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When were the Red Arrows formed?
The Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, the correct title for the Red Arrows, was formed in 1965. The first display was at RAF Little Rissington in the Cotswolds on 6 May 1965. It was a special display flown to introduce the Team to the media. Due to bad weather a flat show was flown.
What is the real purpose of having the Red Arrows?
For many years the Red Arrows’ Team was a very potent recruiting agent but that is less true today (January 2000). A significant number of officers and airmen, not just aircrew, used to tell the Recruiting Staff that they wanted to join the RAF because they had enjoyed watching the Red Arrows at Air Displays. However, recruiting is less of a problem in the modern, streamlined RAF. The Hawk aircraft as flown by the Team is British and most of its components are British made. Thus the Red Arrows demonstrate British skill and British technology to an enormous number of people each year, including over 2.5 million Americans during the 1993 USA Tour and several million more during the 1995/96 tours of the Middle East, Africa, Far East and Australia, including 1.2 million at Sydney alone on Australia Day in January 1996. The fact that British Industry was prepared to fund similar tours to the Middle and Far East in 1997 and 1999 seems to bear this out.
What are the weather limitations on displaying?
There are three types of display the Leader can fly: the Full Display; the Rolling Display; and the Flat Display. To carry out a full looping display the base of the cloud must be above 4500 feet to avoid the aircraft entering the cloud at the top of a loop. If the cloud base is less than 4500 ft but more than 2500 ft the Team will perform the Rolling Display substituting wing-overs and rolls for the loops. If the cloud base is less than 2500 ft the Team will fly the Flat Display which consists of a series of fly-pasts and steep turns. When cloud conditions are changing rapidly, the Team can switch from one display to another and back again just on a simple word of command from the Leader. Thus the Team can always fly the best display for the conditions. Incidentally, it is not dangerous if the aircraft do enter cloud, even at the top of a loop. The pilots are well practised at flying in close formation in cloud. However, there is no point in doing this deliberately at a public display!
Do the pilots fly lower when the weather is bad?
Certainly not. The base height of the display is the same irrespective of the weather conditions. However, when the weather is bad people on the ground sometimes get the impression that the aircraft are flying lower than normal. This is usually due to optical and audio illusions. Low cloud reflects the aircraft noise downwards and, by adding to the noise coming directly to your ears, makes the display seem noisier than usual. Similarly, a low cloud base acting as a near backdrop to the display, rather than the limitless blue sky, gives the visual impression that they are lower than normal.
Why don’t the Red Arrows give a limited display in poor weather?
People often ask why two, three or four aircraft do not give a display when the weather is too bad for all nine. The answer is that the Team has practised a nine-aircraft display all winter. Any variations from that routine could be dangerous due to lack of planning and practice. In any case, people expect to see all nine aircraft and would feel cheated if only a small number performed. If the weather is sufficiently poor to prevent even a flat show, individual Hawks would be able to do only straight flypasts and they would not be very interesting for the spectators.
How low do the aircraft fly?
The Red Arrows do not fly directly over the crowd below 1000 feet. Manoeuvres in front of and parallel to the crowd can be flown down to 200 feet. The Synchro Pair are allowed down to 100 feet in straight and level flight in front of and parallel to the crowd line. Inverted flight by the Synchro pilots is not below 150 feet above the ground. These and other restrictions virtually eliminate the possibility of an accident similar to the one at Ramstein some years ago.
Is the Red Arrows’ flying dangerous?
There is, of course, an element of danger in any form of flying but the type of flying carried out by the Red Arrows is not dangerous in itself. The pilots have been selected for their above average flying skills and they are all proficient at formation flying before they get anywhere near selection for the Team. In the early part of the training season the pilots fly in small groups of four, five or six aircraft. As the months pass and they gain experience, the number of aircraft in the formation is gradually increased and the base height lowered. Usually by late-January, British weather permitting, the Team will be practising with nine aircraft at display heights.
How is the coloured smoke made?
Strictly speaking it is not smoke, it is vapour. If you look closely underneath a Red Arrows’ Hawk you will see an extra fuel tank bolted onto the lower fuselage. This tank contains ordinary diesel fuel. At the back of the aircraft, immediately above the jet exhaust pipe, there are three small tubes, one for each of the colours red, white and blue. Through these tubes the pilot can pump small quantities of the diesel fuel. When the diesel meets the extremely high temperatures found in the jet exhaust (over 550 degrees Celsius), the diesel immediately vaporises creating an intense white cloud. With separate switches on his control column, the pilot can add red or blue dye to the diesel and produce the other two colours. If you stand close enough to a Red Arrows display you can smell the vaporised diesel but the experts tell us that it is completely harmless to health and is environmentally friendly. Certainly there are no known cases of anyone’s health being damaged by inhaling the fumes.
