On Friday night at RIAT, people hoped the person putting tracks on the PA system wasn’t predicting the following day as they played AC-DC’s Thunderstruck.

As it turned out, Saturday proved a much better day than Friday’s near total washout.

There were some showers, but a lot of them seemed to avoid the airbase.

Lightning could be seen in the distance, but we weren’t struck by it.

As a result, people poured in through the gates in their thousands.

While Friday’s hardy souls spent a lot of time sheltering under umbrellas, Saturday looked much more like a traditional RIAT crowd.

However, there were still problems.

After cancelling their flight on the Friday as the rain and storms closed in, the Red Arrows lost Red Four (Flight Lt Ollie Suckling) with a strained neck, so performed their routine as a seven.

Swindon Advertiser: Red Arrows on day two of RIAT 2023

And if you’re thinking a strained neck doesn’t sound too serious, it is when you are pulling 3g’s in a turn.

The Battle of Britain Memorial flight also cancelled their appearances on Friday and Saturday thanks to the appalling weather on Friday, and the winds on Saturday.

The team were waiting for a final decision whether to fly on the Sunday.

The wind on Saturday also posed problems for flying displays.

Even modern high-performance fighters had to land angled into the crosswind, and the star of this weekend’s show, the Messerschmitt-262, was grounded by the weather, as was the massive B-52 bomber.

The Me-262, which was due to make its debut at RIAT on Saturday, is a modern replica of the World War Two German fighter, which was the first jet aircraft ever to go into combat.

It was built in a Texasfactory, and uses modern General Electric CJ610 turbojets instead of the original’s Junkers Jumo 004B engines, but apart from that is a faithful reproduction of the original warplane.

Swindon Advertiser: F36 Hover on day two of RIAT 2023

RIAT always features the top aerobatic display teams from around the World, and this year’s show was no exception.

As well as the Red Arrows, the show featured Spain’s Petrulla Aguila, The Royal Jordanian Falcons, The Saudi Hawks and Fursan al Emerat from the United Arab Emirates, who all produced some spectacular precision flying.

RIAT always has themes for the show, and this year’s – Skytanker – celebrates the centenary of the first air-to-air refuelling, on June 27 2023, when an Airco DH-4B passed gasoline through a hose to another DH-4 above Rockwell Field in California – a very precarious operation.

Several of the air displays showed the modern version of the manoeuvre, which is now essential to military operations.

Despite the bad weather on Friday, the weekend’s shows were more like the RIATs of old.

Long may it continue.