THREE COAST AVIATION
RAF Cosford Air Show
The RAF hosts an annual, one day air show at RAF Cosford in Shropshire. RAF Cosford opened in 1938 as part of the RAF expansion between WWI and WWII. The base is still operated as a training school and is home to the very impressive RAF Midlands Museum, but the short runway results in many of the air show participants being based elsewhere, including all of the fighters.
2022
The RAF Cosford Air Show returned in 2022 after two years of cancellations due to the pandemic. This was the only official RAF air show of the 2022 season and treated a sold out crowd of approximately 60,000 visitors to a spectacle that celebrated the Queen's Platinum Jubilee and a 40 year commemoration of the Falklands War, with a bonus tribute to the air-sea rescue section. Historic Helicopters presented a wonderful collection that included a Westland Wessex HU5 and Lynx Mk7 in the flying display and a Westland Whirlwind and Sea King HAR 3 in the static. The four fighters that took part in the aerial programme were an RAF F-35B Lightning, the "Black Jack" Typhoon FGR4 from the RAF Typhoon Display Team, a Dassault Rafale C from the French Rafale Solo Display Team and the Belgian F-16 Solo Display Team in their newly painted "Dream Viper". Warbirds included a P-51D Mustang, a Consolidated PBY Catalina and a pair of Spitfires from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
