FighterControl

The second of the Tattoos held at Cottesmore which surprisingly was more than adequate in holding very big shows. Unlike the previous show which had beautiful weather on arrivals and cold claggy conditions on the show, the 2001 show had a mix of fair weather cloud and sun all the way through. Famous for the "Blown by the Bone" incident when Darwin's theories kicked into being, was man stronger than four B-1 engines in full reheat at close range? I missed that bit as I'd moved out to the road for some potential turning in topsides, which sort of worked, Papyrus especially.

23 years seem to have moved on quickly, I stopped in Peterborough with dear friend Malcolm, who sadly passed away just over a year ago, he loved the IATs especially arrival days, a nice easy commute up the A1 to the showground.

Notable for the only appearance by the Maltese to date, a debut for Romania although their superstar HJ-5 appearance never materialised after crash landing a few weeks before the show, the Irish Gazelle and Alouette III made their only Tattoo appearances along with the Hungarian L-39s. Rare flying gems included Spanish Mirage F1, Canadian checkerboard CF-188 and German MiG29 who landed himself in trouble with the Flying Committee after a low pull out. The B-1B wings back climbing double roll was another memorable Tattoo moment. On with some pics.

Arrivals
B-52H Stratofortress 61-0032/BD 93BS AFRC US Air Force Barksdale AFB by Paul Downes, on Flickr

B-1B Lancer 86-0138/MO 34BS/366 Wing US Air Force Mountain Home AFB by Paul Downes, on Flickr

KC-135R Stratotanker 62-3513/MO 22ARS/366 Wing Mountain Home AFB US Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Tornado GR1B ZA475/FH 12 Squadron RAF Lossiemouth by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Harrier GR7 ZG858 SAOEU Boscombe Down by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Canberra T4 WH849 39 Squadron RAF Marham by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Tristar K1 ZD949 216 Squadron RAF Brize Norton by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Merlin HC3 ZJ123/G 28 Squadron RAF Benson by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Sea Harrier F/A2 XZ440/127R 800 Squadron RNAS Yeovilton by Paul Downes, on Flickr

CF-188A Hornet 188724 441 Squadron Canadian Forces by Paul Downes, on Flickr

F-4F Phantom II 38+00 JG74 German Air Force Neuberg by Paul Downes, on Flickr

MiG29G 29+11 JG73 German Air Force Laage by Paul Downes, on Flickr

MiG-29B 22 59 Squadron Hungarian Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

SA342L Gazelle 241 3 Support Wing Irish Air Corps by Paul Downes, on Flickr

BN-2B Islander AS9516 2 Regt Maltese Defence Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

E-3A Sentry LX-N90443 NATO Airborne Early Warning Force Geilenkirchen by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Bo105CB B-77 299 Squadron Royal Netherlands Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

P-3C Orion 303 320 Squadron/MARPAT Royal Netherlands Navy by Paul Downes, on Flickr

MiG21UM LanceR-B 9526 Grupul 86 Romanian Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

C-141B Starlifter 66-0175 62AW US Air Force McChord AFB by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Hunter T68 J-4201/HB-RVR by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Some from the road and statics
F-27-400M FF-3 Tuki LLv Finnish Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Lynx HAS2(FN) 269 31F French Navy by Paul Downes, on Flickr

MiG29G 29+02 JG73 German Air Force Laage by Paul Downes, on Flickr

L-39ZO Albatros 128 59 HRE Hungarian Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

SA316B Alouette III 213 3 Support Wing Irish Air Corps by Paul Downes, on Flickr

AMX MM7126 13 Gruppo/32 Stormo Italian Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

AMX-T MM55037/32-64 101 Gruppo/32 Stormo Italian Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

NH500E MM81291/72-28 and MM81307/72-44 208Gr/72 Stormo Italian Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Having blown
B-1B Lancer 86-0104/MO 34BS/366 Wing US Air Force Mountain Home AFB by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Hunter F58A "J-4015"/J-4040/HB-RVS ex FlSt15 Swiss Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Flying and departures
Hunter F6A XF515/R/G-KAXF and Hunter PR11 WT723/VL866/G-PRII by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Tornado F3 ZE295/AY 56 Squadron RAF Coningsby by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Jaguar GR3 XZ364/GJ 54 Squadron RAF Coltishall by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Jaguar T2 XX840/PS 16(R) Squadron RAF Coltishall by Paul Downes, on Flickr

CM-170R Magister MT14 33 Squadron Belgian Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

T-17A Supporter T-418 721 Squadron Royal Danish Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Jaguar E E35/7-HY EC01.007 Provence French Air Force St Dizier by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Tornado ECR 46+44 JBG32 German Air Force Lechfeld by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Bulldog T1 AS0022 2 Regiment Maltese Defence Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

An26 1310 13PLT Polish Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

C-130B Hercules 6150 Grp 90 Romanian Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Mirage F1CE C.14-34/14-17 Ala 14 Spanish Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Sk60A 60141 Swedish Air Force by Paul Downes, on Flickr

F-117A Nighthawk 86-0821/HO 9FS/49FW US Air Force Holloman AFB by Paul Downes, on Flickr

B-1B Lancer 86-0104/MO 34BS/366 Wing US Air Force Mountain Home AFB by Paul Downes, on Flickr

C-22B 83-4610 201AS DC ANG US Air Force Andrews AFB by Paul Downes, on Flickr

T-43A 73-1153/RA 562FTS/323FTW US Air Force Randolph AFB by Paul Downes, on Flickr

B-1B Lancer 86-0138/MO 34BS/366 Wing US Air Force Mountain Home AFB by Paul Downes, on Flickr

Excellent set Paul
The approach was brilliant as was the general layout .. an excellent job by the organisers.
Saved the usual exodus all the way down to FFD.
I did witness the 'flying chairs and children' aft of the B-1B

Thanks for posting
3Greens

Very nice Paul. Was nice to have RIAT at Cottesmore, very convenient living in South Lincolnshire. As you say Malcolm always enjoyed his time at arrivals taking and dishing out the banter. Sad to think that Pete, Nick and Malcolm no longer with us.

