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The Royal International Air Tattoo, or RIAT by its popular name, is that one airshow in the world that does not need an introduction. You have read that sentence for sure already on the website, and I am happy to use it again! This was the first event to take place after the 2 year covid hiatus, and of course expectations were as high as they could be. We always have an very intensive schedule of photoflying that sounds a bit like this: sleep well to be sharp in the morning! Fly, land, refuel, pee, repeat….for two and a half days. We kicked the Wednesday off as early as we were allowed to take off to meet the RAF Hawk, tack sharp on time and waiting for the picture poses. An always welcome sight is the very colourful C-130 of the Jordanian Air Force, and yes also this time the tail was adorned with a magnificent sticker promoting tourism for Jordan. Also the German A-400M is very much a regular for the airshow and aerial rendez-vous.



		We missed some join ups due to ATC over France delaying jets, and oh drama, one of our expected highlights – the 2 Swedish Sk60s – were cancelled the day before due to …covid, grrr! But being flexible and ready to act instantly brought us a nice pair of helicopters starring the German NH90 and the Czech Sokol. The Italian C-27J Spartan from the RSV and German Tornado made it on time.



The first big highlight was a chance to photograph the C-130 from the Emiri Bahrain Air Force rendez-vous with us after a direct flight from Egypt, and a new Air Force in our long list!!



No time to lose on Thursday, as the Finnish Air Force was the first participant with two Hawks, followed by a pair of Swiss F-18 and another 2-ship of Swedish Gripens. Another highlight was the RAF Puma we were able to squeeze into the program, this would be the last ever time we got to see it air to air. That other RAF StarTeam is the special painted ‘Blackjack’ Typhoon, looking superb in the sky with some fluffy clouds, for sure it’s going to be on the 2023 RIAT calendar!




Our friends of the USAFE did not disappoint, and brought us a 35 minute 2-ship join-up of the new F-35 and F-15 Strike Eagle having some nice special paint on to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the USAF! Incredible show and 2 ship set-ups, thank you guys “Axeee”.



The line-up is always full of highlights, and the chance to see not one but two Hungarian Hinds is just another fine example. The German Sea Lynx is another helicopter star, as they will go out of service very soon so we caught it while we could!





2Excel showed us the Navajo surveillance aircraft while the Italian Air Force granted us another 2-ship set up with the Mb339 and Master. Grazze mille…but we were all eager to see the next join up happening as it would be the number 1 aircraft on the target list. We have flown 1700+ photomissions so far, with nearly every single jet type, but never had a chance to see the AMX….until now, 20 minutes of big big smiles inside the Skyvan.




The Spanish Air Force brought us a 3-ship of EF-18, and yet another highlight was on the schedule: a super unique formation of the Red Arrows and South Korean Black Eagles with the aim of taking the coverphoto for the calendar. Incredible that we get to do this, it is moments like this when we realize how high the Aviation PhotoCrew is appreciated in the airshow industry today. The Black Eagles also gave us another solo pass…and again another new Air Force on our list. During this project, we reached 60+ different Air Forces we have flown with so far. USAFE made us happy again with a superb MC-130 join-up.



And what a unique moment to close the day….a German Air Force A-340! Incredible, and yes another highlight as this aircraft will go out of service very soon. We already made an agreement to capture the new A350 next year.


		Also the final day was full of adrenaline and some serious big ‘star value’ aircraft. Starting with a fantastic show from the Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16 pair, those are becoming pretty rare. We tried a few new maneuvers with them, yea we still find new poses after so many years of flying the Skyvan photoship. Another Dutch treat came in the form for the PushPull Cessna – with smoke – that attended RIAT in regard to the USAF anniversary.

One highlight breaks away from the photoship….only to be followed by another one! What about a flying A-4 Skyhawk in 2022? Top Aces granted us another round of smiles inside the Skyvan cabin. The Lithuanian Spartan gave us a quick hello before yet another supreme moment….how about a real flying Boeing 727 in 2022? We definitely had some time travel experience in this hour. The aircraft is part of the 2 Excel ‘oil spill response’ team, demonstrating that by spraying water. What an unforgettable moment! To conclude our timetravel adventure and going back even further into time we had the grande finale of the RIAT 2022 photomissions with a Hunter T7, one of the very few still flying in Europe today.




Thank you, thank you, thank you to the entire ATC and RIAT Team for the incredible support. If you like to join us on one of our aerial adventures, certainly check out the other pages on our website, or to subscribe to our free newsletter to stay updated.