Blue Eagles

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Army Historic Aircraft Flight | The Museum of Army Flying | Army Air Corps Recruiting

Blue Eagles Team Displays – Waddington International Air Show- 26 and 27th June 2004

The International Air Show at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire is rightly one of the highlights of the British air display calendar. The static park and flying display are always huge, and contain many surprises even for the enthusiast. This year there was an amazing display by a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3C Orion and an Austrian Air Force Saab 105 to delight those who enjoy the unusual. The Blue Eagles were one of many international military aerobatic teams gathered this year at Waddington to celebrate the fact that this year is the 40th Anniversary of the formation of the Red Arrows. In front of an audience of their peers, the Team put on two of their best displays yet in very difficult circumstances. On the Saturday, the weather was blustery with low cloud and heavy rain in intermittent showers. The on-again off-again conditions caused the display organisers headaches and meant that many aircraft and teams were severely restricted in the manoeuvres they could fly. However, the Sunday, from which we bring you this report, dawned bright and clear, but a blustery cross-wind blowing off-crowd still made conditions tricky. As you can see from the photographs below, despite the wind the display was a corker, smooth and accurate.

Visitors to the stand’s popular Gazelle cockpit included Bradley and Emily Drake…..	….and Stephanie and Tim Bellingham, all of whom enjoyed having a good look at the inside of a military aircraft.

Fifteen year old football and air show fan Alex Squire got caught up in a group photo on his visit to the stand.	Graham Wishart explains the finer points of the Army Air Corps and the Team display to visitors.

With the vast number of visitors to the stand, poster signing and sticker distribution were almost full time jobs!	Al Scott showed Adam Kent and Harry Rendall the finer points of the Gazelle’s controls.

The Team run in to begin the display….	….by performing the spectacular cross-over break.

The Gazelles perform a pairs cross.	Before Messers. Smith and Wishart, purveyors of fine unusual attitudes….

….since 2004 take centre stage!	The second pair of Gazelles run in, pull up….

….and break to form the heart in smoke in the sky….	….before making an extremely close pass at the bottom of the figure.

The Lynx is leading this formation, albeit backwards….	….before pulling up to reverse forwards (?) through the Gazelles.

The Lynx….	….really does….

….loop!	The Gazelles run in in pairs for the 90 up/90 down bunts, here are the first pair on the way up….

….and here are the second pair on the way down. Despite the gusty wind conditions the synchronisation of these manoeuvres was spot on!	Ed and Graham return to centre stage in the Lynx prior to the finale.

To begin the finale, the Gazelles run in in line astern, smoking….	….before pulling up to perform Elphinstone loops in trail….

….with the Lynx hovering above the looping formation….	….which, once the loop is complete, the Lynx then backflips through the middle.

One of the other big attractions at Waddington was the Italian Air Force aerobatic team, the Freece Tricolore.	The Team made freinds with the stand next door, a paintball company, which lead to this impromptu group photograph!

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