Does the smoke serve any useful purpose or is it just decorative?
Both. It serves several useful purposes: in poor visibility conditions it enables the crowds at a display to see the Team more easily at the extremes of the display area. It is also valuable in the second half of the show when the Synchro Pair have split off from the remaining aircraft. You will notice that smoke is used quite frequently in the second half of the show so that the Team Leader can see where the Synchro Pair, or the formation comprising Reds 6 to 9, are and vice versa.
How do the Red Arrows decide where to give displays?
The Red Arrows do not decide where they are going to display. Fortunately, because the members of the Team would rather not get involved in deciding who to say yes to and who to turn down. There is an organisation known as the Participation Committee (PC); that committee decides where the Red Arrows and all the other RAF display resources will perform.
How many requests are there every year for displays?
The number varies from year to year as you might expect. There are always far more requests than available dates and for some of the most popular dates, for example the weekends in summer, there are usually several conflicting requests. It seems to be a fact, however, that the total number of air displays in the United Kingdom is gradually reducing year by year. According to some of our friends who are in the business of running air displays, this reduction does not mean there is any lessening in the enthusiasm of the British public for air displays; it is simply that the costs of mounting public displays is increasing and so some of the smaller organisers are being forced out of the business. Perhaps people do not realise that there are lots of extraneous costs: for example, if the police are needed to help with controlling traffic, as they almost always are, the organiser has to pay. RAF At Home Days with major flying displays are now very few and far between. This is because most Station Commanders now have too few RAF personnel available to help with all the extra work such At Home Days create and civilian contractors, not unreasonably, will charge the RAF for any extra duties they have to perform over and above their contractual requirements.
Can we book the Red Arrows for our Village Fête?
The quick answer is ‘yes, but!’ Anyone can make a bid for the Red Arrows (or any other RAF display aircraft for that matter). You need to make your bid in writing between October and December for the following year. The Red Arrows, however, do not decide where they are going to fly. The MOD Participation Committee collates all the many hundreds of requests and considers them on their merits. In addition to the ninety-plus full displays the Red Arrows give each year, the Team flies quite a few straight flypasts at ftes, garden shows, sponsored events, etc when they can be fitted in whilst in transit to or from a full display and when there is no significant deviation from the planned course. Your chances are not particularly high because there are far more bids than the Team can possibly satisfy. However, if you don’t ask. . . . Initial enquiries from organisers can be sent to the Red Arrows Public Relations Officer at RAF Cranwell and he will advise you how to proceed.
What about flypasts by the Red Arrows?
Flypasts, with very rare exceptions, are permitted only when the Team is already in transit close to where the flypast is required. For example, when the Red Arrows are returning to base at Cranwell from a display or a detached base they can often be programmed to make a straight flypast at a local event somewhere close to the planned route. They would not be programmed to do any flypast that involved a considerable deviation from the planned route because that would incur extra fuel and aircraft operating costs. Flypasts are always subject to cancellation at short notice for operational reasons such as weather conditions, Air Traffic Control restrictions, aircraft unserviceabilities. That is the negative side; on the positive side, flypasts are free.
When the Team is transiting between two airfields they always fly in a tidy formation at a reasonably low height, typically about 1,000 feet above the ground, weather and air traffic control restrictions permitting. This is a deliberate policy to allow as many people as possible to see the Team. It also avoids the aircraft having to climb up into controlled airspace where delays might occur.
Is it true you will do flypasts for weddings?
Yes – and funerals! It is difficult to plan funerals far enough in advance to apply in the usual way. Recently, the Team flew over a funeral just as the coffin was being interred. The widow later wrote to us and told us how perfect the timing was and how grateful she was for the flypast, because her late husband had been a life-long fan of the Red Arrows. She asked who had organised the flypast. We had to tell her that is was ‘an act of God’. The Red Arrows just happened to be returning to base from a display and passed over the cemetery at the exact moment of interment. Shortly after that incident, a lady wrote to thank us for the flypast just as she was being presented with a gift at the end of her year as Golf Captain. Again, it was just good fortune.
