RIAT hailed a great success (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

RIAT hailed a great success

THE WORDS of peace campaigners who last week appealed for people to boycott the weekend's air display at RAF Fairford went unheeded.

Greater numbers of people than for some years, estimated at more than 200,000, crowded in to the NATO bomber base to welcome the Royal International Air Tattoo back home after two years away.

And the crush led to queues of traffic stretching for several miles in every direction from the airfield gates.

In 2000 and 2001 the show was held at RAF Cottesmore in Rutland while the Fairford airfield underwent a £60million upgrade.

The base was a launch pad for bomber raids on Iraq during the Gulf War, and for attacks on targets in the Balkans during the Kosovo conflict.

And members of the Gloucestershire Network Against the War, backed by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, had called on people to recognise the link between the aircraft on show and the destruction they caused and to stay away.

But hundreds had lined the airfield fences throughout last week, watching the aircraft arrive, and at the weekend they and thousands more moved inside, even though their progress was slowed by tough security checks which included personal searches and searches of pockets, bags and equipment.

The extra security was introduced in the wake of the World Trade Centre attacks last September, and was enforced throughout the build-up to the tattoo with every worker, serviceman and woman, stallholder and trader checked in and out, with their vehicles being searched.

"It may well have been unpopular if it caused delays," admitted RIAT director Paul Bowen, "but after September 11 there is no way we can take chances."

At last week's launch of RIAT 2002, 85-year-old American war hero Major General Robert Burns welcomed UK backing for the War on Terrorism.

"It is an unusual war in that there's no clear enemy," he said, "but it is a war. "It is being waged against people whose weapons are to use children to transport explosives and kill other children and innocents.

"I cannot conceive how such a thing can be and I thank the UK for its co-operation with our efforts to exterminate it."

General Burns, who was decorated many times, flew with the US Eighth Air Force during World War II, completing 24 combat misions on the B-17 Flying Fortress.

The only airworthy B-17 in the UK, the Sally B, flew in for the display and General Burns led a group of veterans through an Honour Guard of the Queen's Colour Squadron to meet the crew.

At the weekend, standing side-by-side with veterans of RAF Bomber Command, he took the salute at a commemorative flypast in memory of fallen comrades.

On Monday, a RIAT spokesman said that although the weekend had generally been "a great success," delays which had slowed people's entry to the tattoo had been the biggest down-side.

"The new security measures may have been one cause, but another was the fact that we had 10 to 15 per cent more people turning up on Sunday than we have ever had before on the second day.

"We are already looking at ways of dealing with this next year, and in the meantime we would thank the public for their support and patience."

Police made one arrest at RIAT over the weekend when a 61-year-old woman from Hull was held on suspicion of aggravated trespass. After questioning, she was later charged with the offence.

Three thefts were reported at the tattoo on Saturday, including the front grille of a Saab car from a trade exhibitors' car park.

Two unattended handbags were also taken, and were later handed in, minus the cash they had contained.

On Sunday, the theft of a Fuji digital camera and equipment worth £2,000 was reported, as was the theft of a £900 Sony video camera.

Police were also notified of criminal damage caused to a tent on a Kempsford campsite during Saturday night.

On Monday Chief Superintendent Adrian Grimmitt said: "To have such a low rate of crime at an event which attracted more than 200,000 people is very pleasing.

"We would thank the organisers for helping the event to run so smoothly, and also the huge crowds who were so well behaved."

A large number of items of lost property was handed in, including wallets, mobile phones, and spectacles. Anyone who may have lost items should contact police on 0845-090-1234 or RIAT on 01285-713300.

captions: fortress: Flying Fortress, claire: Claire Sweeney stealth: Stealth bomber