Smiling Wings Day - Air Tattoo (RIAT) at RAF Fairford, 13th July 2008

Fun at RAF Fairford

The Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) at RAF Fairford was scheduled for the 12th and 13th of July, but it was not to be. In the days before the event the rains fell heavily in Gloucestershire, flooding the car parks and the viewing areas at Fairford, and the air show was cancelled. AWB had been kindly offered passes by EADS to invite guests to their hospitality chalet on Sunday 13th and, by good fortune for all, the decision was taken to proceed with the hospitality programme as it formed an important part of RIAT. Fortunately the hospitality car park was concrete, rather than the grass of the public car parks, and the hospitality area was dry.

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful sunny day although the problems caused by the rain were evident and grass areas were sodden. Our guests were three children, with parents, from Reach, an organisation whose children had also been AWB's guests at our Smiling Wings days in Perth and Fairoaks, and five children from the African Children's Choir, who were on tour in the UK. The children from the choir are from an orphanage in Nkomazi in the north west of South Africa and have mostly lost their parents to AIDS. They were accompanied by Angie, a charming young American lady from Oregon, who had given up a high-flying career managing bands in the music business to be a 'Mum' with the African Children's Choir. The choir are associated with Jubilee International High School at Addlestone, and a young lady, Preeti, who is a year 9 student, was selected as the school 'ambassador' to assist with the children.

The EADS chalet was elegant and stylish, with its own viewing area, and was a very pleasant venue for the day. Our guests were welcomed by Bettina Nerb and Nathalie Poetzsch of EADS Public Relations and were invited to enjoy the facilities. With not too many people in the hospitality area there was sufficient room in the chalet and the viewing area to move about with ease.

The same was true outside in the static aircraft display and the show was not crowded. As everyone there was a 'special' guest, the atmosphere was very relaxed. There were no problems crossing the rope barriers and going right up to the aircraft and the crews were happy to invite visitors on board.

A delicious buffet lunch was served, and in the afternoon sunshine, the small crowd was able to view some aircraft movements. A WWII Typhoon fighter and a Lancaster bomber were seen departing, followed later by a formation take-off of the Red Arrows. To everyone's delight the Red Arrows returned later and put on a short display before peeling off to land back at Fairford. RIAT, in spite of the weather problems, was a great day out and everyone had a good time. The weather was wonderful, lots of aircraft were viewed and some flying was seen. As a Thank You to EADS, the children of the Choir sang two songs in the chalet for the EADS guests, amongst whom was the wife of the South African Minister of Defence who warmly thanked the children for their impromptu performance.

At the end of the day Bettina and Nathalie presented the children with posters and other items and AWB presented Amy Bears and aviation 'remove before flight' key tags. On leaving, all at EADS were thanked for their generosity and the chalet staff were thanked for their kind attention.

As the emails below testify, a wonderful day was had by all.

'I have finally got my son up to bed. He has been letting everybody know just how much of a fantastic time we have had with you today at RIAT. It was obviously a shame that the weather prevented the full air show from taking place, but the weather could not dampen what has amounted to a fabulous day. We would sincerely like to thank Aviation Without Borders for giving our son this unique experience. It was clear to see in the faces of all the children today that your work really does make a difference to their lives. We would also like to thank EADS and all of the chalet staff for making the day possible and for looking after us'

'Thankyou, Thankyou, Thankyou, Thankyou, AWB and EADS for a wonderful day at Fairford on Sunday 13 July 2008. We all had a great day and enjoyed seeing the aircraft on and off the ground! We are indeed grateful and blessed to have met you at AWB - you are truly very 'special' people'.

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