RAF Leuchars Airshow 2003, Fife, Scotland - 12th September

The last of the tradition Battle of Britain airshows to be held at an RAF base is curiously held in Scotland, which is not exactly one of the first places you think of concerning the Battle of Britain. Today, Leuchars is home to three squadrons of Tornado F3 aircraft with 43(F), 111(F) along with the recent of arrival of 56(R) Tornado OCU.

Despite being an RAF airshow, there were surprisingly few RAF aircraft present at the show, in fact only 11 operational types graced the static parks. Despite this, the show did present a varied and solid line-up, without being too spectacular. Show star was definatlely the Swiss Air Force Boeing F/A-18C Hornet which put on a superb demo of extreme agility. One of the would-be show stars, the Austrian Air Force SAAB J35 Draken failed to get into the air due to a reheat failure - a big dissappointment for the many enthusiasts. Also sufering from technical problems was a German Air Force Tornado which lost a large panel during display practice. Leuchars was further evidence that the Germans have a great deal of time on their hand to paint their aircraft, with the distictive "Monster Jet" in attendance. I say distinctive as I don't want to enter into the debate about whether the paint scheme really is attractive to not! A surprise addition to the static park was a Ukrainian Air Force Illyushin Il-76 Candid. It's great to see the Ukraine starting to reappear at the major military airshows after their previous troubles. With a every improving weather situation, the flying display was much like the static in that while varied, it did not dissappoint, but did not really provide much that was new or unique. The highlights apart from the Swiss F-18 were certainly the two F-16A demos from Belguim and the Netherlands, a rare display by a Luftwaffe C-160 Transall and a unique salute to Scotland by the French Air Force's Patrouille de France.

 copyright Flightline UK 2003