The theme at the 2025 Royal International Air Tattoo was Eyes in the Sky, so the focus was on surveillance and reconnaissance. This made for a more varied air display than the last time my Dad and I were here in 2018.
After the SR-71 Blackbird, the U2 is probably the most famous spy plane in the world.
The Boeing RC-135 Rivet Joint. The RAF has three of these electronic intelligence aircraft, but this one is from the USAF.
There were still some fast jets, like this F-16.
RAF Chinook. Probably not the one that was coppicing the trees in the Dale a couple days earlier.
Little bit of AI here to remove a few spectator heads.
The Alenia Aermacchi M-346 Master is used for fast jet training and light combat
In keeping with the theme, these aren't your ordinary Spitfires; during the Second World War, they carried cameras rather than guns.
The Airbus A400M Atlas - a huge plane that has no right being as nimble and aerobatic as it is. This example is from the Luftwaffe, so definitely not the one that shook the roof tiles at home a few weeks before.
This was the first U2 to ever put on a flying display at a UK air show.
It took quite a lot of work in Lightroom to get any detail at all out of a black plane flying against a bright, but overcast sky.
A Boeing P-8A Poseidon, one of a fleet of nine based at RAF Lossiemouth.
The Poseidon is a maritime patrol aircraft. In other words, one of its main jobs is hunting for submarines.
A Dassault Atlantique 2 from the French Navy, another maritime patrol aircraft
A Polish F-16.
The Red Arrows, of course. I wonder how long they'll keep going now that their Hawk T1s are getting very long in the tooth.
The RAFs newest aircraft, the E-7 Wedgetail, made an unannounced fly-by. It only entered service at the end of last year, three years after its predecessor - the E-3 Sentry AWACS - was retired from RAF service.
The Wedgetail was originally built for the Royal Australian Airforce as probably the world's most advanced early warning and control platform. Several other countries, including the UK soon started placing orders.
The Lancaster from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight had some engine troubles in the days before the air show, and was a no-show on Friday. I'm glad it made it for Saturday, seen here with a Hurricane.
A Royal Navy Merlin Mk 2, which sadly wasn't in the flying display. Like the Poseidon, one of the Merlin's main roles is to hunt for submarines, but it operates from ships.
DC-3 Dakota
W3A Sokol from the Czech airforce
The Frecce Tricolori display team from the Italian airforce
A Spanish Typhoon
A Catalina flying boat
A Swedish example of a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk