This thread is definitely one of the best so far. Thank You @waz bhai jaaan!
My fondest and humblest felicitations to my brothers.
Maybe there is something wrong with the image hosting service? Can you guys recommend a good free one? What I've also noticed is that UK users don't seem to be having a problem, it's international users. I can fix this quick.
Guys can you see this? @Armstrong @jhungary
You were supposed to give your opinion on the Officers just as you did on the NCOs !
The Jordanians @BLACKEAGLE @Saif al-Arab
The Jordanians for many years have been an integral part of the Tattoo, especially since the King himself is a pilot. The Jordanians are the most zaniest, funniest, warm-hearted and hospitable folk around. They really pull out the stops to make their presence a success. As usual the Jordanian Air Force sets up a greeting tent, the only air force to I might add. The tent itself has lots of pictures, paintings and cultural items from Jordan. The tent reminded me of a giant tourism board that came to life! The tent was very comfortable and the personal welcomed people and talked to them about Jordan, its Air Force and current operations. I remember a few years back the Jordanian guys were selling carpets and vases, which people lapped up, especially the ladies. Upon entering the tent we had several of the personal welcome us and ask us to look around. We engaged them in conversation about his excellency the king and current operations against ISIS. They were very open and talked a great deal about he threat such terrorists posed to Jordan and how this is a fight they must and want to win. We said goodbye and they told us to wait, one of them went off and came back and gave us free badges, which they also gave to other visitors. Outside they had their customary bagpipe player who impressively kept up playing throughout the day! That’s eight hours, with breaks though!
Here are the pictures.
Bagpipe player my video
Once again, thank you to his excellency the King, who has promised to always send a delegation from Jordan and of course the Jordanian Air Force, you guys take hospitality to another level.
Definetly a great thread. Thanks for tagging me.
japan is trying to sell these to the uk after they abandoned the nimrod project(shame). a while ago japan was showing it off to an unknown customer. and this just so happens to be in the uk. i wonder who the mystery customer was?Refresh your browser mate, other posters are saying they can seem.
The Japanese. @Nihonjin1051 @yoshi.oda
Now of the one of the biggest stars of the show, making its international debut the Japanese Kawasaki P1, an entirely Japanese made maritime surveillance Aircraft that is set to replace Japan’s P-3C Orions.
Firstly this Aircraft is incredible, it is both cosmetically pleasing, and I’m telling you the P1 literally shown on in the sun. The Japanese had made a tremendous effort in making it presentable and this was no small feat, considering it is a large aircraft, slightly smaller than its Boeing Poseidon counterpart. For tech information there is plenty on the P1 e.g. it operates with a Toshiba AESA radar and so forth.
Walking up to the aircraft, her Japanese crews from the Japan Maritime Self-defense force (11 crew) were all on hand to greet visitors. I walked up and said hello and the several of the crew smiled and bowed, as did I. I began to talk to the crew and told them how honored we were for the plane to have come to RIAT 2015 and this was one of the highlights we were looking forward to. They told us how happy they were here and how people treated them as longtime friends, as opposed to new guests who have come to the tattoo. They were handing out information sheets on the P1, which I thought was a nice touch.
As mentioned before the crew was inundated with fellow Japanese and visitors from other countries. The Japanese, who had mostly come from London, with a few from Japan itself had bought along their families, and the children were being held by the crew members which showed that soft human side, which is rare to see when people are on duty. The Japanese crowd was very enthusiastic and very proud of their new plane and crew. They then did something very praiseworthy; they spoke to the Japanese crowd in Japanese. I asked one of the Japanese students who was from London what they said, he told me that they had asked the Japanese folks to make way for their international visitors, as they were people they may only see once in their lifetimes whilst he Japanese were their brothers and sisters and will always be with them. The international guests loved this and thanked them. The Japanese also made a point of visiting every other Air force and were great ambassadors.
Here is a shot of them taking photos with the Jordanians.
I talked to most of the crew apart from the captain who was busy with official interviews from the world’s media.
Here are the photos.
Japanese guys explaining things with a smile.
Japanese pilots with smiles on their faces as always!
The media talks to the JMSDF!
@waz having difficulty viewing the picsThe Dutch. (Netherlands) @Penguin
I’ve always found the Dutch personal very friendly and they enjoy themselves immensely at the Tattoo. The first showpiece I came across from the Dutch is one of their Apaches, this one belonging to the Royal Netherlands Airforce.
You looking at me?
Dutch Apache display my video
Dutch Chinook
The queue was reasonable outside the Dutch Chinook and it was lovely for the Dutch to have opened up the helicopter for people to have a look inside. This takes a great deal of supervision and patience on behalf of the team. Another thing I noticed that most of the people in the queue were Dutch themselves, and this seemed to be a trend as people flocked to their country’s Air forces’ to say hello. Upon entering the Chinook we were greeted warmly by the Dutch crew and support staff, with a big “good morning”, to which we replied to with big smiles on our faces. One thing I was taken back by was the sheer height of the Dutch, I’m not small myself, just shy of 6ft 1 and 210lbs, but these guys were giants, with several being around 6ft 4 mark. I now know why the Dutch have the tallest average height in the world. I laughed and said them they needed bigger ceilings in the Chinook for them, which made them laugh as well. My friend remarked how well the RNLAF was equipped to which one of the pilots said “well we have so many tulips to shoot up you know”, to which the crowd inside the aircraft erupted into laughter.
Inside the Chinook
Cockpit
Once again we thanked the Dutch, and I’d like to say they were a very pleasant bunch of guys and remained cheerful throughout the day and many people commented on this. Thank you to the RNLAF!
when are we getting our f35b's over to the uk. i know we got 4 at florida for trainingUSAF KC135R stratotanker
US army Blackhawk medical evacuation helicopter.
To end my US tour I came to the US army Apache area and once again the pilots had opened up the chopper for people to take a look inside. The army pilots were again friendly and willing to take questions from anyone. One of the pilots, the chap in my pictures, was lifting up children to sit on the Apache and have their picture taken. Having seen the Apache so many times now in real life, I can’t get over the size and sheer beast like nature of this machine.
Here are the pictures.
Finally I’d like to say a big thank you to the USAF, USN and US army for their contributions to this year’s tattoo. You guys were great ambassadors for your country and everyone spoke of your warmth and openness, especially with regards to opening up so many machines. The nonsense you hear from some folks who say that US personal are ignorant and not very talkative during such events is exactly that i.e. nonsense. Thank you for the compliments about my haircut as well; yes I have a jarhead lol.
you did not get the hint it was the uk they were showing the jet of to.
