RAF Leuchars Airshow 2012

The Airshow

The airshow was blessed with superb weather this year- the day of the show was one of the best since I first attended in 2000.

Static Display

I really enjoyed the static display this year. I liked the 11.00am start to the flying display, as it gave me plenty of time to look around the statics in the glorious weather. There were many more aircraft on static display than last year, which is quite an achievement given the current economic conditions. It’s always nice to see types of aircraft I’ve never seen before, so I enjoyed the Rafales, Sentinel, Dornier 228, and Hawk T2.

It was great to see RAF Leuchars’ own 111 Squadron Lightning out in the open this year. And it was also nice to see RAF Tornados and a Typhoon with some tail art this year.

Call-offs are always inevitable for various reasons, but this was made up for with the surprise appearance of the French Air Force Rafales and the Italian Air Force Typhoons.

The vintage military vehicles displays were also very good this year. The weather was so good, though, that I didn’t venture indoors at all this year, so I can’t comment on any of the indoor displays or exhibitions.

Flying Display

I watched the flying display from the west end of the crowd line, as I’ve done in recent years. It’s a bit off the display centre here, but has the advantage of an excellent view of the display aircraft as they taxi in and out. There’s always something happening here, and plenty of good photo opportunites on the ground as well as in the air. The opposite end of the crowd line can feel rather isolated from the action.

The glorious sunny weather continued all afternoon for the duration of the flying display. The wind was a very strong westerly, and this caused the cancellation of the RAF Falcons parachute drop for safety reasons.

This year a stand-up ceremony for 1 Squadron was incorporated into the start of the flying display.  The ceremony included uniformed parades in the arena at the west end of the crowd line, and various flypasts. However, it went on for far too long, and it was very difficult to see what was going on in the arena. I also missed some of the flypasts due to the lack of announcements during the ceremony.

When the flying display did get into gear, it was pretty good, allowing for call-offs and the difficult economic climate. The Blades and the Red Arrows are always very good, and I also enjoyed the Norwegian Air Force Historic Flight. The Sentry display was excellent- something I’ve never seen before. The Chinook display was superb this year, with the huge helicopter being thrown around the sky in spectacular fashion.

I enjoyed the Vulcan, despite what some people on internet forums are saying about its display. You can’t expect a 50-year old aircraft (and a national treasure at that) to be thrown around the skies like a Typhoon. I just managed to catch the Typhoon Diamond Nine formation at the end, again due to a lack of announcements at a key moment. Thank heavens they went round for a second pass.

Overall, a very good show this year. Hopefully there will be one more show next year, before the RAF finally leave Leuchars. Here’s a full list of all the aircraft movements of the flying display:

Departures

I went to Leuchars on the morning of Sunday 16th September to get some photos of the departing aircraft. As on practice day, I watched from the field in Main Street, Leuchars, at the west end of runway 09.

The worst weather of the whole weekend was saved until the end, with a severe storm at around 1.00pm. Despite this, I still managed to get some photos of the departing aircraft.

I’ve included a list of the aircraft movements I saw: