Royal International Air Tattoo

What can I say, we had a busy weekend!

We ended Sean's birthday weekend by going to the Royal International Air Tattoo.  It is the world's biggest international air show that was held at the RAF Fairford at the US Air Force Base.

As you can see we can clean up quite nicely when we try!  (and we are all quite dry which is apparently a lot harder then one may think!)




So, we got up early after our party and headed out as soon as we were ready.  The air show started at 10am and it was almost a 2.5 hour drive.  We ended up getting in around 10:30, just in time to watch the South Korean Air Force Aerobatic Team the Black Eagles.  This was the first time that they had performed in the RIAT air show and one of the first times they have performed outside South Korea.  They were fantastic!

This is the Black Eagles.

We also saw performances by the Knights from United Arab Emirates, the RAF Red Arrows, the Swiss Air Force Patrouille Suisse and the Jordanian Falcons. 

The Red Arrows.  I was particularly looking forward to seeing them!

The Swiss Team.

We saw a Spitfire in May.  Here are two Spitfires with the only flying ARC Lancaster.  Very cool!

After the air show ended we walked down to see the B-2 Stealth Bomber.  I have seen one once in the air.  I was in my car between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne.  It was awesome to see in the air and very cool to see in person.  This is the "Spirit of New York".

Since we are huge fans of TopGear, there was no way that we could leave without taking the kids picture in front of the display.  It was a flight simulator, this was one of several that were on the site.  

All in all we had a good day.  There was a little rain on the way there, but it cleared up nicely and the show was able to carry on as planned.  On our way out we admired the Cotswolds area of England.  The houses and buildings were quite charming and most were made with a very pretty tan colored stone.  The gardens are beautiful and right now the roses all over England are in full bloom.  They apparently love this cool, rainy weather!