The 40 page Lincolnshire Echo supplement marking the Red Arrows’ 35th Anniversary Season will be on sale today (6 June) at all the usual newsagents and bookshops in the County for the very reasonable sum of £1. Watch this space for details of mail order purchases. The pic shows the author, Tony Cunnane, making final checks of the supplement with the newspaper’s graphic designer just before the presses started to roll.

08 June 1999

The Red Arrows visited Lappeenranta in Finland earlier this week for their 10th display in that country, the first since 1984. It was almost the land of the midnight sun – certainly it never got dark. On the way home on 7 Jun the 11 Red Arrows were escorted out of Finnish airspace by 2 F18 Hornets of the Finnish Air Force. This picture shows Red 11, our own Wing Commander Dick Johnston flying in the box at 39,000 feet. The photograph was taken by Reds’ photographer Colin Searle flying in Red 10’s back seat.

10 June 1999

Thursday 1 July will be a big day for Scotland. The Queen, attended by other members of the Royal Family, will be opening the first Scottish Parliament (the first of modern times, anyway), at a ceremony on the Mound in the centre of Edinburgh the nation’s capital city.

The Red Arrows will be making their own contribution to the ceremony by flying along Princes Street and over the Scott Memorial at 1215. The Red Arrows will be flying at 1,000 feet above the ground, at 360 kts, from east to west in Big Vixen formation. Depending on weather conditions, the aircraft will smoke either white, or blue and white – the colours of the Scottish flag. Spectators will notice a 10th aircraft close to the Big Vixen. That will be our photo aircraft flown by Red 10 and in his back seat will be Doug Nicholson, staff photographer of the Dundee Courier.

After passing over the expected huge crowds in Princes Street, the Red Arrows will continue westwards to fly over George Square, Glasgow (Scotland’s second city) at 1221.

On the day before, Wednesday 30 June, the Red Arrows will position at RAF Kinloss ready for the Edinburgh flypast. En route from Cranwell to Kinloss the Red Arrows will make a photo-run over the official residence of our Commandant-in-Chief, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, at Birkhall in the Queen’s Balmoral Estate. The whole area around the Balmoral Estate is a prohibited area for all aircraft but for this occasion the Queen has given her permission for the Red Arrows to fly over Birkhall. On the day of the flypast, Balmoral Castle grounds will be open to the public as normal because the Royal Family will not be in residence. However, to avoid disturbing the many animals that graze peacefully close to the Castle, the Hawks have been asked to avoid overflying certain areas of the Estate and so visitors to Balmoral Castle are unlikely to see the Red Arrows.

For this flypast over Birkhall the Red Arrows will fly south-westwards down the densely-wooded and steep-sided Dee River valley, close to the A93 trunk road, passing over the beautiful town of Ballater (the bridge over the river) a few seconds before sweeping over Birkhall House. I will publish timings for this flypast as soon as the programme is planned but it is likely to be about 1600hrs. Team Manager, Squadron Leader Ginge Paige, and I will be on the ground at Ballater and will be pleased to meet any of our web readers (or anyone else for that matter!).

The last time the Red Arrows flew over Birkhall was in 1991 when they were accompanied by the six SU-27s of the Russian Knights, making their first visit to the United Kingdom. The picture shows Adrian Thurley leading the Red Arrows (in Big Vixen formation) and the Russian Knights while the Queen Mother looks on.

16 June 1999

Here is a nice pic of the Red Arrows pulling up into a loop. In the background is a rare view of the RAF College at Cranwell. On one edge of the parade ground are the stands erected for spectators at Passing Out Parades. The pic was taken by well known aviation photographer, E J van Koningsveld.

25 June 1999

The Red Arrows have been given approval to flypast the Millennium Dome at Greenwich on Saturday 26 June en route from Cranwell to Biggin Hill. The Reds will be at 1,000ft agl and flying at 360 kts (c400 mph). Red 10 will be flying on the port side of the formation to obtain air-to-ground pics.

The Team has a fixed arrival slot time at Biggin of 1458 BST (it is Day 1 of the Biggin Hill Air Fair). Assuming that slot time does not change, that means the Hawks will pass the Dome at 1454 BST. The run in starts at 1452.30 BST on top J3 of the M25 at Swanley, then in a straight line towards the NW to pass between the Dome and Canary Wharf at 1454. There should be good views from the top of Canary Wharf, if you can get up there, and also from the City Airport.

25 June 1999

Some significant changes to the flypasts for the opening by the Queen of the Scottish Parliament on 01 July are being considered. The Red Arrows may be joined by a British Airways Concorde so have your cameras and video recorders serviced ready. Times have slipped by 5 minutes and the route has changed very slightly. Details are still being worked out so watch these pages for the first authoritative news.

25 June 1999

As those readers in the south east of England may have seen and heard on their local TV and radio, before the Red Arrows’ displays on Saturday and Sunday at the Biggin Hill Air Fair, the nine Hawks of the present Team will flypast in formation with two of our predecessors: a red Gnat and a black Hunter T7a – formerly part of the Black Arrows.

It was a very great pleasure at the Press Facility at Biggin Hill on Thursday 24 June to meet with Squadron Leader Roger Topp, looking hale and hearty, who led the Black Arrows in the late 50s and was Leader when that Team looped 22 Hunters and barrel-rolled 16 at the Farnborough Air Show in 1958. A world record then and it still is to this day.

25 June 1999

The Red Arrows will be joined by a British Airways Concorde for the flypast over Edinburgh and Glasgow on Thursday 1st Jul after HM The Queen opens the Scottish Parliament.

The Concorde, which will earlier have flown Government Ministers and other VIPs from London to Edinburgh, and the Red Arrows will take off from Edinburgh Airport at 1154. After forming up over the North Sea close to RAF Leuchars, the formation will turn onto a southerly heading to pass over the East Lothian coast between Dunbar and East Fortune at 1215, turn towards the west, pass over Prestonpans at 1219, Princes Street Gardens Edinburgh at 1220 and George Square Glasgow at 1227.

Four Red Arrows will fly on each wing of the Concorde; the Team Leader, Squadron Leader Simon Meade, will fly directly behind and slightly below the Concorde. All the aircraft will be about 1,000 feet above the ground and will be flying at 350 mph, less than the Red Arrows’ normal flypast speed because of limitations imposed on Concorde at low level. Said Squadron Leader Tony Cunnane, the Red Arrows’ Public Relations Officer, "At this speed the Concorde will be generating large wing tip vortices which means the eight Red Arrows pilots on the wings will have to work very hard to maintain a steady position. Red 1 will also be working hard: he will have to maintain a formation position himself instead of the normal situation where everyone else follows him. He will certainly not have time to admire the views of Edinburgh and Glasgow!"

27 June 1999

28 June 1999

28 June 1999

Please address any correspondence to [email protected]

Copyright © 2000, DeltaWeb International Ltd