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RIAT 2025 was like any other edition of the world’s biggest military airshow, loaded with ‘star value’!! But no, we did not get the Spanish Harriers, as they cancelled for the show last minute, the rain prevented the join-up with the French Atlantique and the main target for this years’ photomissions – the JF-17 from the Pakistan Air Force – arrived low on fuel. We also had that same bad luck with the Italian G-91 GINA, but that concludes all of the bad luck we had for this edition. As always, the Skyvan photoship would fly on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before the airshow weekend. Our first join up we could enjoy was the Pakistani C-130, in an absolutely amazing color scheme!! Metrea presented two aircraft to us, their King Air 350 and DHC-8, as they arrived almost in the same timeframe it gave us the chance to set up the first 2-ship formation. |
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| Ascent Flight Training joined us with three of their assets, being the basic trainer Prefect, advanced trainer Hawk T2 and the superb looking Phenom. Our first photomission was round up with the latest version of the Havilland Twin Otter. | |||
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| Photoflight number 2 saw the Spanish Casa 295 joining the Skyvan, followed by the special painted Czech Gripen jet. The Jordanian C-130 is a classic in our line-up each year, but this time we managed to coordinate with the Royal Jordanian Falcons as well, resulting is an absolutely fantastic photosession where we had all of them together. A highlight we don’t get to see every day. For the jet enthusiasts ( so yes, all of the aviation photographers onboard the Skyvan! ) there was another epic moment with the arrival of three Spanish Typhoons, with the lead aircraft wearing the special TigerMeet markings. | |||
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| Our RIAT project is all about lots of flying, so after a short break we were up again to welcome the new Saab Gripen E from the factory. They had been in the aviation news lately as they tested ‘AI powered’ flights, a feature we will see more in the future for sure! Another longtime guest was the German A400, not our biggest cargo this time, followed by a first join-up from the Polish C-130. As soon as the Finnish Hornets arrived, it moved out of the airspace to give our F-18 friends a big welcome as well, but the Polish Hercules joined us a second time after in perfect weather… no complaints! | |||
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| Another short refueling gap for the Skyvan, and up again to welcome – probably for the final time – the Dutch PC-7 2-ship, both aircraft wearing a special colorscheme. It was a privilege to see the giant Qatari C-17 again joining us, and yes they also did bring their special paint model in the colors of Qatari Airways, majestic! | |||
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| Not a lot of time for a coffee break, as flight number 4 took off to welcome the Portuguese Merlin, the helicopter that has definitely the most beautiful colors on it! Our Hellenic friends from Tanagra airbase were tack sharp on time, and so everyone could capture the iconic Mirage 2000, both a single and double seater. The Czech L-410 was one of the weirdest looking aircraft to fly behind the Skyvan, as they brought the aircraft with the glass nose, super unique for the photographers. The last join up of Wednesday was a short and sweet rendez-vous with the Italian Frecce Tricolori. First day in the pocket! | |||
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| The Thursday started not so much in the pocket, as oh drama… low clouds and rain, meaning no flying for the time being. Unfortunately we did lose the Danish F-16, French Atlantique and Canadian C-130. At the time of our second photoflight the weather was still on the edge, but as soon as we could safely depart the Skyvan was up over the clouds again to – just – miss out on the Hawker Hunter, but the Qatari Hawk was so kind to wait for us, very cool black jet!! Also the German Tornado deserves to be called ‘very cool’, and we are grateful for every opportunity to see the last swing wing jet in European operations. However, the coolest/hottest jet on this mission was certainly the Lakenheath based F-15E, that machine is still a monster! So happy we could make it work again, as also the days of the Eagle are numbered now… | |||
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The second photoflight brought us another highlight with the opportunity to see the ultra-rare Piaggio P166 in a fantastic color scheme. The weather was still a bit of a challenge, but we did make good use of the few seconds of sun between the clouds. For the helicopter enthusiasts, their moment had certainly arrived, as we got a full parade behind the photoship: a Jetranger and classic Huey from Germany, the Irish AW139 and EC135, from Hungary the new H225 and the classic Royal Navy grey Merlin. On the same flight we also got to welcome the Spartan from Slovenia. |
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| Famous Danish F-16 demopilot TEO managed to get permission from RIAT Ops & ATC ( thank you guys! ) to take off a bit early so he could give us a final join up in his ‘half century’ Viper, unfortunately another F-16 demo that belongs to airshow history now. The final jet to join the Skyvan on Thursday was another very happy moment provided by the Liberty Wing, as the F-35 gave us a stunning 25 minutes the chance to catch the 5th gen aircraft from all angles possible and we can say… that jet is LOUD!! Like it should be. | |||
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Our final day is normally the ‘calm’ one, but not this time. Still plenty of goodies in the bag for Friday and some of the absolute highlights. We started with the awesome performance of the RAF demo Typhoon and wingman, bringing two jets in position for lots of spectacle! The Army Air Corps brought us three different helicopters with the Wildcat and two Apaches. From Jersey we had a chance to welcome the rather unique Britten Norman. A few local guests joined our party of photoflights as well, much appreciated by the photographers, as where do you get a chance to see both the Jungmann and Jungmeister above the clouds? |
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Our final photomission for this RIAT had the most unusual and rare aircraft in the line-up: the French AWACS, what a sight!! We have been trying to fly with the ‘classic’ E-3 from the NATO for like 15 years, and we were close on several occasions but each time the aircraft cancelled for that airshow, so we were very lucky and happy to finally see a real AWACS joining the Skyvan… and in perfect weather as well. | |
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| Another wish coming true was the opportunity to catch the Belgian F-16B with a special tail, followed by the French civilian Fouga. Last year the same pilot flew the iconic Mirage 2000 for us. Our final join-up was for the Royal Netherlands Air Force Apache, showing of their latest version of the helicopter. |  |
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| The first edition of our ‘Aviation PhotoCrew Magazine’ takes you behind the scenes of the Royal International Air Tattoo, with a ton of photos and videos you don’t see in this report. Certainly check it out – it’s entirely free – as it has many exclusive photos on what it takes to organize the airshow. As always, RIAT is one of the ‘classic’ photoflying projects that are solid on our calendar for the next airshow season! | |||
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