International Air Tattoo1985 was an outstanding premier for the new location at R.A.F. Fairford. It was a breathtaking collection of fast jets and support aircraft gathered for that long-ago show.
The Germans sent at least nine Starfighters, six other examples from Denmark and Canada and the final two from Italy. Talking of Italy, they also participated with a rarely-seen C-47 from Pratica di Mare.
The USAF supported the show with an array of European and Conus-based aircraft. For me, my favourite had to be the two F-4Es from the 57th F.I.S. based at Keflavik in Iceland, which sadly turned out to be the last visit of their lovely Phantoms before they converted to the F-15 Eagle.
27+79 TF-104G MFG-2 departing Fairford. This aircraft passed to Greece in 5908 and is now preserved at the Dekelia/Tatoi museum.
![International Air Tattoo 1985]("https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEPiPcXHBcJFOb8Eeiyd0WN77h9-cA6X705J9wOqmLrCBp_9WOsqkc6HGGH85Jx0W27MYft06RdqJOE2uKGl2mszzkNF66VVpTj45nfJVDPKFJ3llBjyJ8euAJRVEt5BsSXw1yuLIeORw/s1600/21%252B85+F-104G+EST+61+WGAF+Fairford+I.A.T.+1985%252C+to+Turkey+as+7054-40.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="794" data-original-width="1200" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEPiPcXHBcJFOb8Eeiyd0WN77h9-cA6X705J9wOqmLrCBp_9WOsqkc6HGGH85Jx0W27MYft06RdqJOE2uKGl2mszzkNF66VVpTj45nfJVDPKFJ3llBjyJ8euAJRVEt5BsSXw1yuLIeORw/s640/21%252B85+F-104G+EST+61+WGAF+Fairford+I.A.T.+1985%252C+to+Turkey+as+7054-40.jpg" width="640" "21+85 F-104G EST.61 WGAF RAF Fairford")
21+85 F-104G E.S.T. 61 WGAF heading home on departures Monday. Later, it passed to Turkey as 7054.
24+05 RF-104G TGP-11 WGAF. Departs Fairford. Passed to Turkey as 8140.
24+54 F-104G TGP-11 WGAF looks pristine in its new Camo scheme. Preserved at the Meresburg Museum.
26+37 F-104G TGP-11 WGAF. It passed to Turkey as 9189.
26+66 and 26+82 F-104G Starfighters, taking off at R.A.F. Fairford. their status, 26+66, was scrapped, and 26+82 was transferred to Greece as 7428.
35+28/35+57 RF-4E AKG-51, both departing the Fairford I.A.T. Both passed to Turkey as
69-7475/69-7504, respectively.
38+42 F-4F JBG 35 WGAF. Status, Wfu.
40+30 Alpha Jet A JBG 49 Arriving at Fairford 1985. transferred to Portugal as 15212.
40+35 Alpha Jet A JBG 49 WGAF, departing Fairford. To the civil register as D-ICDM.
44+08 Tornado JBG 38 WGAF. Status, Wfu.
55-3130 KC-135A 7BW USAF Support aircraft to the SR-71A (Black Bird). Today, it is preserved at March A.F.B. as 'Old Grandad.'
What a sight they used to be: 57-1512 KC-135A rolls for taking off, based with the 336th AFRES at March Air Force Base. The aircraft was later converted to a KC-135E model but remains active as a KC-135R.
Another of the 'Skytanker' participants, KC-135E, 56-3611 160ARG Ohio A.N.G., is Now preserved at Scott A.F.B.
61-2491 VC-140B 58MAS USAF, departing Fairford. Sadly, its status has been scrapped.
66-0186 C-141B 443MAW USAF Fairford I.A.T. 1985, Preserved at Marietta-46
66-0370, 67-0315, F-4E Phantoms 57 FIS USAF departing for Keflavik.
66-0370 and 67-0315 F-4E 57th FIS USAF, departing Fairford. 66-0370 passed to Turkey with the same serial and 66-0315 to S.J. 4th TFW and W/O on the 5th Sept 1986.
Sadly, the 614th Tactical Fighter Squadron no longer operates the F-4, but seeing the 614 TFS from their Spanish Torrejon base is always good.
Here, F-16s 82-0914/82-1002 are seen returning to that base in Spain.
82-0914 passed to AZ/162nd F.W. A.N.G., 82-1002 passed to S.I./170th FS ANG and later to 309th AMARG.
80-0021/BT F-15C 22 TFS USAF. Fate to OR 114th FS ANG and finally 309th AMARG.
80-0026/BT F-15C 22 TFS USAF arriving at R.A.F. Fairford.
67-0034/UH EF-111A (Raven) 42 ECS USAF arriving at Fairford from its base at Upper Heyford.
67-0034/UH EF-111A 42 ECS USAF departs Fairford. Sadly, it has now been scrapped.
69-7236/SP F-4E and 74-1048/S.P. from the 480th TFS USAF at Spangdahlem, Germany.
107 Étendard 1V P 16F French Aéronavale was initially based at Hyeres in south France and later transferred to Landivisiau. It was the last unit to fly the Étendard. During the 2003 open house at Landivisiau airbase, I photographed 107, which carried mission marks from the Bosnian War. Still, sadly, it rested in the rain on that day, behind the hangars, awaiting the scrap man.
