RAF Leuchars Airshow 2004 - 11th September 2004

The month of September will always be linked with the Battle of Britain. Today, only one RAF "Battle of Britain at Home Day" remains on the airshow calendar, the RAF Leuchars Airshow. While Scotland isn't really thought of as playing a major role during the Battle, it remains an appropriate vanue being the only major public event held at an RAF Fighter Station. Paul Johnson/Flightline UK heads over the border. All Photography copyright of author.

Leuchars is situated in the Scottish county of Fife on the northern edge of the Eden Estuary near St Andrews. Leuchars' current role is that of Air Defence. During the cold war it's main task was the air defence of the northern approaches which were often breached by Soviet bombers and reconnaisance aircraft testing UK air defences. Today, that role continues, but has a far wider range of protect the UK from any aircraft posing a siginificant threat. Leuchars itself is home to three Tornado F3 squadrons. 111(F) and 43(F) are frontline units while 56(R) sqn is the F3 OCU.

The major aim of the airshow is give people, particularly those in Scotland, an opportunity to learn more about the RAF, it roles and it careers it offers. This years airshow was very much a triumph over some terrible weather. The day before the show, much of the northern half of the UK was under very low cloud and high winds. This meant several participants cancelled their arrival until the nest day. Show morning broke to somewhat higher cloud after a particularly wet and windy night. This weather continued into the next day with very gusty winds and isolated heavy showers. This "break" at least allowed a handful of flying display and static participants to arrive, though sadly the Battle of Brtain Memorial Flight remianed firmly oin the ground at Southport. Operational reasons also meant that the Nimrod MR2 display was cancelled. The Royal Navy Historic Flight's Sea Fury and Sea Hawk also were unable to attend as they were still awaiting final clearance to fly again. This did mean that some gaps had appeared in the planned flying programme. These were filled by repeating the Eurofighter Typhoon T1, Hunter F58a, Gnat T1 and F-86A Sabre routines later in the afternoon - a very welcome approach and well received it was too. Well done to the orgainsers and pilots involved.

Static wise there was little out of the usual. If anything, the RAF displays were again a little thin with no representative of the RAF transport fleet, and very small numbers from other assets. We hope this is not a trend that will continue for too long. One thing that did make Leuchars stand out from the other main RAF show was the presence of the United States Air Force. Even though they cut back their participation at the last minute the sight of a B-52H Stratofortress, KC-135R Stratotanker and KC-10A Extender is fast becoming a rare thing at UK airshows, espeacially as the KC-135R was not a Mildenhall based example. They were joined by the more regualarly seen F-15C Eagles from RAF Lakenheath. An aircraft making it's last appearance in it's current guise was the P-3CII Orion of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The Dutch fleet has recently been sold to the German Navy and Portuguese Air Force to supplement their current Maritime aircraft. Another International particpant that caught the eye was a Portuguese Alpha Jet A in it's Tiger Meet colours. The scheme even included a section of canopy. Being a fighter station, it really is unsurprising that the bulk of the international participation comprised of strike and air defence fighters. A Leuchars favourite is the F-4F Phantom II from the Luftwaffe. Now sadly not flown in flying displays, the Phantom is still a star wherever it appears. It was joined by a Tornado ECR which sadly wasn't in one of the famed special schemes often associated with Luftwaffe Tornados. The French too were a nation giving a small, but nevertheless welcome particpation. Unlike Waddingotn where only a small communications aircraft could be spared for the show, at Leuchars could boast a rare appearance by a Mirage 2000D. The French Navy also sent one of it's training Falcon 10MER. Unusually, the only F-16s in the static park came from Danish Air Force which sent two examples.

Much of the flying display was standard fare for a 21st Century RAF airshow will all the major players taking part from the RAF ranks bar the Nimrod. Typhoon was the clear show star in many peoples eyes but the display also included the RAF Chinook HC2 and a welcome SAR demo from the Westland Sea King HAR3A demonstrating it's all weather role in public which hit the headlines during the Boscastle floods. It was also possibly the last time a Royal Navy Sea Harrier FA2 puts on a flying display at RAF Leuchars with the imminent disbandment of 899NAS.

Another rare occurance was that of an airfield attack. While the bad weather had severly hampered the set up of this display, it was most welcome and something a number of other military airshows could do with as part of their flying programmes. While most of the RAF's displays had to put up with pretty dire conditions throughout the day, the clouds did break for the final act, the home based 56(R) sqn Tornado F3. The low sun, very moist air and blue skies all combined to produce perhaps the most memorable atmospheric effects you scribe has ever seen at a show. The zoom climb finale producing a quite amazing spectrum in the condensation!

While the bad weather had meant that a number of items stayed away from Leuchars, we have to mention the Utterly Butterly Barnstomers for their display. Despite the very strong winds, they gave a faultless display. At some points it even looked as they were hovering in the winds and it's can't have been particularly confortable up there! Aside from the Utterly Butterlies, the only other non military displays were all representative of the Royal Air Forces recent past. AVM Cliff Spink brought Golden Apples gorgeous F-86A Sabre up from Duxford for elegent displays while the Sabre's successor, the Hawker Hunter came from Hawker Hunter Aviation based at RAF Scampton in the hands of Louis MacQuade and his unique flying helmet! Almost unbelievebly, the Jet Provost has become something of a rareity on the displat circuit, espeacially considering the numbers now in civilian hands. Leuchars redressed that imbalance somewhat with Eddie Todd giving an excellent display. More advanced RAF trainers were represented by Kennet Aviation's HS Gnat T1 flying as part of the final joint flypasts with the current Red Arrows to mark their 40th Anniversary.

The International participation in the flying display reflected much of what has been seen before at the major RAF shows this year. Unfortunatly, this meant that number of displays from foreign nations has dwindled over the last few years we today we have to be content with a fair amount of repeatativeness. Like all the previous Leuchars shows of late, we were treated to the Ducth and Belgian F-16AM Fighting Falcon displays. While they are both high quality displays, we can't help thinking that ahveing the same two displays each year is just a little too repetative. However, both these nations did send other displays. The Belgian's sent their diminutive Fouga Magister which is now nearing the end of it's career with the Belgian Armed Forces, the last qualified instructor is due to retire from the service. The Dutch Navy displayed their SH-14D Lynx. Though a widely seen display in the 1980s and 1990s, the Lynx has become something of a rariety nowadays so it's a welcome addition, particularly for the antics of the winchman! A rare display indeed came from the Luftwaffe. After withdrawing every fast jet display earlier in the year, it is at least good to see the C-160D Transall displaying as Germany's sole airshow act!

Despite the weather, Leuchars still managed to put on a creditable display. While the show became a little disjointed at the end thanks to a few cancellations, the organisers managed to put on an entertaining show that kept the crowds attention throughout the day while offering some great ground entertainment. While some of the acts appear every year, Leuchars always manages to present something a little different each time.

 copyright Flightine UK 2004