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air tattoo 2012


markjames68

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Started a new post and didnt put it with the other RIAT one as i thought this could be a post show discussion...

My opinion, after 2 or three VERY poor years, this one was actually VERY good, enjoyed it immensley with a great mix of static and flying , one or two great aircraft missing but only my personal choice .

wonderlands stand was absolutely fantastically full of bargains this year, picked up a Trumpy 1/32 f14 and f18 for 69 quid each and a mig 29 for 40 quid

Weather was acceptable and could have been a LOT worse.

Only real gripe is as usual the terrible price and quality of the food, its pretty disggusting really in every sense of the word, why RIAT dont enforce some sort of realiseable quality control i have no idea.

Had a great day and if you are on the fence about going tommorrow, go for it!!

mark

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I did post on the other one!

I thought Wonderland offered some great bargains but almost nothing in 1/48! MFS got my coin in the end as they did have 1/48 bargains - I got an Eduard Bf-108 for £11 and a s/h Italeri 2-seat Gripen for £10!

Oh and I took my own food! Delicious!

Edited by AndyC
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I had a really fantastic day; agreed about the food tho, shocking.

The weather was a touch disappointing, but plenty to do and see none the less.

The USAF guys were great, never thought i'd get to go in the Galaxy! Cant wait for Monday now!

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Good to hear!

Have heard quite a few jets holding in our overhead this afternoon - but above the cloud!

Was due to help out with the RAF Balloon this evening - but that was cancelled :(

I may just have bitten on those Wonderland offers - esp the F-14! Oh well...

Iain

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I thoroughly enjoyed today. I think we were very lucky with the weather and there were some great displays. Al Fursan were a bit flat but the Black Knights were fantastic. Great formation flying with noisy jets!

Apart from them my highlights were Mig-29, Tonka, Tiffy, Super Hornet and Rafale. Lots of noise!

Looking forward to Monday as well. :thumbsup:

Edited by Rob C
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Big thumbs up for today! A couple of cancellations, a heavy shower and lots of drizzle, but that didn't spoil a great show!

My personal favourite was the Polish MiG-29, sent shivers down my spine! Best flying display came from the Rafale with the F/A-18F in second. Also great to see/hear the Vulcan back in the air. The Black Knights stole the show in terms of team displays.

Highlights int he static were the B-2 and C-5. I got some nice F-15E reference pics as well. The German F-4F was unfortunately very awkwardly parked (or fenced off), hardly any good views there.

I only struggled (again) with the size of the show(ground) as it's impossible to see/do everything. I ran around like mad to cover the static display before the flying began, but missed/ignored a lot of it. And no time at all for model/book shopping, but perhaps that's a good thing...

I didn't see a Wonderland sign anywhere, even though I was looking for it...was it the yellow tent, near the "Mr.Models" tent?

1000 pictures need to be sifted through, perhaps there are one or two good ones as well.

Cheers

Jeffrey

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Being. my first real airshow i was extremley impressed. Great mix of static and flying.

Agree about the food etc.

Highlights for me were the vulcan ,osprey and the apache. The displays were also very good. Unfortunately couldnt stay to the end so misseda few that i had hoped to see. Will be looking to attend at least one show next year.

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Been going since 2009 and this is easily the best RIAT so far.

Picked up a 1/72 fujimi Phantom and AV-8A for £10.95 and £9, not bad!

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I attended both days and had a great time. The Republic of Korea Air Force team "The Black Eagles" was absolutely fantastic. They did their full show today and drew their national symbol in the sky with smoke - amazing! I agree that Al Fursan was disappointing, especially as they are trained by the Frecce Tricolori! The Breitling Jet Team was also very good.

I resisted the Wonderland offers, as I didn't want to carry them around all day!

All in all, a great couple of days, with today having the better weather.

Roll on next year!

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I attended on Sunday and we were blessed by NO rain. I took the girlfriend to her first ever air show and she enjoyed it as well. Not sure if my impressions were correct but I thought it much easier to move the static, were visitor numbers down? Anyway I am not complaining as it meant that getting a look round those aircraft that were open was nice and easy. I thought the Koreans put on a very good display and have to say that the colour scheme on their jets is very effective, particularly when lit up by the sun. For me the F18 put on one of the best displays and my girlfriend thought that the Mig 29 was one of the best.

A good day, but regret having left my camera at home :(

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Not sure if my impressions were correct but I thought it much easier to move the static, were visitor numbers down?

I was thinking that - I can remember a few years back when it was difficult to make progress along the statics for the number of people. Can't remember which year but it was very hot, unlike this Saturday. Weather may have been a factor, coupled with genral belt-tightening and possibly some people having been disappointed last year.

Weather aside it was one of the best shows I've been to, not just RIATs. Gutted we missed the Black Eagles but we decided to beat a retreat before the car park got churned up.

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Just got back from the departure day, wow it was fantastic

The weather held out and the action was fantastic. The schedule got muddled slightly and the galaxy didn't depart until just after three (was scheduled for 12) but there was a good turnout to see it go

The b2 was fantastic to see leave too

Hopefully will get some pics up soon

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Just posted on the other thread I started, but hey, in summary, I went in on Sunday and stayed for most of today to watch departures, it was fantastic, one of the best airshow weekends I've had in some years, good effort to all involved. I would agree with the onsite catering, robbing gits, absolutely outrageous pricing.

It was fantastic flying and congratualtions to the organisers for attracting that amount of high quality flying. Superb and thank you. :speak_cool:

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The schedule got muddled slightly and the galaxy didn't depart until just after three (was scheduled for 12) but there was a good turnout to see it go

Have you been to departure day before? I only ask because the schedule very rarely stays current for more than 10 mins after flying commences! At best you get a vague idea of what might be going at some point during the day, but its traditional to throw that £3 away :-p

It was good to see the Vulcan come round again to catch up with the Reds as they took off - presumably for a formation over Farnborough which started today.

Great show this year, loved it. Black Eagles, Vulcan and Rafale the highlights for me. Does anybody know what happened regarding the Saudis?

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Thanks to all the customers who visited our Wonderland Models stand at the Air Tattoo at the weekend. It was great to catch up with so many of you on our furthest venture south! Despite the weather everyone was very upbeat about the flying display. Our truck managed to get stuck in the mud but thanks to the superb assistance from the RIAT staff we managed to get towed out quickly three times!! However our tent is hanging up to dry in the garage....getting the mud off the tent side panels might take a couple of washes though. Hope you all got home safely. Can't wait for a sunny event for 2013!

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Hi all. I've never done the departure day before but OH WOW WOW WOW! I went with the wife and we were stood in East PandV and were right where the Vulcan was waiting her turn to leave. Never thought I'd be so close to so many great A/C that were "in action". Its great to see them in static but you get a real sense of their power and majesty when they are in motion. Even the stationary Hercs were impressive! The noise the smell was intoxicating and I can definitely say I will go to every departure day from now on. I felt very privileged to be so close to so many machines from the worlds air arms it really shows what a great job DBH do and just how damn lucky we are to have these shows.

Roll on next July!!!

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