Royal International Air Tattoo 2006, RAF Fairford
2006 built on the success of the 2005 event with some exciting new attractions. Early indications are that 167,000 spectators came to RAF Fairford in the soaring temperatures that have characterised July 2006. The high temperatures as well as attracting people always cause a fair few problems for organisers with people at high risk of heat exhaustion and it was good see plenty of water tanks of drinking water around the airfield and free sunblock being handed out. Over the weekend 232 people required assistances from the medical centre and 45 of those were transferred to hospital.
New to RIAT for 2006 was the TRI@RIAT exhibition at the centre of the showground. The main emphasis of the exhibition was to attract the next generation of engineers. The main arena saw a number of demonstrations by famous stunt driver Russ Swift and his team. There were also motorsport displays and “Robot Wars.” One item that needed to whole runway at Fairford was the Vampire Jet Car that had been at Fairford the previous week attempting some land speed records.
As ever, there were some outstanding aircraft at the show including participants from the Royal Malaysian Air Force and Pakistan. However, the star of the flying was the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29OVT demonstrator. This version of the MiG-29 features thrust-vector and gave some absolutely scintillating displays in the clear blue skies.
All Photography by Paul Johnson/Flightline UK.