I did all the Fairford tattoo up to 1999 but for some reason didn’t do Cottesmore apart from one departure day. No idea what I was thinking. Very nice set and thanks for showing me what I missed

Excellent set. I missed this one as my sister was not an aviation fan and decided to get married that weekend!! I remember turning up at the previous Cottesmore RIAT in shorts and t-shirt and ended up buying fleece to get through the day.

Cottesmore certainly did work well for the two years the Tattoo was there, good set of reminders.

Superb selection from what was a great show. That Papyrus Hunter pic really is a bit special. I attended on the Saturday when it was really hot. Light conditions were ok in the morning but in the afternoon the sky turned milky and the flying shots suffered as a result. Highlights for me were those Hunters (now sadly missed on the display circuit), the Romanian Lancer and the Harrier/Spitfire formation. As it turned out to be my last RIAT I think I left on a high!

Thanks for sharing these, great memories, I attended both shows at Cottesmore and was surprised as to how many aircraft they managed to accommodate. Some rarely seen types were present and looking through the shots, how many of those are no longer about.

Lovely set,

Great captures of some stunning subjects.

Thanks for sharing

Kev

Nice set of some great aircraft

Stunning set, Paul

Took us less than half the normal Fairford journey time from here in Norwich, which was nice

That Bone double roll will live in the mind forever

Thanks for posting

Paddyboy

The Cottesmore shows were excellent for me (living in Nottingham and relying on public transport to get there). How about reinstating it as the RAF display venue (I know it is now an army base) - ideally for a Battle of Britain airshow in September and doing away with the Cosford event? When RIAT said they would replace the Waddington show with an annual event (for three years at least) at Scampton, I had high hopes of a "northern" military aircraft orientated show. For an aviation minded nation our show provision is now very poor. And soon we'll no longer be assembling any complete aircraft. Very sad times!

Great set of scans there, of a wonderful show at the perfect venue. I remember (apart from 'the incident' ), Friday arrivals and the disappointment felt after much anticipation of the imminent arrival of a Romanian IL-28 Beagle, which sadly crashed enroute (crew were okay I think)

Superb set, what a variety of types were flying in 2001..

Great memories of the variety & colours back in the day!

roughcutter wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 24, 2024 2:47 pm

Great set of scans there, of a wonderful show at the perfect venue. I remember (apart from 'the incident' ), Friday arrivals and the disappointment felt after much anticipation of the imminent arrival of a Romanian IL-28 Beagle, which sadly crashed enroute (crew were okay I think)

Oh! the legendary "Cottesmore Tumbleweed Incident" I still can't believe somebody wasn't really seriously hurt or killed by hitting their head on the stones in that field!
I myself came close to injury, through choking on my sandwich & falling out of my chair laughing at the imbeciles that sit under the approach & behind a Reheat 4-jet Bomber?

IIRC the 'Romanian' IL-28 Beagle was a Hungarian AF example & suffered a partial undercarriage collapse, runway excursion & minor fire in the 10 daysish before RIAT. It was declared wfu. where it stopped!
Brain-fog gets us all eventually & Google didn't rescue me this time!

Unrelated, (I think? ) The Beriev BE-12 Chaika (Russian for Seagull /NATO name 'Mail') was also a massive disappointment when it cancelled RIAT for 'serious' reasons! What year was that anybody?

Excellent post Paul..

Kev

Supra wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 24, 2024 6:29 pm

IIRC the 'Romanian' IL-28 Beagle was a Hungarian AF example & suffered a partial undercarriage collapse, runway excursion & minor fire in the 10 daysish before RIAT. It was declared wfu. where it stopped!
Brain-fog gets us all eventually & Google didn't rescue me this time!

Unrelated, (I think? ) The Beriev BE-12 Chaika (Russian for Seagull /NATO name 'Mail') was also a massive disappointment when it cancelled RIAT for 'serious' reasons! What year was that anybody?

As mentioned in my opening para, the "Il28 Beagle" was a Romanian Air Force Harbin HJ-5, which had been freshly painted for its appearance appearance at Cottesmore and departed the runway after landing on a test flight.

The Be12 was scheduled to have appeared at the 1994 show same year as the SAAF Shackleton was lost on the way in Mauretania.

Thanks for the correction Paul. Guess my eyes saw the Romanian debut but skipped HJ-5 as not a Beagle, coz it wasn't! Certainly a Brian Dedd moment.

Great to tie-in the Chaika too. My excuse for that is a mental void grieving the loss of 'Pelican 16' the SAAF Shack' Mk3 ! &
It was carrying more weight than a C5 for Christsakes.

Great memories & scans Paul - thanks for sharing