGGS, Strathclyde
BRIDGNORTH, Salop (now Shropshire)
CASTLE BROMWICH, Warwicks
CATTERICK, North Yorks
CHIVENOR, Devon
CHURCH FENTON, North Yorks
COLERNE, Wilts
COSFORD, Staffs
DEBDEN, Essex
DISHFORTH, North Yorks
DUMFRIES, Galloway
DRIFFIELD, North Yorks
DYCE, Aberdeen
FILTON, Avon
HALTON, Bucks
HAWARDEN, Cheshire
HEADLEY COURT, Surrey
HEMSWELL, Lincs
HENDON, Middlesex
HOOTON PARK, Cheshire
HORSHAM St FAITH, Norfolk
JURBY, Isle of Man
KIRKHAM, Lancs
LEEMING, North Yorks
LEUCHARS, Fife
LINDHOLME, South Yorks
LINTON-ON-OUSE, North Yorks
LITTLE RISSINGTON, Glos
MARHAM, Norfolk
MERRYFIELD, Somerset
MIDDLETON St GEORGE, Durham
NEWTON, Notts
NORTON, North Yorks
ODIHAM, Hants
OUSTON, Northunberland
PEMBREY, Dyfed
PEMBROKE DOCK, Dyfed
UPWOOD, Huntingdon
St ATHAN, Glamorgan
St MAWGAN, Cornwall
SCAMPTON, Lincs
TANGMERE, West Sussex
TERN HILL, Salop (now Shropshire)
THORNABY, North Yorks
THORNEY ISLAND, Hants
TURNHOUSE, Lothian
WATERBEACH, Cambs
WATTISHAM, Suffolk
WEST FREUGH, Grampians
WEST MALLING, Kent
‘At Home’ Stations 17th September 1955
ACKLINGTON, Northumberland
ANDOVER, Hants
BENSON, Oxon
BIGGIN HILL, Kent
BINBROOK, Lincs
BISHOPBRIGGS, Grampians
CATTERICK, North Yorks
CASTLE BROMWICH, Warwicks
CHIVENOR, Devon
CHURCH FENTON, North Yorks
COSFORD, Stafford
DEBDEN, Essex
DUXFORD, Cambridge
DYCE, Aberdeen
FILTON, Glos
HALTON, Bucks
HEADLEY COURT, Surrey
HEMSWELL, Lincs
HENDON, Middlesex
HOOTON PARK, Cheshire
HORSHAM St FAITH, Norfolk
HULLAVINGTON, Wilts
JURBY, Isle of Man
KINLOSS, Moray
KIRKHAM, Lancs
LECONFIELD, East Yorks
LEUCHARS, Fife
LICHFIELD, Stafford
LINDHOLME, South Yorks
LITTLE RISSINGTON, Glos
LOCKING, Avon
NORTON, Yorks
PEMBROKE DOCK, Dyfed
PORTHCAWL, Wales
St ATHAN, Dyfed
St MAWGAN, Cornwall
SHAWBURY, Salop (now Shropshire)
TANGMERE, West Sussex
THORNABY, Yorks
THORNEY ISLAND, Hants
TURNHOUSE, Lothian
WATTISHAM, Suffolk
WELLESBOURNE MOUNTFORD, Warwicks
WEST FREUGH, Grampians
WEST MALLING, Kent
VALLEY, Anglesey
‘At Home’ Stations 17th September 1960
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE; Halton
CAMBRIDGESHIRE; Waterbeach
DEVONSHIRE; Chivenor
HERTFORDSHIRE; Bassingbourne
ISLE OF MAN; Jurby
KENT; Biggin Hill
LINCOLNSHIRE; Waddington
NORFOLK; Coltishall
NORTHERN IRELAND; Aldergrove
NORTHUMBERLAND; Acklington
OXFORDSHIRE; Benson
RUTLAND; Cottesmore
SCOTLAND; Kinloss and Leuchars
SHROPSHIRE; Shawbury
STAFFORDSHIRE; Cosford
SUFFOLK; Wattisham
WALES; St Athan and Valley
WARWICKSHIRE; Gaydon
WEST SUSSEX; Tangmere
WILTSHIRE; Colerne
YORKSHIRE; Finningley, Leconfield and Norton
‘At Home’ Stations 15th September 1962
CAMBRIDGSHIRE; Wyton
COUNTY DURHAM; Middleton St George
KENT; Biggin Hill
LINCOLNSHIRE; Waddington
NORFOLK; Coltishall
NORTHERN IRELAND; Aldergrove
NORTHUMBERLAND; Acklington
OXFORDSHIRE; Benson
RUTLAND; Cottesmore
SCOTLAND; Leuchars
SHROPSHIRE; Tern Hill
WALES; St, Athan.
WARWICKSHIRE; Gaydon
WEST SUSSEX; Tangmere
WILTSHIRE; Hullavington
YORKSHIRE; Finningley
‘At Home’ Stations 14th September 1963
BERKSHIRE; Abingdon
CAMBRIDGSHIRE; Wyton
COUNTY DURHAM; Middleton St George
KENT; Biggin Hill
LINCOLNSHIRE; Waddington
NORFOLK; Coltishall
NORTHERN IRELAND; Aldergrove
NORTHUMBERLAND; Acklington
SCOTLAND; Leuchars
SHROPSHIRE; Tern Hill
WALES; St Athan
WARWICKSHIRE; Gaydon
WEST SUSSEX; Tangmere
WILTSHIRE; Colerne
YORKSHIRE; Finningley
‘At Home’ Stations 19th September 1964
CORNWALL; St Mawgan
KENT; Biggin Hill
LINCOLNSHIRE; Waddington
NORFOLK; Coltishall
NORTHUMBERLAND; Acklington
OXFORDSHIRE; Benson
SCOTLAND; Leuchars
SHROPSHIRE; Tern Hill
WALES; St Athan
WARWICKSHIRE; Gaydon
WILTSHIRE; Colerne
YORKSHIRE; Finningley
‘At Home’ Stations 17th September 1966
CORNWALL; St Mawgan
KENT; Biggin Hill
NORFOLK; Coltishall
NORTHUMBERLAND; Acklington
OXFORDSHIRE; Benson
SCOTLAND; Leuchars
WALES; St Athan
WARWICKSHIRE; Gaydon
YORKSHIRE; Finningley
‘At Home’ Stations 20th September 1969
KENT; Biggin Hill
NORFOLK; Coltishall
OXFORDSHIRE; Benson
SCOTLAND; Leuchars
WALES; St Athan
WARWICKSHIRE; Gaydon
YORKSHIRE; Finningley
‘At Home’ Stations 15th September 1973
KENT; Biggin Hill
NORFOLK; Coltishall
OXFORDSHIRE; Abingdon
RUTLAND; Cottesmore
SCOTLAND; Leuchars
WALES; St Athan
YORKSHIRE; Finningley (on the 8th)
‘At Home’ Stations 14th September 1974
NORTHERN ENGLAND; Finningley (on the 21st)
SCOTLAND; Leuchars
SOUTHERN ENGLAND; Biggin Hill
WALES; St Athan
1991
ENGLAND; Finningley (both 21st September)
SCOTLAND; Leuchars
WALES; St Athan (30th June)
1996
Waddington (2 days in June) Leuchars (in September)