By Murdo Morrison in RAF Fairford
The world’s biggest air show this year – at least in terms of aircraft on display – will not be Farnborough, but an event that takes place the weekend before, less than 100km (60 miles) west at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. The Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) began over 35 years ago as an airborne spectacular to promote the Royal Air Force and raise money for ex-servicemen and their families. The show has continued to have a massive popular appeal, with over 150,000 people expected to pay to watch this year’s display of 350 military aircraft over the weekend of 15 and 16 July. But it has also over the years built a niche as a event that senior industry and military figures take seriously – albeit one which they enjoy rather than endure.
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RIAT’s appeal is based on its “very British, informal, networking ethos”, says Tim Prince, chief executive of the organiser, the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust (RAFCT). As it is an air show, rather than a trade show, the defence community can mingle, exchange gossip and make contacts without the “pressure-cooker environment” of an event such as Farnborough, he says.
The guest list on the Friday VIP day – where 20 industry sponsors entertain around 2,000 senior military officers, politicians and civil servants inside a tented hospitality area – reads like a global military Who’s Who, with defence chiefs, generals, air attaches and delegations from 30 countries. The package includes a full-dress formal dinner for 500 guests on the Friday evening inside a specially decked-out hangar at the air base. “It’s a very British ceremony, blended with elements of a damn good night out,” says Prince. The UK Ministry of Defence lists the show as one of the exceptions to its strict no corporate entertaining rules. “They encourage their people to come to it,” says Prince.
A mystery to many is how RIAT – which dips into the same marketing pot of the big defence contractors as Farnborough and vies for the same military aircraft for its flying display – can co-exist with its more famous counterpart. From an uneasy relationship in the early days – when the Society of British Aerospace Companies successfully lobbied for RIAT to be limited to non-Farnborough years – the two events now complement each other, says RAFCT business development director Caroline Rogers. “It works being back to back, because of the semi-informality of RIAT,” she says. “Visitors can cope with the more pressurised environment of Farnborough. It oils the wheels for the following week.”
No upheaval
As RIAT is not a trade show, sponsors do not face the upheaval of uprooting stands and infrastructure from Fairford to Farnborough. Aircraft can be flown at RIAT, then transported on the Monday to Hampshire. “We share a lot of information on flight control with our colleagues at Farnborough,” says Prince.
Aircraft on display at this year’s RIAT – which has the theme “Rapid Global Effect” – include the US Marine Corps’ Bell Boeing MV-22, making its UK flying debut, the Russian vectored-thrust MiG-29, and Saab Gripens from the Czech air force. Prince is proud of the show’s international reputation and the part it has played in diplomatic relations. “The Czechs and Hungarians have used contacts they have made at RIAT over the years as a way of preparing the ground for entry into NATO,” he says. “Countries like Greece and Romania have also come to us for help in setting up their own military air shows. The benefit for us is that we make air shows safer for everybody and keep insurance costs down.”
However, Prince is sceptical that a show like RIAT could get off the ground today. “If you were starting with a clean sheet of paper, it would never happen,” he says. “Everybody is so risk averse. If we’d been like we are today in the 1970s, we’d have worried ourselves to death. We manage risk today based on our experience. That’s why RIAT turns on so many people.”
Source: Flight International