32 Super Étendard 14F French Aéronavale. It passed to 17F and Wfu.
79 Nord262D 2S French Aéronavale. Last seen stored on the German runway at the storage facility at Chateaudun.
K-4020 NF-5B 314 Sqn. Fate to Turkey as 4020.
K-4020 NF-5B 314 Sqn. Fate to Turkey as 4020.
133 F-5A 336 Sqn RNorAF. Now an Instructional Airframe at Bodø.
MM6705 5-43 F-104S 23 Gruppo Itaf. Preserved.
MM6814 5-42 F-104S 23 Gruppo Itaf. Last seen on the dump at Cervia.
MM61893 14.46 C-47 8 Gruppo Itaf. Preserved at Pratica di Mare, 8 Gruppo hangar.
MM62140 14.21 G.222RM 8 Gruppo Itaf. It was preserved or stored at Napoli-Capodic in the Aeronavali area.
RT-657 CF-104D 726 ESK RDAF. Preserved at Aalborg Airbase.
AT-157 SK.35D 725 ESK RDAF. To civil as N169TP.
AR-119 S.35XD 729 ESK RDAF. To civil as N119XD.
XR773 DF Lightning F.6 LTF RAF. To civil G-OPIB.
XT597 Phantom F.G.1 A&AEE RAF Arriving at Fairford. Today reserved at the once R.A.F. Bentwaters.
Part one is the report based on the visiting SR-71A 'Blackbird' 61-17979 9thSRW USAF to that first-ever Fairford I.A.T.
Part one is the report based on the visiting SR-71A 'Blackbird' 61-17979 9thSRW USAF to that first-ever Fairford I.A.T.
There you have it, another great moment in Military Aviation.
I hope you made it this far. Thanks for looking.
Great set of images!
ReplyDeletePlease note that the German TF-104G went to Greece, not to Turkey.
The Greeks would likely never put an aircraft on display that flew for the Turkish Air Force (THK)!
Thank you for that I really appreciate the correction.
ReplyDeleteHi I've just come across you're blog. Firstly fantastic pics much better than mine. I remember all the aircraft clearly as I was there when most of them arrived. In your pic of the F-104S numbered 543 in the background you can see a blurred image of a tent and a truck. The tent was our post. We were detailed to secure the gate behind as this was the only secure and clear road route out of the airfield should there have been an accident. We were part of 202 General Hospital RAMC(V). We had built a 200 bed field hospital on the othrside of the main runway opposite were the fair ground was situated. In the event of a serious accident we were tasked with hold ANY type of injury for at least 24hrs. This was because over 350,000 people were expected over the two days of public display. The truck in the pic was the USAF team that was tasked as a chute recovery team BUT also they were USAF Security Police with sidearms and rifles mounted on a rack in the cab of their truck and they were gun happy as a local farmer found out when he tried to speak to the Chief Inspector of the local constabulary who was also with us on the gate.
ReplyDeleteJuly the 12th was a display day for the press and VIP's which included the King of Jordan. The SAS did a HALO jump from 10,000ft 3 of the 4 landed on the main runway the 4th tore through the roof of the hospitality tent landing almost at the feet of the King of Jordan.
Also that day Concorde and the Red Arrows returned to Fairford a did a display together for the very first time. After the display the Red Arrows were coming in line astern to land and as the 5th Hawk touched down it's port tyre burst and it veered off to the left of the runway ending up in the middle of what the next day would have been an extremely busy fair ground. It's undercarriage was a tangled mess of live electrical cables. Our rapid response team responded immediately and when they arrived on the scene one of the first people to leave the leading vehicle promptly stepped on a cable and broke his ankle! Becoming our very first casualty of the event. He never quite lived that down! The pilot of the Hawk was fine he just waited for the cables to be removed before exiting his aircraft.
In the pic of the SR71 with it's afterburners on in the background you can see our tented accommodation, mess tent canteen. We also had our own parking area. All nicely positioned right next to the end of the runway. Absolutely not to be missed is a fully laden KC-135 using every inch of the longest runway around at that time to lumber into the air on full throttle! Ear defenders were an essential piece of kit.
During the 3 display days we had a Chief Inspector positioned with us on the crash gate. He drove a standard police jam sandwich with a ruddy great red cross on the roof. After the displays were over and we were partying on the base with the Americans and some of the pilots we were told that they were using the red cross on the car as an aiming point in some of their dives during the display especially the F16, Starfighters (Germans were nuts!) and Hawk pilots. I remember looking up and thinking that airvent looks massive as an F16 came at me head on. I could clearly see the pilots head. I have no idea at what level they pulled up at but it was very close. As I said ear defenders were an essential piece of kit. Hope someone finds my waffling interesting.. I had difficulty sugning in so have postdd this a anonymous. My name is Patrick and I was a Corporal in the RAMC in 1985. Thank you.
Hi Patrick, that is a brilliant story, and yes, I can see your field hospital. Thanks for posting your great memories of this exellent event. Best regards, Mike Fisher.
ReplyDelete