LAST year I attended the Royal International Air Tattoo for the first time and loved it. 

But as someone who isn't particularly a plan enthusiast, I wondered to myself at that time if the annual event at RAF Fairford is something that can hold up to repeat visits and keep a heathen like me entertained. 

So, there was only one way to find out - go again and see if I walked away with the same feeling I had from 2022.

Read More: Air Tattoo: I went to RIAT for the first time ever - here's what it was like

Admittedly this year's event had a few things going against it, gone was the glorious (albeit too glorious) sunshine from last year, with this year's weather featuring some positively soggy moments and at times downright depressing downpours.

And personally, this year's event fell at a very awkward time with my wife who suffers from endometriosis having a particularly bad flare up meaning that she couldn't come with me as planned.

These things meant that I wasn't really in the best of moods or in the right headspace but as soon as I saw my first display, the perhaps rather-apt Red Arrow, my mood certainly lifted. It truly is amazing to be able to see the things these pilots and teams do up close, to be able to hear their engines roaring so vividly. 

I also met up with some friends, one of which is a plane enthusiast, and in his awed enthusiasm, I was instantly reminded of my own reaction to my first time at a RIAT the previous year. 

I stayed and watched a few more displays, including a really cool Atlas refuelling and the Saudi Hawks display team, but not wanting to be away from my wife for too long, I called it a day shortly after it absolutely bucketed it down. 

I may have entered not in the best of moods and left in a damp, dishevelled state, and it may not have been as good as it was last year for several reasons, but I still left with a smile on my face feeling better than I did, having had a good day, and I think that says a lot about how good an event like RIAT really is.