Do the Red Arrows ever receive any complaints?
We are not arrogant enough to believe that everyone likes the Red Arrows. Since moving from Scampton to Cranwell we have had a small number of complaints from residents of villages close to Cranwell complaining about the noise, smoke and perceived danger of our operations. In case those residents read this, we can assure them that every complaint is treated seriously and sympathetically. Any complaint is dealt with by the Public Relations Officer in the first instance. He will always then check out the circumstances with the Team Leader and reply in writing. All paperwork is then forwarded to the Ministry of Defence.
We mention this because of a lovely e-mail message we have had from a blind gentleman who lives very close to RAF Scampton, our former home and where most of our flying practices still take place. He writes that he loves to hear our flying and his wife loves to watch us. We are sure Tyger will not mind us quoting: "Sometimes you fly low enough even for me to see you! We think that the Arrows practising around us is one of the real joys of living around here." Thank you, Tyger.
How are the pilots selected?
All Red Arrows pilots are volunteers. Most will tell you that it is a job they have always wanted to do, sometimes from a very early age, so it is never too early to start! Each year the RAF asks for volunteers from suitably qualified pilots. In the late 80s up to 100 pilots put their names forward each year but, as the size of the RAF has reduced, so the number of suitably qualified pilots has reduced. In 1999 about 35 hopefuls put their names forward. To be eligible, the pilots must have completed at least one operational tour on a fast jet: that includes aircraft such as Tornado, Harrier and Jaguar. They must have been assessed as above average pilots in their annual reports. These provisos mean that the volunteers are usually flight lieutenants in their late twenties or early thirties. The volunteers are whittled down by a paper selection to a short list of about nine. These nine pilots then visit the Red Arrows in the Spring in Cyprus, to meet the present Team, to fly in the back seat of the Hawks during display practices, and to be interviewed. The current pilots plus the Commandant of the Central Flying School, then make the final choices. It is, therefore, a very democratic process and there is no other selection procedure like it in the RAF.
What has the Commandant of the Central Flying School got to do with it?
The Red Arrows were formed at the Central Flying School (CFS) and have been a functional part of CFS ever since. CFS is commanded by a one-star officer known as the Commandant, currently Air Commodore Mal Prissick. The Team Leader reports, not to the Station Commander at Cranwell, but to the Commandant of the CFS. There is one staff officer in between – his title is Wing Commander RAFAT, currently Wing Commander David Bolsover (January 2000). The job title can be confusing for non-RAF people but it is important to understand that Wing Commander RAFAT is neither Team Leader nor Squadron Commander. There is only one Team Leader/Squadron Commander and that is Red 1.
Does that mean that all the pilots are instructors?
No – although originally they were. Because the Team was formed at CFS, it was natural to select the first Team members from those pilots currently serving on the staff at CFS. To be precise, those pilots were flying instructors’ instructors. Once the Team had become well-established, it was obvious that being a qualified flying instructor (QFI) was not necessarily an essential requirement for membership of the Team. Many QFIs, for example, had never flown fast jet (ie fighter) aircraft. At the same time, it was clear that many non-instructors could make excellent display pilots. The first non-QFIs to join the Red Arrows were Tim Curley and Nigel Champness in 1976.
How long does each pilot stay with the Team?
Normally each of the display pilots stays with the Team for a three year tour of duty. The reason for this is that by changing three pilots each year the experience level within the Team is optimised: three first year pilots; three second year pilots; and three in their final year. New pilots usually join in September so that they can fly in the back seats with Team for the last few displays of the Season. The three new pilots for the 2000 Team accompanied the Red Arrows on the Autumn 1999 tour of the Middle and Far East.
Will there ever be any women pilots in the Red Arrows?
This is one of the most frequently-asked questions – and, curiously, usually asked by men not women! When the first women entered the RAF for training as pilots about 12 years ago, a political decision was made that the women would not be employed on combat aircraft: that has now changed. One of the prerequisites for selection for the Red Arrows is that the pilot must have completed at least one operational tour on a fast combat jet such as Tornado, Jaguar or Harrier, but no female pilots have yet done so. In a few years time, however, we may see the first woman Red Arrow.
What happens to Red Arrows’ pilots when they have finished their tour of duty with the Team?
Usually they go back to the "front-line" squadrons to resume their main-stream career. Some of the pilots reach a natural break in their RAF engagement as they leave the Red Arrows and opt to leave the RAF. For reasons given before, we do not provide details of where they go either when they leave the Team or when they leave the RAF.
