The round trip exceeds 5300 miles and we will be supported all the way by a C130J Hercules of No 24 Squadron, RAF Lyneham, captained by Flight Lieutenant Simon McCarthy.

24 August 2002

On Tuesday 20th August Nimrod XV228 from 42(R)Sqn based at Kinloss flew in to RAF Scampton to put the final touches to the plans for Exercise Maple Arrow. When the Red Arrows set out for Canada on Monday they will have a 2660 mile journey ahead of them, much of it over water so they’ll be grateful for the presence of the specialist Nimrod Search and Rescue Aircraft flying along side.

Navigator, Flt Lt Steve Adkinson, points out that the Nimrod is not only there to offer emergency cover, but to relay long distance radio messages and plot air and sea traffic.

Once in Canada the Nimrod will prove something of a crowd puller when it displays at Burke Lake Front on 31st August, 1st and 2nd September. Then the aircraft will fly down to Jacksonville Florida to train with the US Navy, returning to display, along with the Red Arrows, at Sheerwater on September 7th.

Not only is the Nimrod an unusual sight in that part of the world, but the crew should turn some heads too – as a Scottish Squadron they will be wearing kilts!

22 August 2002

In the midst of a very busy and long weekend for the Team, starting as it did on Thursday 15 August with displays at Eastbourne and Dawlish, the ground support Team under Red 10, Flt Lt Steve Underwood, met up with the web site team from DeltaWeb at Eastbourne on Saturday 17 August. The display took place in a slight sea haze, but otherwise excellent conditions, but sadly had to be curtailed due to the appearance of a microlight aircraft in the display area. Of course, safety came first, and Spike took the Team well to the west and held until the intruder had cleared the zone, but this delay left the Team short of fuel. PC Carson took the images from the display below. The pictures were transmitted direct from the air show site to the web site by mobile phone and laptop computer, so here, from Eastbourne Airbourne festival, are the Red Arrows very nearly live on their web site for the first time!

17 August 2002

Flight simulation is one of the most popular hobbies for personal computer users. The internet is a vast store of free add-ons for Microsoft Flight Simulator. In a few days we hope to be able to offer you free downloads of the Red Arrows Hawk and scenery for RAF Scampton. These screenshots provide a taster of what is to come:

14 August 2002

Our webmaster has spent a lot of time over the past few days re-vamping the site. The Menu options have been changed to a more logical order. The main update this weekend has been the complete updating of the Scampton history page. Ian Hewitt, who left us recently, spent a lot of time putting the history together, using Bases of Bomber Command as his source. Tim Callaway, our webmaster, with Keith Draycott and ‘PC’ Carson, his designers, specially created all of the graphics on the page. We hope you enjoy the results of their efforts.

14 August 2002

Red 6’s backseater, Kurt Barker, took our digital camera with him on the weekend push of 13 and 14 July. Kurt managed to take some exceptionally good photographs and they are shown below with apologies from the web team for the delay, due to what can only be described as a surfeit of technology! Click on the thumbnail to view a larger version of each picture.

12 August 2002

Our last news story mentioned that the Team were on the ground at Exeter Airport waiting for the weather to improve sufficiently for the Reds to carry out their display at Lyme Regis. Unfortunately, the weather actually worsened and the display had to be cancelled.

On Thursday 1 August, the Reds flew to RAF Coltishall in Norfolk, the home of the Royal Air Force Jaguar Wing, where they were met by our road support party which had travelled down from Scampton that morning.

The weather had improved by the time the Team took off to open the Families Day at RAF Marham. The Reds were restricted to a flat show until the final minutes of the display when the skies cleared and Spike Jepson and his men were able to close the performance with a full loop.

Back to Coltishall for a refuel and top up of the diesel tanks then off the Lowestoft on the Suffolk coast to close their show. The weather was absolutely perfect and the Reds carried out their full routine.

From the first day at Lowestoft, under cloudy skies, but a full show. Click on the image for a bigger picture.

Overnight the bad weather had moved to the north of England and the Team opened the show at Lowestoft under blue skies yet again – another full display.

From the second day at Lowestoft, in a perfect blue sky. Click on the image for a bigger picture.

All Lowestoft Seafront Festival photographs by DeltaWeb’s newest photographer, PC Carson.

Our plan was to then position at Newcastle Airport overnight. However, the bad weather which we had experienced at Exeter had apparently found his new home over Newcastle Airport – 100 foot cloudbase and heavy rain. The forecast for Tees-side Airport was, fortunately, a bit better. At only 40 minutes notice, the good people in Operations at Tees-side, particularly Lee Scott, had made all the arrangements to accept our 10 aircraft, refuel them and look after them overnight. We are extremely grateful to all the people who changed their arrangements at such short notice.

Saturday dawned extremely grey and miserable but the Team still managed to display at Kielder Forest in Northumberland, albeit only a flat show was possible. The Reds were then off to Brize Norton for their last planned visit of the season. We seem to have spent a lot of time at Brize this season and all of us, aircrew and groundcrew, would like to thank the operations and engineering personnel there for all their assistance this season.

