Nine cadets and two members of staff from 340 Squadron joined almost 200 of their colleagues from Kent Wing ATC at the Biggin Hill International Air Fair over the weekend of 7/8 June 2008.

Kent Wing has for many years now, been assisting the show organisers by performing important duties such as ticket checking and marshalling on the static aircraft line-up.

What a weekend it was! The forecast rain on Saturday didn't materialise and instead, the Commanding Officer ended up with sunburn (as a result of not practising what he preached to cadets about applying sun cream regularly!) On Sunday, temperatures soared to 27 degrees and for the first time in history, the gates into the show were closed for safety reasons as 70,000 people were already enjoying the aerial action.

The display itself was awesome as ever, particularly the RAF Role Demonstration featuring Tornadoes, Hawks, a Chinook, a Sentry and an Army Air Corps Apache attack helicopter.

The star of the show however, and the winner of the trophy for the best display, was the French Air Force Mirage 2000 from Escadron de Chasse 02.005 at Orange Air Force Base, flown by Capitaine François "Ralloch" Rallet. You may have read the 340 Squadron RAF history page on this site. If you have, you'll know that EC 02.005 were once 340 (Ile de France) Squadron RAF.

On Sunday afternoon, Flight Lieutenant Teague, Civilian Instructor Burke and Instructor Cadet Warrant Officer Barnes joined colleagues from other squadrons for a close-up look at the Mirage with Capitaine Rallet, including sitting in the cockpit of the jet. Before we left, we swapped contact details with Capitaine Rallet and hope that at some point in the future we will be able to visit him and EC 02.005 at their home in southern France.

RALLOCH - THANK YOU FOR YOUR HOSPITALITY. IT WAS AN HONOUR TO WELCOME YOU AND YOUR TEAM BACK TO BIGGIN HILL, ONCE YOUR HOME IN THE UK, AND MANY CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING THE TROPHY FOR YOUR MAGNIFICENT DISPLAY.

So the weekend summed-up in three words... "Hot", "busy" but "awesome"! There are some pictures in the gallery - take a look...