2004-09-13 RAF Leuchars 2004

On Sunday 15 September 1940 the Royal Air Force fought its last major engagement of the Battle of Britain. It effectively concluded a pivotal period of the War in which the Luftwaffe failed to destroy British air defences. Without control of the air over southern England and the Channel, Germany’s planned invasion of Britain was impractical and on 17 September Hitler postponed the invasion indefinitely. Although the Battle of Britain continued until the end of October 1940, subsequent enemy raids were on a much-reduced scale and 15 September is celebrated each year in the United Kingdom as Battle of Britain day.

In recoqnition of the courage and sacrifice of colleagues who helped to preserve freedom that we continue to enjoy, Royal Air Force Leuchars has held an Airshow annually since 1945 on a date chosen to be as close to 15 September as is possible. Today the tradition continues with recoqnition of the past, celebration of the present and anticipation of the future. The central theme of the 2004 Airshow was quite simply today´s Royal Air Force and it was underpinned by a static display that included the majority of the aircraft types in the Royal Air Force inventory.

Looking ahead the Eurofighter Typhoon, which will be a key element of both Royal Air Force Leuchars’ and the Service’s future, was on both static display and was also demonstrated in the air.

The Royal Danish Air Force contribution this year consisted of two F-16M from Aalborg Air Base. The aircraft were E-189 (flown by Captain Kristensen “STI”) and ET-612 (flown by First Lieutenant Andersen “TAE” and Crew Chief Krag). The F-16s took off from Aalborg Friday at 1230 UTC. The weather had been bad all morning with ceiling and visibility below that minimas for both aircrews. After noon the weather cleared up and we were good to go. Having a “hard” landing time of 1349 UTC due to the line-up of the static aircraft we flew quite slow (M0.72) enroute and arrived after one hour and ten minutes of flight. The weather was now worse than forecasted. After a split up for individual approach and after a Ground Controlled Approach both aircraft landed at RAF Leuchars. We were parked in between a British Tornado F3 and two German Tornados. After a quick post flight walk around and refuelling of the aircraft we were picked up and driven to the in processing tent. After the in processing we had to drive to St. Andrews for check in at the dorms at St. Andrews University. We just had time to drop of our bags and then we were heading for RAF Leuchars again. The rest of the evening was dedicated to “meeting and greeting” other aircrews. By eleven o’clock we left the party and headed for St. Andrews. It was time for some food and we went to Balaka, a famous curry house voted the best curry house in the UK in 1999. The food was outstanding…

The next morning we had to get up early. The bus left the Hotel at 0730 and headed for RAF Leuchars. Lots of people were already inbound the Air Base at this time although the flying display did not start until 1000. The gates opened at eight o’clock and by 0845 the flight line was quit full. The weather was windy and there was an overcast but the display teams were able to give people what they came for, although they had to perform so called “low shows” due to the cloud base. After almost ten hours on the flight line it was time to pack up. The French crew of the Falcon 10 transport aircraft had brought some red wine and cheese and invited the rest of the almost frozen static display crews to come join them in their aircraft. What a great idea!!! In the evening RAF Leuchars hosted the big aircrew party but since we had to fly back the next morning we went pretty easy. We left the party at ten o’clock and drove back to the Hotel.

Sunday morning was busy since a lot of the aircrews were leaving. We left the hotel at nine o’clock and after some hours of planning and getting the jets ready for the flight we left RAF Leuchars. The transit ride back to Denmark was initially flown at 2,000 feet to the north. We were told that the landscape to the north was absolutely beautiful and it was a good opportunity to fly in a different airspace and with other procedures than we are used to. En-route to RAF Lossiemouth we passed the Spey River and further to the north we flew over the Orkney Islands - a beautiful part of Scotland which is well known for the great whiskey. Close to Sumburg we got an IFR pickup and climbed to 37,000. The route back to Denmark took us over the most southern part of Norway before we started an enroute descend into Aalborg. The landing concluded a great weekend dedicated to the memories of the past and the people of the persent…

Story by STI

Read more on the official homepage - http://www.airshow.co.uk/

TAE, Krag, and STI in front of E-189 shortly after arriving at RAF Leuchars 2004. 

German F-4 Phantom ICE - which will be replaced by the Eurofighter Typhoon.

French Mirage 2000.

E-189 piloted by Tigger.

Close-up of the pilot - MANY pictures were taken of this jet!!!

Utterly Butterly display team - the only prof. wing-walked team in Europe.

The Red Arrows flying formation with a private owned jet painted in the Red Arrows color scheme. The jet is a Gnat, which was the type used by the Red Arrows before the getting the Hawk.

Red Arrows line-up after the Airshow is over (and the weather has cleared up).

Alpha Jet from Portugal painted in Tiger-colors.

Pilots having fun at the aircrews party after the Airshow.