Sunday 21st July 2024
Since Thursday evening, we have been staying at the very pleasant village of Down Ampney, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire, where the Gloucester District Association of the Camping and Caravanning Club were holding a meet on the football club grounds.
With a population of 644 at the 2011 census, it is classed as a medium sized village, but on wandering around, it is clear that the village is expanding at a rate of knots with at least three housing developments in progress.
It is also the site of the former Down Ampney RAF airfield, which was created for Douglas Dakota Aircraft towing Horsa Gliders, delivering men, equipment and supplies to support the Normandy invasion in 1944 as well as many later conflicts in WW2. We visited the Airfield Memorial there.
Our site was also very conveniently situated beyond the end of RAF Fairford’s runway, the site of the Royal International Air Tattoo, where were treated to a three-day demonstration of the astonishing ability of many types of aircraft, from jet fighters, aerobatic planes and helicopters to transports and the amazing abilities of their pilots, including formation aerobatic displays from The Red Arrows, The Patrouille Suisse, The Royal Jordanian Airforce, The Saudi Hawks Display Team and others.
We saw The Royal Air Force display team (The Red Arrows) on each of the three days of the show. The precision is astonishing:
The Panavia Tornado was the RAFs main jet fighter between 1986 and 2011 and was the only swing-wing fighter. It is able to swing the wings backwards for supersonic flight and forward at lower speeds for extra lift:
The Royal Jordanian Falcons put on a fine show in their Extra 330LX aerobatic aircraft.
One of the most spectacular displays was given by the seven members of the Saudi Hawks display team who fly BAE System Hawk Mk. 65 aircraft:
The Harrier II (below) saw service with the RAF until being retired in 2010:
I am unsure of the identity of the following:
The Swiss display team provided a very tight display in their Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter aircraft:
There were planes of all sizes on display.
The Leonardo C-27J Spartan is a twin engined transport plane which was thrown around the sky, almost like a light aircraft, courtesy of the Italian Airforce.
"See-u-Later" 