Russians at Farnborough

[elevation76]

When Farnboro' was a 'proper' airshow ,unlike the watered down affair we have now,it attracted a good contingent of Soviet aircraft.Here's a selection of slide scansfrom late 80's early 90's



























On the same theme,A tu-22 Backfire departs Cottesmore RIAT,2001

[Beemer]

Great photos. I recognise most of them but what is the one coded 374. I remember the Backfire at Farnboro' when allegedly they had no fuel for it and they towed it back and too down the runway as a display. Regards Beemer.

[elevation76]

Thanks for the interest,Beemer.The Russian coded '374' is a Mig 31,Foxhound-- a derivative of the Mig 25 Foxbat.As you say the Russians only decided ,at very short notice ,what they were going to fly on a particular day,and the Backfire only flew once in the week.The Yak vstol 'Freesyle' only flew once,as it melted the tarmac when in the Hover !!

[johnoakes]

These shots just raised the bar yet again--beautiful aircraft so well taken.

truly well done.

[wizzair]

Excellent scans.

[crumb]

Good scans. I remember all those frames as I have similar photos. Its true that the Farnborough of today is a poor version of those special trips.

[elevation76]

A further selection from the 'Russian' era.The red/white/blue A/C
were the Sukhoi company demo exhibits-The stumpy one is the Frogfoot,the more elegant one being the Fencer.





Yak 'Freestyle'

[johnoakes]

Cracking good shots.

[john1958]

The year of the Tu22 at Farnborough was a good one for me, I was living a mere 5 mins walk from the airfield, and managed to get my hands on a press pass!!! The press day on the Sunday was a wash out, literaly! It rained the whole day, I remember taking shelter under the Mig 31 at one point, and the tyres on the Tu22 were mostly fabric!!! Very similar to the tyres on a lot of the LZ- Tu154's we used to get on charter flights down at LGW!
I actually got to sit in the Su25 cockpit, it was pretty "snug" to say the least, but I managed to get a look at the c/n plate while I was up there!
Shame these days cannot be repeated.......unless you go to airshows in what used to be eastern Europe!

John