How is the Team Leader chosen?
The Team Leader will always have completed a three year tour as a Red Arrows’ team pilot earlier in his career – although this was not always the case. The Leader is always of squadron leader rank when selected (Simon Meade was promoted to Wing Commander in July 1999 for the final few months of his tour as Leader). The number of officers qualified for the position of Leader is, therefore, quite limited. The RAF Personnel Department will offer the job to the officer they would like to see appointed. He has the opportunity to refuse the job if he wants: it is not on record whether or not anyone has refused the post!
How are the Synchro Pair pilots chosen?
The Synchro Leader (Red 6) is a third year pilot, Flight Lieutenant Dicky Patounas in 2000, and he is allowed to choose his own Number 2. The Synchro 2 (Red 7) one year will become Synchro Lead the following year. Thus, Synchro 2 in 2000, Flight Lieutenant Jim Provost, will become Synchro Lead for 2001 and he will be able to choose his Number 2 for 2001 from one of the three first year pilots in 2000 who want the job.
What happens if one of the pilots goes sick?
If one of the pilots goes sick during the display season, or for any other reason is not able to fly, the Team flies one short. There are no reserve pilots.
What happens if the Leader goes sick?
If the Leader is unable to fly then the Red Arrows do not fly at all. There is no reserve Leader for flying displays.
Why don’t you have reserve pilots?
The Team spends the six months of each year, from October through to early May, practising for the forthcoming Display Season. The pilots always fly in the same position within the formation and it takes all those months for each pilot to become thoroughly proficient at flying in his position. It is simply not practicable to ask each of those pilots to under-study another position as well. It would not be sensible to have a spare pilot appointed to the Team. There are two reasons for this: one spare pilot could not possibly learn all nine positions and even if we had a sort of super-pilot who could become proficient in all nine positions, that super-pilot would certainly not be satisfied being merely an under-study. There were two spare pilots for the 1965 and 1966 seasons but, for the reasons just given, they were not very happy in their job and there have been no spares since then. The following is a quotation from the 1966 end of season report. ‘Until late June the Team confined itself to practising and displaying with seven aircraft, the reserve pilots having to be restricted to passenger flying and a very small amount of formation flying. This resulted in a continual lowering of the morale of the reserve pilots as they were doing nothing useful, did not feel part of the Team, and could see no prospect of ever flying in the Team.’
When did the Team start flying with nine aircraft?
In 1966. When the Team was formed in 1965, it was a seven aircraft display team although there were nine pilots and enough aircraft to mount the occasional nine-aircraft display. The very rare nine-aircraft formations were authorised only for specific occasions as directed by Command HQ. After representations by the Team, it was agreed, on 27 July 1966, that the Team should display with nine aircraft whenever possible and this has been the rule ever since.
Why are there sometimes 10 Red Arrows flying?
Red 10 is a fully-qualified Hawk pilot and he flies the 10th aircraft when the Red Arrows deploy to an airfield away from base. This gives the Team a reserve aircraft at the operating base for the display. On transit flights to and from display sites, the Team flies together in formation: the special 10 aircraft formation is known as Mange, dating back to pre-June 1998 when Red 10 was also the Manager. Red 10 also flies those lucky TV cameramen and photographers who are authorised by MOD to take air-to-air shots of the Red Arrows. It requires a highly skilled pilot to fly a cameraman: not only has he to position the camera aircraft in such a way as to provide the best possible platform for pictures, but he has to be able to follow the nine display aircraft safely and smoothly around all the complicated manoeuvres. In addition to his flying duties, Red 10 is the flight safety man on the ground at every display, and he gives the commentaries at public shows.
What Radio Frequencies do the Team Use?
We get a lot of mail and phone calls, asking for the Red Arrows’ air-to-air frequencies so that they can listen in. Unfortunately, a few weird and sad people think it is great fun to transmit on our frequencies during air displays, offering advice. Obviously, such interruptions are extremely dangerous (European readers may have read in the newspapers a year or so ago of a teenager who had been deliberately transmitting on an international airport’s final approach frequency giving false directions). To try and minimise such illegal acts, we never publicise our radio frequencies although we are, of course, aware that it is very easy for anyone with a scanner to find them. The Team Leader can chop his pilots to a new frequency at short notice if necessary.
When are the Red Arrows coming back to ……?
