Royal International Air Tattoo 2011, Fairford, Gloucestershire

In July I took time out from weddings and portraits and headed down to Fairford in Gloucestershire to photography the Royal International Air Tattoo.  We were very lucky with the weather on the Sunday as Saturdays display had been seriously hampered by the rain.

For the event I hired a beast of a lens, Sigma 300mm / 800mm, nicknamed in the trade as the Sigmonster! At nearly £7000 to buy I certainly won’t be rushing to the shops for a purchased but I was curious to see how it would perform at an airshow. If I am going to be totally honest, it’s not worth the price tag. Although it’s very good, I do believe that Canon built lens perform better and as you can also see from the first picture, it’s a fairly big piece of equipment to carry around! (Camera phone picture)

The airshow was very well attended by most air forces with the exception to the American’s, there was a small amount on display and the A10 was certainly one that impressed me. As always, the F16’s and the UK Typhoon fighter were stars of the show, along with the wonderful Vulcan bomber and of course the Red Arrows.

Below are a few pictures from the day. (First picture taken by camera phone)