F-22 Acrobatics at RIAT Airshow in England

The Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) is the world’s largest military air show, held annually over the third weekend in July, usually at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, England in support of The Royal Air Force Charitable Trust. A tattoo is a military performance of music or display of armed forces in general.  According to the British website www.lbc.co.uk, “tattoo” is “from a  Dutch word, probably from William of Orange. It’s the sound of the drum that called troops together each day. It comes from “do dem tap toe,” which told the troops to come back from the pub. It translates as “turn off the taps,” a message to the landlords to stop serving the soldiers to make them leave.