Much as we would like to return to the USA, Africa or Australia, or travel to South America, Japan, Korea, China and a whole raft of countries we have never visited, we cannot answer this question. It may be that we have not been officially invited by the Government of that particular country, it may be because there is no organisation willing to pay the cost. We get lots of e-mails asking when we are going to return to USA; all I can suggest, quite unofficially you understand, is that our friends in the USA lobby the well-known Display Organisers over there and encourage them to write to the British Embassy. That is more or less how the 1993 Tour came about. One country we cannot go to with the Hawk is New Zealand (Why? Look at a world map!)
How can I get an up-to-date list of where the Red Arrows will be flying?
Surprise, surprise! The most up-to-date available list of Red Arrows displays can always be found on this site and via the Red Arrows’ telephone hot line (0891 664424 – check the current cost per minute before dialling – all proceeds to Red Arrows’ Trust). When I learn of a change to the programme, the first two outside agencies to learn of it are DeltaWeb and the nice man who runs the Reds’ Hot Line. Both put the changes on within a couple of hours or so. Thus, there is no point in sending e-mails asking for the latest programme, but many people do!
Where can I obtain Red Arrows souvenirs?
The Red Arrows Merchandise Company, an officially licensed source of Red Arrows souvenirs, now have their own Web site. They may be found at: http://www.deltaweb.co.uk/reds_shop/index.htm
Can you give me the address of …..?
No. To give out addresses of private individuals would be an infringement of that person’s privacy. In any case, RAF regulations do not permit it. We get a surprising number of letters and phone calls at HQ from people asking for help in tracing lost relations who have nothing to do with the Red Arrows. For more information on this subject, follow this link to another of Deltawebs sites which they run for the Ministry of Defence:
http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/faqs.html
How can I contact former Red Arrows?
Not very easily! You might be a debt collector or worse! Would you want people giving out your address without your permission? However, if you have a really good reason for wanting to contact a former member of the Team, I will forward messages to their last-known address. If you do this, your letter must be unsealed for security reasons, not because we are nosey. Please bear in mind that we cannot guarantee that the person addressed will reply and we will not act as a go-between. Many ex-Team pilots do not wish to receive correspondence about their time with the Red Arrows.
Can I visit the Red Arrows at Cranwell?
Sadly, no. When we were based at Scampton, we averaged about 3,000 visitors each year. There, everything was self-contained in one hangar and we had plenty of space for briefing rooms, cinema, and photographic displays. Here at Cranwell we are not self-contained. The pilots’ HQ is tiny and cramped; the aircraft are parked on a very busy (and, therefore, dangerous) flight line some 300 metres away; and most of the flying in the winter takes place overhead Scampton, 25 miles to the north. Cranwell is still (January 2000), officially, our temporary home.
Where can I obtain Photographs/Videos/Films of the Red Arrows?
Many people ask how they can obtain photographs, videos and films of the Red Arrows. We always give the most up-to-date information. However, we are not a photographic agency and UK tax-payers will be relieved to learn that we do not supply photographs. You can find details on the Souvenirs page of this site telling you how you can obtain the most recent video and book about the Team. Videos tend to have a short shelf life in the UK; often yesterday’s hit video turns up in a different box and in a different compilation. UK enthusiasts can often find Red Arrows’ footage included in aviation videos on sale at shops such as W H Smith and Boots (and, of course, specialist video shops). A number of you have asked about early films, particularly two made by the late, and greatly missed, Arthur Gibson. He made a film about the Gnats and a later film about the Hawks but these films belong, as far as I am aware, to the BBC. Both films were narrated by another great friend of the Team, Raymond Baxter. Extracts from the early Gnat film were included in the Hawk film and extracts from both were used in the BBC film made for the Team’s 25th Anniversary Season (1989). For reasons best known to themselves, the BBC has not repeated either film nor made them available on video.
We get regular requests for copies of that famous photograph of the Red Arrows and Concorde flying in formation over the Queen Elizabeth II liner. That picture was taken by Arthur Gibson in the 1980s (no-one seems to know exactly when; if you do, please let us know). The negative will be with Arthur’s estate; we have no access to it and so we cannot supply prints. Every now and again a limited edition print of this photograph is seen on sale in art dealer’s shop windows. We imagine that the even more limited prints, autographed by the Red Arrows, the Concorde pilots, and the Captain of the QEII, are very valuable by now.
