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RIAT have started displaying which flying display aircraft are displaying on which day:

RAF Red Arrows (FRI/SAT/SUN)
RAF Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4 (FRI/SAT/SUN)
RAF F-35B Lightning (FRI/SAT)
RAF Chinook (FRI/SAT/SUN)
RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (FRI/SAT/SUN)
RAF Tucano (FRI & SUN)
RAF Tutor (FRI & SUN)
AAC Apache (SAT & SUN)
USAF F-16C (FRI/SAT/SUN)
USAF CV-22B (SAT & SUN)
Belgian F-16AM (FRI & SUN)
Finnish F-18C (SAT & SUN)
Patrouille de France (FRI & SAT)
HAF T-6C (SAT & SUN)
Frecce Tricolori (SAT & SUN)
ItAF C-27J (FRI & SUN)
ItAF F-2000A (SAT & SUN)
ItAF T-346A (FRI & SUN)
Royal Jordanian Falcons (FRI/SAT/SUN)
RomAF MiG-21 (FRI/SAT/SUN)
Slovenian PC-9M (SAT/SUN)
Spanish Navy EAV-8B Pair (FRI/SAT/SUN)
Swedish JAS-39C (SAT/SUN)
Swiss F/A-18C (SAT/SUN)
Ukrainian Su-27 (SAT/SUN)
Breitling Jet Team (SAT/SUN)
Blades Aerobatic Team (SAT/SUN)
Airbus A400M (tbc)

NATO70 Flypast (FRI/SAT)

BA100 Flypast (SAT only)

That has gone a good way to re-addressing the Saturday/Sunday balance to be fair to DBH. It's a shame not to see everything, but at least there's no one day standing out as the best now.

With just over a week to go until the start of the 2019 Air Tattoo we're back with another addition to our NATO flypasts! The French Air Force will be providing a KC-135R tanker to the already announced line up, which you can read about here.
The French Navy also confirms an Embraer Emb-121 Xingu on static display.

A400M and the Blades to perform a flypast on Sunday to mark Airbus' 50th anniversary (so 4/5 of the aircraft aren't Airbus made, but no matter...)

This smacks entirely of just staging a flypast for the sake of it, not because it's potent or worthwhile or impressive, but just to make Sunday look more equal to the other days on paper. One wonders how many other things they had to try before finally settling with that.

Credible rumours following the Yeovilton show today that the Spanish Navy Harrier pair will only be a singleton on Sunday. Another huge kick in the teeth if true.

Slovenian PC-9 (flying and static) and Let-401 (static) cancelled.

NATO E-3A (flypast) may go the same way as it had to turn back to base, allegedly due to technical problems, but they are expected to try again tomorrow.

One Spanish Navy Harrier (flying) had a small brake fire on landing. Fingers crossed it doesn't impede on the display.

Three Belgian F-16s will open the Saturday show with a flypast.

So here I am on the way home from RIAT. These are my neatly categorised thoughts. Video to follow in due course.

The good
The Finnish F-18 - wow! Probably the best flyer of the day. I also enjoyed the Italian Typhoon, Swiss Hornet, Frecce Tricolori and the MiG-21 (lovely missed approach and great to see, but admittedly a little far away most of the time). The Italian T-346 was very tidy and the RAF Typhoon put on the best display I have seen from it in years. It was also nice to see the C-27 doing rolls again but it was still well below pre-2017 standards. I appreciated the pass by the Patrouille de France to make up for their no show.

The bad
There were no bad displays, per se. However as a general point there was a huge chunk in the middle of the schedule with a bunch of trainers and prop acts during which, it seemed, many people had a nap. Perhaps this could have been spaced better. On that note, I thought the Blades were very good. I still don't think RIAT is the right place for them and I'd far rather something military, but if we have to have some civvy acts, they were quite entertaining and very polished.

The almost-good
As much as I loved seeing the Harriers, I didn't think it was a brilliant display. They didn't do an awful lot, and didn't stick very close together. Same for the Su-27 - some great feedback from Saturday but today I was left feeling a little cold - was that just me?
I had looked forward to the USAF Viper, although it sounds like it was sadly watered down progressively through the week. It's obviously a safe act as it usually is, I wish they didn't have to do that. It promptly went tech after two quite ordinary moves. In fact, the day's only other casualty was the only other US act - the CV-22 - which went tech twice! I was glad they could fix and reschedule it after the first incident but it had to divert again on the way home!

The showground
I have seen many complaints the aircraft parking was very lazy this year. I don't explore the static too thoroughly but I didn't notice this. The fighter line up, Qatari C-17 and Turkish F-4s were my highlights.

Other points
I took the Swindon shuttle bus for the first time. Brilliant stuff - no queues either way! This is the way to do it, if you're not camping.
The difference between the days was pretty unacceptable. There may be good reasons in each case but surely the balance has never been this bad? I have no issue with the days being different but they should be marketed and priced accordingly. Charging full price for Friday is a rip-off and I still feel sore from missing some of the Saturday-only stuff.
Communication has been very poor this year. Incomplete, littered with errors, patronising and tome deaf at times.
The Dunnell/Manwaring commentary due were great as ever but Sam Waller's stilted, scripted interventions became very grating.

Summing up
Look, I had a good day, and I'm glad I went, but there was very little wow factor for me. It's very rare I leave an airshow without having seen something that put a silly grin on my face, but I did today. The show wasn't bad, but it was sterile. Luckily, the quality and quantity of aircraft just about outweighed that.

And the award winners were...

King Hussain Memorial Sword for the best overall flying display: Swedish Air Force JAS-39C Gripen
Sir Douglas Bader Trophy for the best individual flying display: Finnish Air Force F-18C Hornet
Paul Bowen Trophy for the best solo jet demonstration: Ukrainian Air Force Su-27P Flanker
Steedman Display Sword for the best display by a UK participant: Red Arrows
RAF Charitable Trust Enterprises Trophy for the best overseas flying display: Frecce Tricolori
Outstanding Contribution to RIAT 2019 award: Spanish Navy EAV-8B II+ Harrier pair
Best livery: German Air Force "Red Baron" Eurofighter EF2000
As the Crow Flies Trophy for the best overall display as voted by members of FRIAT: Finnish F-18C Hornet

And here is the double award winner in all its glory!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK-m1-0P5Dc

My highlights video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzBWeuUuGyo

Evidently, the Viper Demo aircraft suffered damage during the Sunday display. Delamination along the trailing edge of the right horizontal stabilizer during the first high speed pass.

https://theaviationist.com/2019/07/22/u ... riat-2019/