RIAT Fairford – Meh

No, sorry. I’m more confused now than ever, but I’ll try not to lose any sleep over it!

Meh. ;o)

Whoopsie. Senior moment: meant to quote this post:”Oh, and isn’t ‘meh’ a little modern for this forum?”

Make sense now?

No, sorry. I’m more confused now than ever, but I’ll try not to lose any sleep over it!

An enjoyable day but marred by cancellations. A pity they couldn’t find some replacements. The free display at Weston a couple of weeks ago had the Sea Vixen cancel and immediately replaced it with a Venom, a very fair exchange. There was also too much candy floss, fudge a trinketry on sale. Probably for the best in terms of bringing money home but disappointing on the book front after last year. Another historic which hasn’t been mentioned was the KC135 tanker, 58-0100. Twice the age of the crew!

Unfortunately there just aren’t the modern aircraft types or money to bring them to the UK that their used to be.
As to the queues getting out. I can remember having to queue 2 hours just to get in! Not to mention just as long for the portaloos 🙂

Yes – but in those days we had more interesting stuff to look at, so we didn’t use the loos and put up with the queue to get in.

And I see that Greenham really is a common now. Sort of sad, but life goes on.

I looked up Meh in the OED. Its actually in there. Its an expression of a lack of interest popularised by the Simpsons. So, does the use of that word in any way change the meaning of what you wrote in your first post? and what’s the connection between the quote of mine and what you typed beneath it in post 14. I’m sorry, I just dont get it.

Whoopsie. Senior moment: meant to quote this post:”Oh, and isn’t ‘meh’ a little modern for this forum?”

Make sense now?

Unfortunately there just aren’t the modern aircraft types or money to bring them to the UK that their used to be.
As to the queues getting out. I can remember having to queue 2 hours just to get in! Not to mention just as long for the portaloos 🙂

I looked up Meh in the OED. Its actually in there. Its an expression of a lack of interest popularised by the Simpsons. So, does the use of that word in any way change the meaning of what you wrote in your first post? and what’s the connection between the quote of mine and what you typed beneath it in post 14. I’m sorry, I just dont get it.

I think you are forgeting that its a military airshow! Legends is in my mind is the vintage version off RIAT. I admit they often have far more vintage stuff than they had this year but maybe that was due to Legends and the weather on the continent stopped the Swiss Hunter coming.
The cones around the Spatan were far to close…impossible to photograph!
The budget for non military aircraft is not as large as you think and from what I heard the Vulcan team were asking for £77,000! This might not be true though, but I wouldnt be surprised if it was.

Aha!! I presume I am too old to have a clue what it means – I read the thread title, somehow ignoring the three letter word and have pressed on enjoying the discussion. But do parents have to emulate their children’s bizarre vernacular in an adult forum?? Not sure which member first referred to it……..:D

Mmm, I’m sure all the modern military fans would be absolutely thrilled by the idea of having ‘their’ big show hijacked by the vintage fraternity. NOT!

LOL (said tongue firmly in cheek): I’m old enough to have kids who regularly use the term ‘meh’, along with many others, far less suitable for this forum! Glad this has prompted some lively discussion too!

And yes, I loved the C-45 also.

It’s clear the powers that be at RIAT are unsupportive of old historic aircraft as you say, they dropped arguably one of the most famous historic aircraft (For the UK at least)
XH558

wouldn’t it just be better – and far more interesting – to just bin all the current military and make RIAT a festival of historic aviation?

Mmm, I’m sure all the modern military fans would be absolutely thrilled by the idea of having ‘their’ big show hijacked by the vintage fraternity. NOT!

You don’t think they might endure endless moans on aviation forums about the potential for damage by transporting these rarities, or even possibly the loss if something goes wrong, do you?

Or is that only reserved for rare birds like the Typhoon?;o)

Oh, and isn’t ‘meh’ a little modern for this forum?

A lot of air forces bring transports over. It would be a great opportunity to pop really rare historics in the back and bring them to a biggest audience

Duxford is suffering with “Spitfire” mania ,there are other aircraft that deserve just as much recognition.

I quite agree, but it brings the punters in through the gate in droves, which is precisely why they do it. Stand by for even more of the same with the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain next year!

I had the opportunity to go to Fairford this year on Sunday. All the gripes about traffic issues we arrived and only held for 15 minutes got in at 09.30 . A big thank you to the police who were well organised. We were in the blue car park which was a short walk to the gate. The RAF on the security gate were very polite and got people through quickly. I enjoyed all the flying non stop from 09.00 to 6pm. Lots of excellent flying from the Grippen,Su-22Ms,Tornado,F-16s and the RAF Eurofighter was a brilliant display. The A400 and Spartan transports put on a lively display also . Not forgetting the Merlin,Chinook,Lynx and Apache also. I did not take any photos as you can see them on the forums I just enjoyed the flying and noise ! The C-45 N45CF in the static was a highlight for me. It only took us 15 minutes to get out apart from hold ups at Jnc 15 M4 which was to be expected.It was a great show a chance to meet and talk to military pilots and the quality of the flying excellent especially the fast jet slow passes. Duxford is suffering with “Spitfire” mania ,there are other aircraft that deserve just as much recognition.

Wasn’t there also a Spanish Harrier, or am I thinking of Farnborough?

I’d have gone hjust for the Sukhoi display, they looked superb. 😎

As a long time attendee of IAT’s and RIAT’s I really enjoyed it.
My only gripe this year is everything having to make way for Farnborough.
With Legends I always like to have a fall back for weather and most often go on the Saturday.
For family reasons I attend the RIAT on the Saturday always .
We had a very enjoyable day at Fairford on Saturday and an equally enjoyable day at Duxford Sunday but the change of date meant I missed the P26 and the P40C which were only able to fly on the Saturday.
I don’t get the continued fascination with Farnborough, every time we go we end up parked miles away in the woodland way past the AAIB .
Then there is the small matter of the different display regs at the show.
Plus anybody moaning about RIAT’s security checks should stay well away from Farnborough or make sure that once you enter the airfield do not go back to your car unless you want the same thorough check every time you go back in.

It could still be the world’s biggest…

Where are you going to get all those extra historic’s from, if Legends et al can’t entice them in?

It is – or used to be – the show to see something that hadn’t been seen before, the appearance premier in the UK if you like. In these depressed times that might be a little difficult, especially when combined with the withdrawal of the ‘star’ attraction, but I believe they do try.

Mmm. I fell out of love with RIAT BECAUSE its main aspiration seemed to be to be the biggest. Surely its main aspiration should be to be the best. And that could be any number of hooks or themes. Look how good Duxford Legends and Old Warden can be and are. In fact a couple of years ago I thought Waddo was a much more satisfying experience for just that reason. It will be interesting to see how RIAT evolves without Tim Prince’s strong influence.