We were due to display at Middle Wallop at precisely 1914 on Saturday evening as part of the their Music in the Air festivities. Massive thunderstorms were moving through the area and we just would not have been able to leave Brize Norton at our planned take-off time. The show organisers agreed a 5 minute delay to our arrival. The Reds took off from Brize Norton just after a massive thunderstorm passed by. They then skirted round some absolutely awful weather to run in to Middle Wallop – by the time they arrived at the display venue, the skies had cleared and the Reds were able to carry out a full show.

On Sunday morning the Team moved to Manston to prepare for the show at the Brands Hatch racing circuit in Kent. Airspace restrictions around Brands Hatch meant that the Team would carry out a flat show whatever the weather. As Spike Jepson led his Team into the first bend of the display, Red 4, Antony Parkinson, announced that he had suffered a bird-strike in the left hand engine intake. The aircraft was still performing satisfactorily but no chances can be taken in such a situation. Under instruction from the Boss, Parky left the formation using a pre-arranged manoeuvre and diverted to Biggin Hill where he landed safely. The Team then carried out an 8-aircraft display at Brands Hatch.

After the Brands Hatch show, Red 9, Justin Hughes, landed at Biggin Hill while the rest of the aircraft recovered to Manston. Two of our engineers, Flight Lieutenant Tim Beagle and Corporal Rich Penney, then moved by road from Manston to Biggin Hill to investigate the damage to Parky’s jet. Parky was returned to Scampton in the back seat of Justin Hughes’ aircraft.

At the time of writing (1950 hrs on Sunday evening), there appears to be no major damage to the aircraft but a full engineering inspection will be carried out over the coming days.

The Reds arrived back at Scampton just before 1600 this afternoon and the pilots can now look forwarded to a week’s holiday.

They will be back at work on Tuesday 14 August and will have the pleasure of undergoing their regular simulator training at RAF Valley before moving to Bournemouth on 15 August for a series of shows along the south coast. Check out our display dates page to see where and when they will be performing.

04 August 2002

Up to and including 30 July, the Team have flown 47 displays, broken down as follows:

• Full shows 25
• Rolling shows 10
• Part Full Part Rolling shows 4
• Flat shows 8

In addition, we have flown 4 dedicated flypasts, 3 of which were for Her Majesty The Queen – over London, Portsmouth and Manchester.

01 August 2002

Four technicians from the Red Arrows aerobatic team based at RAF Scampton are about to criss-cross Britain on Duccati motorcycles riding between John O Groats and Lands End, stopping to open the Red Arrows mobile shop each day en route to raise £5000 for the Downs Syndrome Association.

They will leave for John O Groats on Wednesday 31st July, beginning their trek on August 1st calling at Festival Square Edinburgh on August 2nd, Parliament Street York on August 3rd, Church Street Liverpool on August 5th, and Queen Street Cardiff on August 7th, completing their journey to Lands End on August 8th. After a short rest the team are invited to join their Super Bike hero John Reynolds at Thruxton to show their Duccati machines off to race fans. Organiser, Senior Aircraftsman Paul Sparrow, said "It should be a fantastic trip, everyone has been so supportive, especially Duccati for lending us the bikes. We are really looking forward to meeting people on the way, and hope we can reach our fundraising target".

The four man team consists of SAC Anthony McCormack (left), Cpl Jim Donaldson (centre left), SAC Paul Sparrow (centre right), Cpl Kenny McCreadie (right), and SAC Paul Hope (front – driver of the support vehicle) all looking distinctive on their Red Ducati Sports motorcycles and dressed in red and black suits and helmets. Look out for them on their trek and give them a wave.

To get your hands on some genuine Red Arrows merchandise, meet the team and help the Downs Syndrome Association, call into any of the centres on their itinerary between 10 and 4, or you can make a donation at any Natwest bank quoting RAFAT Downs Syndrome. Your support means a lot.

01 August 2002

A high profile initiative by the Society of British Aerospace Companies designed to support and shape the learning and achievements of young people, launched their innovative web site at an event in Farnborough on 22nd July. The initiative is called Launchpad for Learning, and the Wavell School in Farnborough, the lead/trial school, will become one of the specialist science and technology schools in the new Government-backed scheme.

This initiative has the strong support of the Air Cadet Organisation and Air Commodore Chitty, Commandant Air Cadets, was also present at the launch of the web site by Sqn Ldr Lyn Johnson at Wavell School during the recent Farnborough Air Show week. As Sqn Ldr Johnson explained: "The idea to create a partnership between technology businesses and schools, is initially centred on aerospace industries and their partner schools. This will recognise the fundamental role of schools in setting the agenda for an enhanced physical learning environment, with industry supporting schools in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning. The intention is that students will be better prepared for the world of work and have better access to information and experience of the science and technology fields. This is certainly a good way to engage youngsters in the possibilities open to them in the future. The kids I met were all really enthusiastic about science and aviation and I think this is the sort of initiative that could encourage a lot of them to think about aerospace as an interest at an early age. This can then be pursued through organisations like the Air Cadets, which may then develop into a career aspiration as they get older."

For more information on Launchpad for Learning and the UK Aerospace industry visit launchpadforlearning.com, and you can find out more about the Air Cadets by going to www.aircadets.org.

01 August 2002