Photographs of the Team which regularly appear in aviation magazines are generally the copyright of the photographer. The photographers are often willing to sell prints to supplement their meagre income; write to the photographer c/o the magazine. There is a collection of beautiful Red Arrows’ photographs on a CD produced by a Dutch friend of the Team, E J van Koningsveld. These are available from UGA Media (http://www.sky-flash.com/reds.htm).
How much g do the Team pull during a display?
The main section uses up to 5 times the force of gravity (5g) in their manoeuvres but up to 7g in the Vixen Break. The Synchro Pair use 7g quite frequently and can go up to 8g, the aircraft limit, if needed. At 8g everything weighs 8 times its normal weight, arms, legs, bags under the eyes, and so on. Cameramen have to remember that the weight of their equipment increases with increasing g and it can be difficult to keep the camera up to eye level. The heart sinks and blood tends to pool towards the legs and away from the brain. If insufficient blood reaches the eyes then the pilots gradually lose vision and this is known as ‘blacking out’.
What is meant by ‘g’?
Gravity is commonly measured in terms of the amount of acceleration that the force gives to an object on the earth. At the equator the acceleration of gravity is 977.99 centimetres per second per second, and at the poles it is more than 983 centimetres per second per second. The generally accepted international value for the acceleration of gravity used in calculations is 980.665 cm (32.17 ft) per second per second. Thus, neglecting air resistance, any body falling freely will increase its speed at the rate of 980.665 cm (32.17 ft) per second during each second of its fall. The apparent absence of gravitational attraction during space flight is known as zero gravity. (Courtesy of Encarta 97). When an aircraft starts to turn, another of Newton’s Laws states that the body inside tries to carry on along the original path. Clearly the pilot cannot carry on because he is inside the aircraft and so he is subjected to additional g forces; you get exactly the same effect on roller coasters.
Why do the pilots wear Anti-g suits?
The g-suit is an elasticised garment which fits tightly over the lower abdomen and legs and fastens with laces and zips. Attached to the suit is a hose-pipe which feeds pressurised air into a large number of tubes within the suit. When an aircraft pulls ‘g’, the pilot’s blood is forced downwards away from the heart and towards the feet so starving the brain. All pilots learn how to control this by tensing the stomach muscles but it is a physically tiring procedure. If the pilot relaxed his stomach muscles under high g conditions, all his blood would rapidly rush away from his brain and he would black-out. When the pilot is wearing an anti-g suit, pressurised air proportional to the g force rushes into the tubes and compresses the pilots abdomen and legs, thus saving the pilot considerable physical effort. Without the help of an anti-g suit the pilots would rapidly get fatigued and might even black out.
Can I apply for a trip with the Red Arrows?
Several hundred people each year write in asking for trips with the Red Arrows, but all have to be rejected. First of all, before flying in a fast jet aircraft all crew and passengers must pass a stringent RAF medical examination: there are no exceptions to this rule. The Hawk, like any other fast jet aeroplane, is potentially dangerous unless you have learned all the emergency drills and can carry them out instinctively with 100% accuracy. There are no exceptions to this rule. What is the point of sitting on an ejection seat if you do not know how to use it? All aircrew take out special life and accident insurance policies to cover military flying risks: civilian passengers would not have this and so any existing policies would probably be invalid. On top of all that, if we gave a trip to one civilian we would have to do it for everyone else and there simply would not be enough sorties in the year. So please do not write in asking for a trip, however good you think your case might be. A couple of years ago we rejected an offer of 10,000 to a charity of our choice in exchange for a trip with the Red Arrows.
How much does the Red Arrows Team cost?
There is no meaningful answer to this question. The RAF already has the pilots and aircraft so they really cost nothing. The only real saving that could be made by not having the Red Arrows would be the cost of the fuel they use but that is insignificant when set against the advantages accruing from the Team’s appearances.
Why do the Red Arrows fly the Hawk?
The Red Arrows have always flown whichever aircraft is in service as the RAF’s advanced jet training aircraft, currently that is the British Aerospace Hawk. From 1965 until 1979 the Red Arrows flew the Folland Gnat, the Hawk’s predecessor. The idea of utilising front line operational aircraft for formation aerobatic display teams was dropped in the early 1960s on the grounds of cost. That was the main reason why a single RAF Aerobatic Team was established and all individual squadron aerobatic teams were disbanded.
These answers were prepared in January 2000.
If you have a question that you would like answered, please email us at [email protected]. We cannot promise to answer your question personally, however if it is interesting enough, we shall consider it for inclusion on this page.
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